From & Inspired BY: Recent Episodes

Nick Spacek

A bi-weekly podcast that discusses the seminal soundtracks in movie history. We speak with the individuals behind the tunes -- musicians, music supervisors, actors, and more.

Brendon Small. // photo credit Jim Donnelly

Writer/actor/director/musician/et al Brendon Small would be a legend if he’d stopped with the creation of his Adult Swim animated series, Home Movies, in the early ’00s. Following it up with the heavy metal fantasy comedy of Metalocalypse secured that status for all time when it debuted in 2006.

Spotlighting the death metal band Dethklok, whose popularity makes them the seventh-largest economy in the world, Metalocalypse managed to skewer the music industry as effectively as Spinal Tap while also being a wild ride into interpersonal relationships, worldwide conspiracies, and a cocaine-addled clown based on David Lee Roth.

The series has been absent since its last special, The Doomstar Requiem, nearly a decade ago. It returns on Tuesday, August 22, with a feature-length series finale, entitled Army of the Doomstar, accompanied by both a soundtrack and a fourth Dethklok LP, Dethalbum IV. Ahead of its release, we hopped on the phone with Brendon Small to talk about Metalocalypse and its history.

Tracklist

Dethklok, "Thunderhorse" (Dethalbum)

Dethklok, "Aortic Desecration" (Dethalbum IV)

Dethklok, "The Duel" (The Doomstar Requiem)

Dethklok, "Go Into the Water" (Dethalbum)

Playing bass was love at first pluck for Marty Isenberg. His career as a jazz musician began at the age of 12, after losing his father to cancer the year prior. A skilled amateur musician, Marty’s father kept many instruments around the house that he would play for the family. After his death, Marty would pull one of these instruments off the wall and begin teaching himself how to play by reading tablature in Bass Player Magazine. The first song he ever learned was “My Own Summer” by The Deftones.

Playing bass was love at first pluck for Mr. Isenberg. It was a cathartic healing experience, a way to stay connected to his father, and a way to creatively express himself. He went on to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he majored in Jazz Performance and minored in Jazz Composition, and received his Master of Music degree from New York University. He is now a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University where he is the teaching assistant to the jazz department chair Ray Anderson.

I spoke with Marty Isenberg via Zoom about his debut recording, The Way I Feel Inside, inspired by the films of Wes Anderson, out now from Truth Revolution Recording Collective.

Tracklist

Mark Mothersbaugh, "Hardest Geometry Problem in the World"

Marty Isenberg, "Needle in the Hay"

Marty Isenberg, "These Days"

Marty Isenberg, "Stephanie Says"

As a boy growing up in Boston, Jon Coco immersed himself in the music of timeless bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Pink Floyd. Tapping into the music of the ‘70s with an impressive vinyl record collection, he started writing original music and dove into performances in the late ‘80s Boston music scene.

Invited by an A&M recording studio head engineer to record songs for A&M, Coco gave in to the eventual lure of Los Angeles and the larger opportunities it promised. An early lesson would come when A&M Records closed their doors while his band was still recording their debut record. After two years as a staple on the Hollywood live club scene, Coco seized the opportunity to try his hand at creating music for a film trailer. This pivot provided many years of work and included his compositions in the marketing campaigns for Oscar-nominated and award-winning films such as The Departed, Batman Begins, No Country for Old Men, Room, and numerous others.

Endlessly pursuing his own true north and identity, Coco relocated to Nashville in 2016 to trade the companionship of traffic and airplanes for a mini ranch with horses, donkeys, and chickens. This slower and more relaxed pace, exacerbated by the Covid lockdown, has cultivated an even more intense maturation of Coco’s signature style.

There is a common element to his music that is as relatable for listeners of a major metropolitan area as for those in rural surroundings, because their source is a man who finds the essential humanity in both.

I spoke with Jon Coco via Zoom about his new album, Chasing the Dream, as well as his work composing for film trailers.

You can purchase Jon Coco’s Chasing the Dream via his website.

Tracklist

Jon Coco, "Chasing A Dream"

Jon Coco, "Hard Habit"

X-Men 1.5 TV spot

Jon Coco, "Time Won't Heal"

The HBO Max series, Peacemaker, the spin-off from director James Gunn's The Suicide Squad has become a massive hit for the streaming service, and not a small amount of its popularity comes from its deft use of music. However, while much as been made of the series' use of under-the-radar or forgotten rock 'n' roll and hair metal, composer Kevin Kiner's work on the series, alongside Clint Mansell, helps set the tone for a show which is by turns outrageous, violent, and surprisingly introspective and thoughtful.

Ahead of the Peacemaker series finale, we spoke with Kiner about his work on the series, as well as his past compositions for the Star Wars and DC universes.

Tracklist

Wig Wam, "Do Ya Wanna Taste It"

Clint Mansell & Kevin Kiner, "Peacemaker Rock Theme Jam"

Clint Mansell & Kevin Kiner, "Eagly"

John Cena, "Home Sweet Home (Piano Version)"

Pronounced “Voyager 3,” Detroit’s Voyag3r feature keyboardist Steve Greene, guitarist Aaron Greene, and drummer Greg Mastin. Inspired by the soundtracks to vintage horror, action, and sci-fi films, the trio creates experimental rock that owes a debt to pioneers like John Carpenter and shares a kinship with bands such as Trans Am, Teeth of the Sea, and Zombi.

Originally directed by and starring martial arts actor John Liu (The Secret Rivals, Invincible Armor) in his only American production, New York Ninja was filmed entirely on 35mm in 1984, but the project was abandoned during production resulting in all original sound materials being lost over time. 35 years later, Vinegar Syndrome acquired the original unedited camera negative and painstakingly constructed and completed the film, with the voice talents of genre favorites: Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Linnea Quigley, Michael Berryman, Ginger Lynn Allen, and Cynthia Rothrock, and a score by Voyag3r.

You can purchase Voyag3r’s New York Ninja score from their webstore, and the Blu-ray is available from Vinegar Syndrome.

Tracklist

Voyag3r, "The Ninja"

Voyag3r, "The Plutonium Killer"

Voyag3r, "Battle on the Rooftop"

Voyag3r, "Lord Of Doom Fortress"

On this episode, we continue our series, Your Favorite Soundtrack, where we talk to our favorite people about the soundtracks they love. Our latest installment features Katlyn Conroy of Cheery and Dooms, talking about the soundtrack to the 1974 film, Phantom of the Paradise.

You can purchase Dooms’ Shellshine via High Dive Records.

Tracklist:

Paul Williams, "Phantom's Theme (Beauty And The Beast)"

The Undead, "Somebody Super Like You (Beef Construction Song)"

Dooms, "number's up"

Paul Williams, "The Hell Of It"

Director Matt Hinton's documentary, Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury, has a couple of very interesting wrinkles. Not only is the Georgia post-punk band an act you've likely not heard of, the reunited act now features three members who are Eastern Orthodox priests, and director Hinton is part of the band, as well. That's before you get into the fact that Luxury is an often-forgotten part of the early history of Christian label Tooth & Nail Records, or the terrible accident which almost ended the lives of the band members.

It's a fascinating story, filled with music you're sure to wish you'd heard when you were in your teens, as it's so richly-layered and evocative, so it was with some excitement that I hopped on Zoom with director Hinton (who now also plays guitar for Luxury) to talk about all of this and more.

A project born in Bristol in 2006 and developed in the bohemian dystopia of Berlin from 2009, Antoni Maiovvi walks the line between retro-synth and horror soundtracks for both real and imagined films. Recently, the musician -- who is one of the co-founders of Giallo Disco Records, in addition to his own endeavors -- has released Church of the Second Sun, a collaboration with prog-rockers ANTA, as well as the latest '80s synthwave album from his Jason Priest alter-ego.

I spoke via Zoom with Antoni Maiovvi about horror disco, prog, composing for film, and more.

Formed in late 2014 in South Wales, Punk Rock Factory combine everything you love about 1990s/2000s punk rock, and reimagine classic and hit songs like you’ve never heard them before. From Meat Loaf to Disney, nothing is off-limits to them.

The band rehearse, write, record, mix, master and film everything themselves in one dedicated space that they affectionately call "The Sausage Factory" and have no problem bringing friends along either. To date, Punk Rock Factory has had singers from bands such as Protest the Hero, Bowling for Soup, Mest, Rufio, Belvedere, Ten Foot Pole and more, provide guest vocals on tracks, firmly cementing themselves as a punk rock household name.

On the new album, Masters of the Uniwurst, Punk Rock Factory takes on 21 classic TV theme songs including, Arthur, Power Rangers, Saved By The Bell, The Flintstones, Goof Troop, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokemon and many more.

I spoke via Zoom with all four members of Punk Rock Factory about Masters of the Uniwurst, cover songs in general, and more.

Sorry for the delay on this episode. I got a promotion at work, live shows are returning, and I have been quite overwhelmed. Rest assured, the podcast is still happening. I just needed to catch up on the things which pay money in order to get around to putting together the next few episodes. So, after much delay, here's our episode on composer Max Aruj.

Up and coming Los Angeles based composer Max Aruj had two exciting projects release on June 25: the crime drama Lansky from Vertical Entertainment, profiling legendary gangster Meyer Lansky, and the Liam Neeson-starring action-thriller The Ice Road from Netflix.

The composer got his start in the industry working at the widely known film music hub Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica, CA where he's worked closely with composer Lorne Balfe on numerous projects, including Ad Astra, Black Widow, and HBO's His Dark Materials.

Max first collaborated with Lansky writer-director Eytan Rockaway on the psychological thriller The Abandoned. Their established working relationship allowed them to delve even deeper creatively this time around. The film takes place in two time periods: Lansky in his earlier years and him looking back at his life in the '80s. To reflect this, Max utilized some '80s Vangelis colors as the musical palette, mixed with orchestra. He wanted to create both a sense of darkness and sentimentality to capture both sides of such a complicated figure. The composer also leaned into his Jewish roots by including Jewish colors in the music to reflect Lansky's identity.

For The Ice Road, Max collaborated with director Jonathan Hensleigh and his goal was to really play into the classic action tropes and create a next level, bombastic score. Having an archetypal character (led by the iconic Liam Neeson), allowed Max to really dig into the storyline. Once Max had the thematic tapestry nailed down, the rest of the music flowed out.

I spoke by phone with Max Aruj about these two films, their differences, and his career.

Del Casher may not be a household name, but you've undoubtedly heard his music. He was a member of the famous Wrecking Crew, played on Lawrence Welk, recorded Frank Zappa’s first demo, backed Elvis Presley, and built guitars with Les Paul. His many inventions include the Wah-Wah pedal and the Ecco-Fonic, influencing the development of electric guitar playing.

In 1976, Casher was commissioned to write and record a soundtrack for Italian Stallion, a re-branding of the 1970 film The Party at Kitty and Stud's, which saw Sylvester Stallone's first on-screen appearance. While even Stallone called the film "horrendous," the soundtrack for Italian Stallion stands on its own as a musical masterpiece. Over 40 years later, with the help of ORG Music, Del Casher dug up his original master tapes and assembled a record's worth of material for the soundtrack's first ever release. Italian Stallion will make its long overdue debut with a vinyl pressing, exclusively for the second RSD drop on July 17.

I spoke by phone with Del Casher about the release of Italian Stallion's score and his legendary career.

The six-part Netflix documentary series Amend: The Fight for America, is executive produced and hosted by Will Smith and features a number of luminaries including Mahershala Ali, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, Pedro Pascal, and Yara Shahidi among others, and explores the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution—which, in 1868, promised liberty and equal protection for all persons—as America’s most enduring hallmark of democracy.

Amend has wall-to-wall music, including Osei Essed’s score, which is intermixed with inspiring pop hits throughout. Essed describes the score as "modern minimalist, meets orchestral Americana." The composer is a lover of simplistic music and making textures interact with harmony and various instruments. English horn, bass clarinet, and electric guitar are some of the most prevalent featured in the music.

I spoke via Skype with Essed about the score for Amend and how it fits into his career.

Los Angeles native artist Joe Cardamone has lived a few lifetimes while leaving a wiry dent in the global underground music and film scenes. The band that Joe fronted for 17 years, The Icarus Line, formed in East Los Angeles in 1998. Over the course of six albums the punk agitators became an underground phenomenon and the most dangerous punk group of their generation. The cult band the never gave up.

Cardamone's new album, Quarentina, was birthed from the necessity for distraction and expression. Life gets real hectic real fast and when you are getting dragged down into the sea you better learn to swim. Out of this chaos came some uncut gems, a batch of cool mini songs about love and pain. Tracks done in one or two passes just to grab the moment, not think, and keep flying. A force of nature, the album features 19 songs that were recorded in the matter of a few weeks after the dissolution of a relationship. Sounding so direct you feel like you are in the room with him, Quarentina is the most stripped down, raw and intimate Joe has ever sounded on a record.

I spoke via Zoom with Cardamone about his new album and the accompanying short films for it.

Netflix's Kid Cosmic -- from Craig McCracken, creator of the Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends -- follows the adventures of an imaginative and enthusiastic boy who lives with his free-spirited Grandpa in a sparsely populated desert town. The Kid’s dreams of being a hero seem to come true when he discovers 5 Cosmic Stones of Power in a wrecked spaceship. He forms a team of local heroes to stop an onslaught of alien attacks to steal back the stones. Though the Kid and his team are the good guys, they’re really bad at it,and the Kid learns that his fantasy of being a hero is very different from the reality of what it actually means to become one.

A major part of the world of Kid Cosmic is the music. Composer Andy Bean not only did the score for the Netflix series, but also created a series of bands from whose dusty 45s we hear their music, such as the psychedelic garage of Dr. Fang and the Gang, Cepha Pond and the Muzzy Hill Boys' rockabilly, or the joyous R&B of the Soul Contributions.

I love, love, love this show and the soundtrack, so it was a real treat to nerd out about all of this -- and even a little bit of Ducktales -- in this conversation with Andy Bean.

The new film from director Chris White, Electric Jesus, tells the story of an '80s Christian heavy metal band, 316, and their struggles, trials, and travails trying to make it in a world in which Christians fear metal and metalheads aren't exactly fond of Christians. It's a heartfelt, really truly honest movie that finds new angles in following a struggling band on their first-ever tour, with fantastic performances both in the acting and the music which makes up so much of the film.

It helps that the music of Electric Jesus was written by Daniel Smith of indie rockers Danielson and sounds just like it could be found in the bins next to Stryper, Barren Cross, and Holy Soldier's output. The songs will lodge themselves in your brain pretty readily, and I've definitely added one or two to some recent playlists.

I spoke with director White and composer Smith about the making of Electric Jesus' soundtrack, the film itself, and more. A note: this Q&A sounds weird because Zoom was being really weird and I had to scramble to record my audio.

Composer Emile Mosseri has, in his short career scoring feature films, worked on some very notable productions. He scored director/producer Joe Talbot's debut, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, has worked with Miranda July on Kajillionaire, and also tackled the second season of the Amazon series, Homecoming. His latest score is for Lee Isaac Chung's Minari, a drama about a Korean American family trying to make their way as farmers in rural Arkansas.

All of these might be very different films, but Mosseri's scores for each help define the world in which they take place through superb use of melody and pop sensibilities. I spoke with the composer by phone about his process.

Acclaimed multi-disciplinary music masters in their own right, Benji Merrison and Will Slater are now creating sounds for the screen together, calling upon their collective experience from a music and arts education, work producing and touring records, as well as composing for Film and Television. Both from the Midlands, UK, their paths first aligned when they were commissioned as a duo to score the popular BBC David Attenborough series Dynasties in 2018, for which they received nominations from the IFMCA and News and Documentary Emmys.

In December 2020, global audiences were charmed by Meerkat: A Dynasties Special, the spectacular opening episode of series two. Playing ‘the puppeteers of people’s emotions’, Benji and Will carved out their own palette of sounds for the score, with the full OST album released February 26 on Silva Screen Records. Crafting their character as composers and defining a musical language that enhances the viewing experience, the combination of stunning visuals and music makes for a wild multi-sensory adventure.

I talked about all of this and more with Will and Benji in a really fun international conversation.

Gilded Audio, the creative production force behind the podcasts Amy Schumer’s 3 Girls 1 Keith, OTHERtone with Pharrell, and The Pet have launched something entirely different. The Gilded Audio Music Library offers media makers a place to browse organic and beautifully crafted instrumental and atmospheric music to purchase at an affordable price for any creative project (podcasts, films, commercials, etc.) in need of that perfect musical vibe.

The Gilded Audio Music Library was built in response to the bland, stock flavors found in traditional music libraries. It’s meant to benefit media makers in that it offers them a new place to find exciting music that nobody else is using, but it’s also a great new source of income for the hard-working bands and artists providing the songs. We talk about the creative process, library music in general, and the whole history of Gilded Audio with the company's Andy Chugg and musician Sam Skarstad.

Formed in 2013 in Toronto, Martin Macphail, Dean Rode and Tristan Tarr make up the award winning trio Blitz//Berlin. Since releasing their debut album Distance in 2015, the band has created three critically acclaimed instrumental albums, and composed the original score to feature films, shorts, and movie trailers, including the recent sci-fi horror comedy, Psycho Goreman. Blitz//Berlin's music for films like The Void, and the trailer for Bad Times at the El Royale, show just how diverse the trio's music can be, so it was a real joy to talk about all of this -- but especially Psycho Goreman -- with the group's Martin Macphail on the very day the film hit Shudder.

I'd like to apologize for the delay on this episode. As we went to record, the trusty Nady six-channel mixer we've been using for the last decade died a quick and horrible death. This necessitated a trip to downtown Lawrence to track down a new mic input for the computer. Big thanks to Guitarma for having the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 in stock (and affordable), letting us get right back on our feet. We're still figuring it out, so apologies for any audio weirdness in this episode.

Chase the Horseman is a band, film composer, multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, and producer. They also grew up in Lansing, Kansas, and attended the same high school as I did. Chase currently makes music as both a composer and as Chase the Horseman, and it's all intricate and beautiful. We talk about growing up in Lansing, making music, working with director Gigi Saul Guerrero, and scoring not one, but two installments of Hulu's Into the Dark series.

This is an episode that's been two years in the making. Can you believe it? We first invited Jon Dobyns to come on the show to discuss his musical project, Alone in the Woods, and his work with the anime soundtrack reissue label, Tiger Lab Vinyl, back in November of 2018, but due to the man's incredibly busy work schedule, it didn't happen until November of 2020. Then we went on our annual holiday hiatus, and so on and so forth, but I'm happy to say that this is a very wide-ranging, awesome interview, that's totally worth the wait, and we're sneak-previewing a couple of cuts off Alone in the Woods' new album, Help Is Not Coming, which goes on sale this Thursday, February 4, at noon eastern. Check it out!

Royal Dagger Ballet is Tristan Bechet’s first album as a solo artist after Flux Information Sciences, electronic rock duo SERVICES and Sauna Kings. The result is an edgy, opulent and mesmerizing compilation of genre-defying industrial experimentalism. Engaging in modern electronics, synthesizers and drum machines, each track is its different world, some cinematic and melodic and others rhythmically chaotic, industrial and cacophonous.

Born in Portugal but raised between Brazil and New York City and now living in Paris, Tristan’s idiosyncratic approach to music uses a collision of electronic sound design. He has also composed for brands like Nike, Karl Lagerfeld, Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and The Creator’s Project, his works featured by The New York Times, Nowness and beyond. He is currently composing for a psychological drama horror film currently in the works. We spoke about all of this and more at the end of last year.

And we're back. Every year, it seems like I hope we're going to keep going through the end of the year, but then end up taking Thanksgiving through New Year's off to deal with the day job. Thanks for waiting. I think you'll be pleased with this episode as our comeback.

From 1989-2004, musician Paul Hartnoll was one half of the legendary electronic music duo, Orbital, along with his brother, Phil. While the pair have reunited several times in the intervening years, since that time, Paul Hartnoll has released a pair of solo albums – The Ideal Condition and 8:58 – and has begun scoring various films, documentaries, shorts, and even the second season of Peaky Blinders. His latest work is the score for the Welsh crime thriller, Concrete Plans, directed by Will Jewell. I spoke with Hartnoll about his scoring work and how Orbital's music found its way into many, many different areas of entertainment.

New Wave band Berlin has gone through multiple incarnations during its four-decade tenure, seeing members – including lead singer Terri Nunn – come and go over the years. After Nunn rejoined the band in 1980, the underground success of Berlin's second single led to their debut EP, Pleasure Victim, which spawned the national hit “Sex (I'm A...)” in 1982, followed by “The Metro” the following year. The band's music would go on to be iconic, thanks to the massive success of the Giorgio Moroder written and produced song, “Take My Breath Away,” featured on the soundtrack to the 1986 action film, Top Gun. That song would go on to win both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and has come to the band's defining cut.

The band would break up in 1987, and while Nunn would reform the band–sans any other original members–in the late '90s, it wasn't until an episode of VH1's Bands Reunited in 2004 that the group's founding players would get together. However, just last year, fellow founding members John Crawford (bass and synthesizer) and David Diamond (synthesizer and guitar) reunited with Nunn once again for the band's Transcendance album.

Now, Berlin–with Crawford, Diamond, and Nunn–release Strings Attached, a re-imagining of many of the band's best-known songs with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. That album is out this Friday from August Day, and it was a real joy to hop on the phone with Nunn to discuss the band's catalog, the new album, and performing once again with Crawford and Diamond.

Established by producer and director Charles Band in 1986, Empire Pictures quickly became notorious for the horror-comedy classics made during its brief but legendary lifespan. With wild special effects, outrageous humour and over-the-top horror action Ghoulies, Troll and TerrorVision were three of Empire Pictures finest works, and each movie featured an unforgettable score by Charles' award-winning composer brother Richard Band.

Now, these scores have been carefully remastered and are presented for the very first time on half-speed mastered, limited-edition 180g coloured vinyl in stunning packaging with liner notes from the composer.

Ghoulies features the full uncut original soundtrack, available for the first time ever, and includes a bonus 7inch featuring Fela Johnson’s "Dancing with a Monster" and "Surrender" as heard in the movie. Troll features the complete soundtrack, and TerrorVision features the special director’s cut soundtrack. Each release is housed in a gatefold sleeve with full movie gallery, OBI belt, and random video store stickers, plus full liner notes by Band.

We spoke with Richard Band via Zoom about his career and these amazing reissues.

Director Hu Guan's film, The Eight Hundred, might have only played briefly in stateside theaters before Covid shut everything down, but the Chinese war drama has taken in over $450 million worldwide since it released at the beginning of August. Just a little after it was released, I spoke with music supervisor Fei Yu and composer Andrew Kawczynski about the music of the film, and how the music was put together on a global scale.

Composer Sam Ewing has slowly but steadily made a name for himself over the last few years, thanks to his work with the massive talent that is composer Bear McCreary on shows like The Walking Dead and films like the Happy Death Day series. However, Ewing has also started doing work on his own, and the composer's first solo score, for director Frank Sabatella's vampiric horror, The Shed, was just released on vinyl from the folks at Enjoy the Ride Records. We spoke with the composer by phone about his career.

From 1983 to 1989, and from 1993 to 2001 Jeff Pilson was the bassist for hard rock band Dokken. Over the course of the band's lengthy career, Pilson co-wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including the two tracks included in 1987's A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors. The theme song has become rather iconic, as has "Into the Fire," which plays over the film's opening sequence. He was briefly a member of Dio in the mid-90s, and as if that wasn't enough, Pilson now plays bass for Foreigner, whom he's been with since 2004.

Throw in the fact that the bassist also played on the soundtrack for the Judas Priest-inspired 2001 film, Rock Star, as well as appearing in the film, and we have a lot to talk about.

This installment of Your Favorite Soundtrack sees us talking with Greg Dedrick about the soundtrack to the 1985 Tom Holland film, Fright Night. Greg -- aka Greg D -- is a podcaster who hails from Kansas City. Dave is, along with Jenius McGree, the co-host of the Kansas City-based Nightmare Junkhead and Nerds of Nostalgia podcasts, as well as the host and co-host of many cool live events, Covid quarantine restrictions allowing. Greg and Jenius have been cool enough to have me on multiple episodes of Nerds of Nostalgia and Nightmare Junkhead, so it was great to finally have Greg on to talk about all things vampiric.

An ode to Giallo, '70s crime flicks and French new wave cinema; Bastien Keb’s third album, The Killing of Eugene Peeps, is an imagined score of downbeat anti-ballads, cinematic instrumentals, psychedelic-folk and warped soliloquies. Set for an October 9 release via Gearbox Records, the album was oiginally made in three parts: film score, soundtrack and incidental music. The record develops in a dream like state, a narrator periodically guiding the listener between songs of longing and regret. We spoke with Bastien Keb about his cinematic influences, and the making of the new album.

The Dutch symphonic metal masters known for their love affair with horror, Carach Angren, released their sixth full-length, Franckensteina Strataemontanus, on June 26 via Season of Mist. The record explores the story of the “real” Dr. Frankenstein, Johann Conrad Dippel. Dippel was a mad scientist in Germany who performed sick experiments that even included failed attempts to reanimate dead animals, among other things. The album explores the stark reality of this madman while incorporating fantasy elements from the Frankenstein monster mythos.

In addition, composer and musical mastermind Ardek has composed music for a number of other bands, including Lindemann, Pain, Ex-Deo, and more. He has even tried his hand in film and scored the horror movie Pyewacket, exercising a diverse and incomparable scope of musical talents. We spoke with Ardek earlier this year about the band's literary and cinematic influences.

Composer Jackson Greenberg's theme song for Netflix’s hit docuseries, Explained, went viral earlier this year, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and taking on a life of its own. It's a bop and a half, and we discussed its unusual rise to fame with the musician, as well as his work on the FX/Hulu documentary, AKA Jane Roe, and other reality projects, earlier this year.

Less Than Jake has been making music since the mid-'90s, and their ska-punk sound is just as popular now as it was during the third wave's heyday. The man behind the drum kit, Vinnie Fiorello, is the mastermind behind many of the band's most popular songs, and so it was a real treat to get him on the phone to talk about the band's work in films like Good Burger and Scream 2, as well as his latest project, the Inevitables.

The Inevitables' Kickstarter ends at midnight EST on Thursday, September 3.

The Psychedelic Furs have been making moody, beautiful rock music since 1977. Despite a hiatus for the better part of the '90s, when founding members Richard Butler and Tim Butler founded Love Spit Love with Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer, the long-running band is still going strong. After reuniting in 2000, the Furs have toured regularly, and thanks to the use of their songs “Love My Way” and “The Ghost of You” in Call Me By Your Name and Stranger Things, respectively, the band continues to find new fans over 40 years on.

Last month marked the release of Made of Rain, the band's first new material since 1991's World Outside. Thanks to the work of collaborator Fortus as producer, along with deft mixes from Tim Palmer, the new material hearkens back to the band's classic '80s singles, while still fitting in alongside modern indie and alt rockers. The sound on Made of Rain is vast and powerful, ably demonstrating that the album is well worth the long wait.

I hopped on the phone with bassist Tim Butler and speaking with the musician from his Kentucky home, we discussed Made of Rain and its creation, as well as the band's lasting cinematic influence.

Starting with Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco & the Time Rippers at the beginning of this year, blogger and YouTuber Troels Pleimart, aka the Space Quest Historian, began reorchestrating the scores to the classic Sierra sci-fi comedy games. Three successful Qrates crowdfunding campaigns later, he's on to his biggest project yet -- a double vinyl release for Space Quest V: Roger Wilco – The Next Mutation. We spoke to him about how this all came to be.

Fund the Qrates campaign for Roger Wilco V.

The Vandals' 1995 album, Live Fast Diarrhea, gets a snazzy 25th anniversary vinyl repress this week from Craft Recordings. To celebrate, we spoke with both the band's guitarist, Warren Fitzgerald, as well as bassist Joe Escalante, about the music of Glory Daze and their appearance in the Penelope Spheeris cult classics, Suburbia and Dudes, as well as the new Live Fast Diarrhea repress.

Despite hailing from Jersey City, New Jersey, and only being 35 years old, composer Joseph Trapanese has rapidly ascended to join the ranks of today's most exciting composers. Due in no small part to the composer's work with such musical luminaries as French electronic acts M83 and Daft Punk (the latter of which he helped compose the massively-successful score for Tron: Legacy), along with his work composing scores for films as diverse as the live-action Disney remake of The Lady & the Tramp or musical The Greatest Showman, Trapanese seemingly defies categorization. It's a fascinatingly broad selection of work in a very short time, and so we were very excited to get the chance to speak with Trapanese about his career up to now.

Ten years ago, on May 16, 2010, famed metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio died from cancer. In the intervening decade, there have been myriad tributes to the departed singer, including a hologram tour featuring original members of his band. For the tenth anniversary of his passing, the band Appice – featuring legendary drummers and brother Carmine Appice and Vinny Appice – put together a lockdown tribute to Ronnie James Dio, featuring their song, “Monsters and Heroes,” originally recorded for their 2017 album, Sinister.

I spoke with Carmine Appice–who’s drummed for everyone, including Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, and Ozzy Osbourne–about his relationship with Dio, how the tribute video came to be, as well as a discussion regarding Appice's involvement in the seminal 1988 heavy metal horror film, Black Roses.

You can find an abridged text version of my conversation with Carmine Appice at the Pitch.

Composer Kyle Newmaster has been a film, television, game, and concert stage composer for over 15 years. His latest project is the CBS series Blood & Treasure -- an Indiana Jones meets James Bond meets Romancing the Stone action-adventure drama. Kyle was able to record live musicians throughout the season, a rarity with TV composing nowadays. Newmaster has also worked as an orchestrator, most notably for Disasterpeace’s score for Under the Silver Lake, among many other. Additionally, Newmaster has done a slew of work for various Star Wars-related games over the years, most notably Kinect Star Wars. It's a fun chat to go through all of his work.

Hey there! Sorry for the massive delay on this episode. I bought a new computer and had to transfer all my files over and get everything set up, and it took way longer than I expected when trying to fit it in alongside a bunch of freelance writing assignments which had fast turnarounds. So, again -- sorry. We'll make it up to you with a new episode this coming Monday.

Composer Timothy Williams has begun to make a name for himself with recent films like the heavy metal horror of We Summon the Darkness and the supervillian origin tale, Brightburn, with scores that manage to straddle two worlds simultaneously. Williams is also a long-time orchestrator and conductor, having tackled the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool 2. His skillful work around pop song needle drops and big time action means that we had a lot to discuss in this interview, and it's a real blast to hear some behind-the-scenes tidbits about all of these films.

Director Jared Barel's The Incoherents sees four 40-somethings each mired in some sort of midlife malaise reunite their '90s indie rock band. Written by Jeff Auer, who also plays the lead role of Bruce, the film explores friendships, marriage, and life in general through the eyes of these guys, just trying to play the songs they love. Alex Emanuel, who plays the role of Jimmy, served as music supervisor, and along with Jeff Auer, wrote the original songs the band performed in the film. Emanuel recruited some friends -- guitarist Sean Eden of Luna and drummer Kevin March of Guided By Voices -- to perform on the tracks as well, resulting in a collection of tunes which perfectly capture the era in which they were supposed to have been written. We spoke with Alex Emanuel ahead of the film's release back in April to talk about all of this, and more.

Composer Joe Kraemer has worked on such films as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, The Way of the Gun, Jack Reacher, and The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, among many other movies and television programs. He's absolutely aces at blending action themes and emotional resonance. Thanks to his work for author Andrew Cartmel on the Vinyl Detective soundtrack release -- for which he composed the book's theme -- we were able to connect with him for a career-spanning interview, which we conducted way back in February.

In the May Mother's Day installment of Blumhouse Television and Hulu's anthology event series, Into the Dark, Delivered, a pregnant woman’s life is upended when she realizes someone close to her has darker plans for her and the baby. Directed by Emma Tammi, who did The Wind, and starring Tina Majorino, Natalie Paul, Michael Cassidy, and Micah Parker, the episode is creepy as hell, thanks to a really dark turn from Majorino, but also thanks to the score by composer Ben Lovett. Lovett had previously worked with director Tammi on The Wind, but has also done a slew of work with director David Bruckner, such The Ritual and The Signal.

We talk about Delivered and Lovett's work with Bruckner, as well the recently-released The Dark Red, out now from Dark Sky Films. There may also be AJ Bowen content.

Director Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 film, Strange Days, stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, and Tom Sizemore. It's set right before the millenium, and borders on the dystopian. The film was an absolute bomb, despite the star power in it and behind the scenes -- it was co-written by James Cameron, after all -- although, in the last 25 years, it's come to be regarded as an underrated diamond in the rough.

Several major scenes in the film feature live musical performances, and one such performance early on features the Kansas City hard-rock / post-hardcore band, Season to Risk. Though featured prominently in performance and -- as we'll hear -- being on set for two whole weeks -- the band's song, "Undone," didn't make the soundtrack release alongside such acts as Lords of Acid, Prong, and Tricky.

We talk about all of this, and the upcoming reissue of Season to Risk's Men Are Monkeys. Robots Win. with the band's frontman, Steve Tulipana.

It's our 100th episode! Holy smokes! We can't believe it.

NBC's hit show Songland's 2019 winner, Katelyn Tarver, released her latest single, "Feel Bad," at the end of March. Leading Nashville group Old Dominion recorded her song "Young," and the Songland-winning track was featured on a Joseph Khan-directed Jeep TV commercial which Tarver also starred as the main character in. Tarver also lays claim to a hefty acting resume in addition to her music career - she recently starred alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in HBO’s Ballers. We talk about all of this in a really great interview.

Author Grady Hendrix is a big time favorite here at the From & Inspired By headquarters. We've interviewed him twice for movie site Cinepunx, and eagerly devoured his books from Horrorstör to We Sold Our Souls, as well as his scripts for movies like Mohawk and Satanic Panic. The man's got his finger on the pulse of what we love about clever horror, and we've been eagerly awaiting his latest book, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which is out tomorrow, April 7, from Quirk Books.

So, it was a real pleasure to invite Hendrix onto the podcast to discuss his new book, as well as the vampire rock which helped influence it.

A celebrated singer/songwriter whose soothing voice has entranced millions of listeners, Lauren Wood has parlayed a variety of talents into a career spanning over four decades. Best known for a pair of adult contemporary smashes -- "Please Don't Leave," a duet with Michael McDonald, and the Pretty Woman soundtrack's "Fallen" -- Wood also saw her music featured in films like Police Academy 3: Back in Training, as well as singing the end title song for the hit NBC sitcom, Just Shoot Me.

Being as how Pretty Woman was released on March 23, 1990 -- making the day this episode drops its 30th anniversary -- we couldn't have been more pleased to speak with Lauren Wood about Pretty Woman and her 40 plus years in the music business.

Writer Andrew Cartmel's series of Vinyl Detective novels became an instant favorite of mine after discovering the first installment at Lawrence's Raven Bookstore at the end of 2018. Since then, I've gone on to devour all four volumes in the series of novels about a London-dwelling music afficionado whose business cards state that he can find any record for anyone -- for a fee.

They're utterly charming books, and fans of records, cats, and coffee -- such as myself -- will find themselves racing through each installment, each of which is filled with witty banter and fast-paced action. We spoke with Cartmel from his home in London about the books and last year's soundtrack release for them.

Composer Paul Zaza has scored innumerable classic films, from the holiday feelings of A Christmas Story, the reggae-inflected tones of Popcorn, the country-tinged My Bloody Valentine, and the classic slasher tones of Prom Night, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. In recent years, his scores have seen reissue from the likes of 1984 Publishing, Strange Disc, Waxwork Records, and Terror Vision, in many cases bringing these complete scores to a wide audience for the first time.

We spoke with the composer about all of this and more earlier this year.

Writer/director Maggie Levin’s My Valentine is the latest installment in the Blumhouse Into the Dark series for streaming service, Hulu. Influenced by some of the biggest pop scandals over the past decade, My Valentine follows Valentine, whose songs and artistic identity have been stolen by her ex-boyfriend/manager - and shamelessly pasted onto his new girlfriend/protégé, Trezzure.

Pop songs play a huge part in the film, and they were all composed and performed by Dresage, also known as Keeley Bumford, who -- along with her musical partner, Mark Hadley -- additionally performed the score for Levin's movie. We spoke with Bumford the day My Valentine dropped on Hulu about the film, as well as her work for other programs such as Ever After High and Riverdale.

If you've seen the original 1990 movie, you'll remember that, over the end credits was a hip-hop song called "Turtle Power," relating the plot of the film. It's become one of those cultural touchstones for so-called "90s kids," and I distinctly remember owning the cassingle as a kid.

But what of Partners In Kryme, the duo who performed the iconic track? We reached out to the group's MC Golden Voice -- aka Richard Usher -- to talk about TMNT, the group's history, and more.

Siddhartha Khosla is an award-winning film and television composer, and singer/songwriter/producer of the critically acclaimed band, Goldspot. The Emmy-nominated Khosla is best known for his work on the hit NBC series, This Is Us, but he's also composed for Hulu on shows like Marvel’s Runaways and last year's Looking For Alaska.

We spoke with Khosla right before the holidays about all of this, and more.

At the end of October, Lawrence, Kansas, art supply store and gallery, Wonder Fair, released two soundtracks for their store. Musician Jade Rose composed an album entitled The Sounds of Wonder Fair, Volume 1, and co-owner Paul DeGeorge and his brother Joe, along with musician Jon Linn, produced Sounds from the Haunted Bathroom. Site-specific soundtracks have been a thing before -- see also Light In The Attic's Japan Archival Series triple LP, Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, as well as RPM Records' Gypsy Creams & Ginger Nuts - Sounds That Swept The Supermarkets for but a couple -- but we've never had a chance to discuss this sort of thing on the show.

We sat down with Jade and Paul at the Lawrence Public Library's Sound+Vision Studio the day after they played a release party for the recordings and discussed how everything came to be, which is why this is likely the best-sounding episode we've ever done.

The label RidingEasy Records has made a name for themselves with a focus on heavy rock 'n' roll. While the label's released any number of modern acts, including Swedish rockers Monolord, the real treat is their long-running series of Brown Acid compilations. The label, in conjunction with curator Lance Barresi of music shop, Permanent Records, compiles and releases some of the best undiscovered heavy rock from the '60s and '70s.

It's always a joy to read through the press releases for upcoming iterations to see what nuggets the next installment will bring. For the ninth trip, RidingEasy did a really deep pull for the last track on the compilation. Per the press release:

"This band came into our lives while watching the cult horror film Effects. The film is entertaining to say the least, but the star for us is a very short clip of background music in a scene where one of the characters is looking through a stack of bondage polaroids. As the photos are being flipped through, a boombox blasts a Pentagram-esque hard rocker that caught our attention immediately. We tracked down the director of the film, John Harrison. Turns out the song in Effects was by a band John played in with his brother, Doug, and a couple of other guys in the late-60s. They called themselves 29.9, and they recorded “Paradiddle Blues” and a few other tracks, but never released any of them, until now."

We reached out to the folks at RidingEasy, and they put me in contact with Doug Harrison, who put me in contact with John Harrison, and so we did a conference call with the brothers and chatted about the history of 29.9, how the band came to be in Effects, John's work as composer for George Romero, and a lot more. Stick around after the interview to hear an unreleased cut from 29.9, unavailable anywhere else.

Musician Josie Cotton came to the attention of thousands of teenagers with her appearance in the 1983 comedy-drama, Valley Girl. She not only performed in the iconic prom scene, but had three of her songs used on the film's soundtrack. After 1995's Frightened by Nightingales, Cotton took a break from recording for over a decade, returning in 2006 with the album, Movie Disaster Music. She's released two more new LPs since then, including the collection of b-movie soundtrack cuts, Invasion of the B-Girls.

The last few months have seen Josie Cotton not only releasing a lost album from 1986 -- Everything Is Oh Yeah, originally intended to be the follow-up to Cotton's sophomore LP, From the Hip -- but also, a brand new single, "Ukranian Cowboy." We spoke with Cotton about all of this and more by phone a couple weeks back.

Many know Richard Patrick as the only static member of the band Filter. Prior to the formation of Filter, Richard cut his teeth in a band called Nine Inch Nails. In addition to hits like "Hey Man Nice Shot" and "Take A Picture," Filter's music has been featured in everything from Tales from the Crypt's Demon Knight to Spawn to the X-Files -- both the series and the movies.

Filter's platinum-selling 1999 sophomore album, Title of Record, recently received a deluxe double vinyl reissue through Craft Recordings for its 20th anniversary. We spoke with the band's frontman and singer via Skype about all this and more.

This year, the Orange County ska band, the Aquabats, celebrates their 25th anniversary. In that time, the band's sound has grown to encompass more than just the third wave ska sound, embracing rock 'n' roll, electronic music, dance tunes, and so, so much more. The even had their own TV show, The Aquabats! Super Show!, which ran from 2012-2014, and was recently revived via Kickstarter.

The Aquabats' frontman, Christian Jacobs -- also known as the MC Bat Commander -- was also one of the creators of the smash Nickelodeon kids' show, Yo! Gabba Gabba!, which itself incorporated a ton of music to teach and entertain youngsters and their parents.

It was a big thrill to sit down with Jacobs before the band played a show at Kansas City's Uptown Theater with Reel Big Fish earlier this summer. We spoke about the band's history, Yo! Gabba Gabba!, the Super Show!, and more.

We're back! It's been a relaxing two months off for summer break, but we're glad to be back with a new episode, talking with musician and producer, Don Dixon, about his contribution to the 1988 dark comedy, Heathers. The movie's been getting some hype, lately, what with the Broadway musical adaptation, the TV series, and the Riverdale episode featuring music from the musical, so it seems as good a time as any to dig deep into the darkly-hilarious film.

Don Dixon did a lot of production work for indie bands in the early '80s, most notably co-producing R.E.M.'s first two albums, Murmur and Reckoning, with Mitch Easter, as well as three of the early Smithereens LPs. For Heathers, Dixon wrote and produced the song, "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)," which is the big hit by the fictional band, Big Fun.

It's strangely never seen inclusion on any official release of the soundtrack, and is only available on Dixon's compilation If I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage, released on Restless Records in 1992.

However, last month, Varese Sarabande brought out a 30th anniversary edition of David Newman's score for the Michael Lehmann film, pressed on “very” neon green wax. The synths might be a little cloying at times, but the melodies are excellent. So, much like the film, it manages to still be excellent, despite parts which are a little dated.

We talked about all of this and more by phone with Dixon a couple of months back.

Seattle rock 'n' roll quartet Thunderpussy is all about riffing and wailing. Their self-titled debut — released earlier this year on Stardog Records — is a round dozen of killer cuts, but the band also shines in live performance. Replete with costumes, rock jumps, and high kicks, Thunderpussy brings a visual element to its shows that is sorely needed in an age of black t-shirts and beards. It's matched by Thunderpussy's music videos, which play out like mini movies, whether they're narrative or performance-driven.

So, it's no surprise that frontwoman and vocalist Molly Sides was chosen as the star of director Robert McGinley's 2017 independent sci-fi actioner, Danger Diva. The movie is about a hard rocking singer coerced into becoming a technologically altered diva by her high billionaire patron. It came early in the band's career, so it provides a really interesting snapshot of the band while they were still nascent rock gods. We spoke with Sides last month about the film and her experience making it.

Actress and singer Jessie Buckley is having quite a year. In addition to appearing in the surprise HBO hit, Chernobyl, her new film, Wild Rose, is a heartstring-tugging drama which has wit, verve, and no small amount of joy. I found myself tearing up and cheering loudly while watching the tale of a young Scottish singer, Rose-Lynn Harlan, who dreams of making it as a country artist in Nashville after being released from prison.

The songs -- a range of covers from the likes of Chris Stapleton, Primal Scream, and Hank Snow -- are executed with passion by Buckley, and it was a real treat to speak with her about the film and her upcoming projects.

The promo slug for last year's Ugly Sweater Party is as follows: "An ugly sweater party turns into a bloodbath when an evil Christmas sweater possesses one of the partygoers."

Sounds simple, but the film ends up to be something a lot more. This includes a character hallucinating and imagining a thrash band is playing inside a cabin with him. That band is Omicida, the Los Angeles thrash act. It's kind of a weird story as to how it all happened, so we were excited to speak with the band's Roman Kovalik, who also composed the film's score.

If the movie Relaxer had a smell, it would be sweat on a vinyl couch, with a faint whiff of sour milk somewhere in the background. Y2K’s on the horizon, and a sense of mild panic is palpable. If The Greasy Strangler left you uncomfortable, Relaxer will have you cringing. And, yet, the film manages to achieve a hallucinatory buzz that washes over the viewer.

Relaxer is fascinating and enveloping, and no small part of that is due to the music from Neon Indian, the electronic music project from Alan Palomo, who’s no stranger to working with the sounds of previous decades. Neon Indian’s most recent album, 2015’s Vega Intl. Night School, is awash in synthy ’80s vibes, so it makes sense that Palomo would be able to get into a late ’90s groove with no trouble.

We spoke with Palomo by phone about his work on Relaxer, as well as Neon Indian's work on the video game, Grand Theft Auto V.

The English New Wave / dance pop band, Wang Chung, formed in 1980, and rode a wave of success in the mid-'80s, with such hits as "Dance Hall Days," "Everybody Have Fun Tonight," and "Let's Go," along with the soundtrack to William Friedkin's 1986 crime thriller To Live and Die in L.A., as well as "Fire in the Twilight" from the soundtrack to The Breakfast Club.

In the decades since, the band's music has become synonymous with the '80s, and featured in dozens of films and TV shows. This Friday, May 10, Wang Chung releases Orchesography, which sees original members Jack Hues and Nick Feldman recording reimagined versions of their classic cuts with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

I spoke with Jack Hues by phone about all this and more.

The composer Disasterpeace came to prominence with his work on the 2012 videogame, Fez, as well as his score for the indie horror film, It Follows, released in 2015. That marked his first collaboration with director David Robert Mitchell, with whom the composer has teamed up again on Under the Silver Lake.

For the film's score, Disasterrpeace, best known for his synth-driven work, delivers a full orchestral score for the first time. It's an impressive array of music which hearkens back to the scores of classic thrillers of the '40s and '50s, while also standing tall alongside music from R.E.M. and others.

I spoke with Rich Vreeland ahead of Under the Silver Lake's release, and we talked about everything from video games to film to what he has coming up.

On this episode, we run down the soundtrack releases for Record Store Day 2019, in both the US and UK. We cover nearly thirty exclusive albums, singles, and books.

Okay, so this episode is a little complicated. A couple months back, I spoke with Mark Rozzo, a Brooklyn musician, about Burger Records' reissue of the soundtrack to the 1977 trucker movie, Stinker Lets Loose. Rozzo's uncle, C.J. McKnight, had evidently written and performed the music, and and Rozzo had happened to find all of his uncle's old stuff right around the time he met comedian Mike Sacks, who was in the process of re-releasing a 40th anniversary paperback edition of the movie novelization by James Taylor Johnston.

This installment of Your Favorite Soundtrack sees us talking with W. David Keith about the soundtrack to the 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson film, Boogie Nights. Keith is a podcaster/artist/film director/writer/producer who hails from Kansas City. Dave is the host of the Kansas City Taco Podcast TACO THE TOWN where he reviews Kansas City and surrounding area taco joints. Dave has written & directed the films THE LAST JAYHAWKER, JACUZZI NIGHTZ, DALES STILL DEAD and the mocumentary METCALF SOUTH MEMORIES. He is currently finishing the musical film SUNEATERS: LOVING RELATIONSHIPS.

Composer Steve Horelick is definitely best known for his work on children's television programs like Shining Time Station and Reading Rainbow, the latter of which he composed the iconic theme song for. However, early on in his career, Horelick worked on the 1981 slasher film, Madman, a movie made somewhat infamous by the fact that it shares a similar storyline with the contemporaneous The Burning. Madman was released on Blu-ray back in 2015 via Vinegar Syndrome, and while there was an announcement at the time that Death Waltz would be releasing the score, here we are over three years later with nothing yet. Thankfully, the composer was more than willing to share his story of the score, as well as his illustrious career.

Sorry for the delay, kids. A long weekend of snow, freelance deadlines, and making tamales pushed this episode back a couple of days. I'm also recording this after pulling every muscle in my right side, so expect some weirdness due to pain meds.

That said, I'm excited about this episode. I spoke last month with author David Hollander, about Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, the book released last May by Anthology Editions. In my review for Starburst Magazine, I described the book thusly:

"David Hollander has crafted a book which appeals to the reader interested in history, music, or visual arts. Most readers will approach it, thinking they know nothing of what the author is discussing, only to be amazed at just how much of the music discussed within the cover of Unusual Sounds is familiar to them."

We had a great chat about the book, its companion album from Anthology Recordings, and Hollander's history with library music.

And we're back from winter break! We hope you all checked out some of our favorite 2018 episodes while we were gone. For our first episode back, we're speaking with HERO. The Canadian electronic musician was originally from Calgary, but now calls Montreal home, and we spoke with him in December about his excellent new EP, Dirty Work, which is out THIS VERY FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, as well as having his song, "The Juice," featured on HBO's Insecure.

Musician Jon Spencer and the attendant Jon Spencer Blue Explosion were college radio and underground faves long before director Edgar Wright used the Blues Explosion's "Bellbottoms" -- from the band's 1994 album, Orange -- to blow open the beginning of his film, Baby Driver. Spencer's been making music for decades now, going all the way back to the days of Pussy Galore.

However, Spencer's profile has definitely been raised by Baby Driver, and so we were super-thrilled to finally be able to talk with the musician about that movie, as well as Hot Fuzz and his first-ever solo album, Spencer Sings the Hits.

On this episode, we run down the soundtrack-related Record Store Day Black Friday releases, including Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, Something Weird Greatest Hits, and more.

Director Craig Brewer's films, Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan, are just as much about the soundtrack as they are about the film. Thus, Brewer's collaboration with Memphis musician Scott Bomar, only makes sense. Perfect sense, really, given that Bomar's band the Bo-Keys have backed the likes of any number of nearly-forgotten soul musicians in a live setting.

Bomar's film work is absolutely fascinating, and it was wonderful to spend some time speaking with him about his work with Brewer, the history of the Bo-Keys, and more. We even got a little bit into his work with his studio, Electraphonic Recording.

FX's brilliant comedy / drama / exploration of humanity, Atlanta, is as noted for its music as it is for the writing, directing, and acting. The show's soundtrack is a perfect combination of brilliantly-selected gems like Funkadelic's "Hit It and Quit It," as well as of-the-moment Soundcloud rap like Amindi K. Fro$t's "Cocoa Butter Shawty."

Hell, even Migos have popped up on the show. It's brilliant, and to explain it would be deceptively simple, given the multitude of layers the program features, but at it's heart, it's about Donald Glover's Earn trying to help his cousin, Brian Tyree Henry's Al, become a hip-hop star, while trying to navigate his other relationships.

One of the most-accurate skewerings of pop culture zeitgeist came from the second episode of Atlanta's Robbin' Season. The episode, entitled "Sportin' Waves," sees Al and Earn visiting a tech company and the various ways the majority-white company responds to them. The episode ends with a white-girl acoustic YouTube cover of Al's rapper self, Paperboi's big local hit.

It's hilarious and it's perfect and it's by an actual YouTube cover artist. Her name's Bryce Hitchcock, and she has a slew of original music as well, and it was a great conversation when we spoke with her last month about the show, acting, and her original music.

1987's The Hidden is a sci-fi action horror film directed by Jack Sholder, and starring Michael Nouri and Kyle MacLachlan. As the back of the VHS describes it the Hidden is about "A series of bizarre, inexplicable robberies and murders have L.A. police detective Tom Beck (Nouri) totally baffled. And it doesn't help when mysterious FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (MacLachlan) tells him that a demonic extraterrestrial creature is invading the bodies of innocent victims -- and transforming them into inhuman killers with an unearthly fondness for heavy metal music, red Ferraris and unspeakable violence!"

The film's a really great underseen gem, although several articles last year for its 30th anniversary helped raise its profile. It's a very early role for MacLachlan, and shows that directors were putting him into odd characters right from the start.

The soundtrack, compiled by IRS Records, is one of several that the label put together around that time, and thus, this is the second film in a row that featured Concrete Blonde's "Over Your Shoulder" and "Haunted Head," as did the previous year's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. There was never an actual soundtrack release, although Michael Convertino's score was put out by Varese Sarabande, and the Truth's "It's Hidden" was released as a single by IRS.

Drummer Doug Clifford is best known for his work in the seminal band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. The group celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and as part of that, Craft Recordings released a remastered version of Clifford's 1972 album, Cosmo, along with Tom Fogerty's 1972 solo release, Excalibur. We were lucky enough to speak with Clifford about that release for Modern Vinyl, and also managed to sneak in a discussion about the use of Creedence Clearwater Revival in film, which you can hear now.

In addition to his work in the pioneering New Wave band, the Waitresses, Chris Butler has worked for years as a musician and producer on such albums as Freedy Johnston's debut, The Trouble Tree. His most recent work, out next week on Smog Veil Records, is a collaboration with Tin Huey's Ralph Carney, entitled Songs For Unsung Holidays. It's Carney's last recordings before his death in December of 2017.

We spoke with Chris Butler by phone about his work with the Waitresses, including their iconic theme for the '80s TV show, Sqaure Pegs, the new album on Smog Veil, and a surprising connection to a recent horror film.

On this episode, we continue our summer series, Your Favorite Soundtrack, where we talk to our favorite people about the soundtracks they love. Our third installment features Aaron Vehling, writer, podcaster, and synthwave expert, talking about the soundtrack to the 2011 Nicolas Wending Refn film, Drive.

On this episode, we continue off our summer series, Your Favorite Soundtrack, where we talk to our favorite people about the soundtracks they love. Our second installment features Charlie Brigden, freelance writer and film score expert, talking about John Williams' score to the 1980 Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.

On this episode, we kick off our summer series, Your Favorite Soundtrack, where we talk to our favorite people about the soundtracks they love. Our first installment features Josh Robbins, bassist and vocalist for Charlotte, North Carolina's Late Bloomer, talking about Ken Higgins and James Calabrese's score to the 1986 horror movie, Spookies.

Loren not only appeared in Beach Blanket Bingo, Bikini Beach, and Muscle Beach Party, but the prolific '60s performer was the "Dr Pepper Girl," the featured singer on Shindig!, and guest-starred on both Batman and The Monkees. She left entertainment at the height of her fame in 1968 to start and raise a family, and while she recorded occasionally in the '80s, didn't return to music in a big way until 2009.

Additionally, she's the mother of that dog's Anna Waronker and Joey Waronker, drummer for Atoms for Peace. Her first book, Pop Sixties: Shindig!, Dick Clark, Beach Party, and Photographs from the Donna Loren Archive, was released last year, and a second edition is out now. We talked about all of this and more in a career-spanning interview.

Director Jenn Wexler's debut feature, The Ranger, is a fun but brutal movie about a bunch of punks who hole up in a cabin while on the lam, only to be stalked and killed by a psychotic park ranger. It's been getting a lot of acclaim from everyone I know who's seen it, so I reached out via Twitter, especially after reading a piece music supervisor Middagh Goodwin wrote for the Modesto View, running down all the great bands he'd lined up for the film.

After watching the movie, I was even more excited to talk with Wexler and Goodwin, and I think it comes through in the interview. We get very goofy, and it's a damn blast.

It took a while to set this up, but we were able to track down and talk with 4 Out of 5 Doctors' guitarist and singer, Cal Everett, about the band's appearance in The House on Sorority Row, as well as their history with another lesser-known horror film, The Boogeyman. It's probably our longest episode ever, but the conversation is pretty wonderful.

David DeCoteau's 1988 horror comedies, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama and Nightmare Sisters, are notable for featuring the trio of '80s scream queens Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer. They're low-budget bits of craziness, loaded with bad jokes, buckets of blood, and copious nudity.

Also in both films is actor Michael Sonye, better known as Dukey Flyswatter, frontman for the Los Angeles splatterpunk band, Haunted Garage. He voiced the imp in Sorority Babes, and played the mystic Omar in the opening to Nightmare Sisters. Additionally, Haunted Garage performed four of the songs heard in Nightmare Sisters. Beyond all of that, Flyswatter has written and acted in quite a few genre films you might be familiar with.

We spoke about all of this via phone with Flyswatter earlier this year, before his recent knee replacement surgery.

Back in February, Joel McHale made a triumphant return to making fun of TV clips with the show that's definitely not the Soup reloaded, but absolutely definitely is. The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale is on Netflix, and it's hilarious and kind of the way I kick off every week. Part of what makes the show so wonderful is the music which plays over the closing credits.

Written and performed by comedian and musician, Eli Braden, the song pokes fun at the fact that most people skip the closing credits to Netflix shows. It's become a surprising hit, and has even begun changing. We talked with Braden about the song, his career in comedy and music, and more.

The Breakfast Club was written, directed, and produced by John Hughes and starred Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy as the titular kids brought together by Saturday detention in fictional Shermer, Illinois.

The film's spawned memes, quotable lines, and just last week became the subject of a retrospective look in a New Yorker essay by Molly Ringwald, entitled "What About 'The Breakfast Club'? Revisiting the movies of my youth in the age of #MeToo." The Breakfast Club's visuals are iconographic, with the film's poster being lifted by sources as varied as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 and Archie comics.

However, what's endured most from the 1985 movie has been the soundtrack, and in particular, Simple Minds' Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit, "Don't You (Forget About Me)." The song -- written and composed by producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff -- would be Simple Minds' biggest hit, while also one of the few songs not written by the band's vocalist Jim Kerr or keyboardist Charlie Burchill.

Forsey had several instrumentals featured on the soundtrack, along with songs by Wang Chung and '80s soundtrack staple E.G. Daily. It's an impressive array of '80s pop, but Simple Minds' song playing over the closing credits and and Judd Nelson's raised fist, will forever be linked with the film.

On this episode, we talk about the 1980 slasher classic, New Year's Evil, with Bobby Asea, bassist for Made In Japan. New Year's Evil is fairly amazing, because it's pretty nasty in terms of tone, but it also manages to be a really punk rock kind of film. It's thanks in no small part to the fact that two L.A. area bands, Shadow and Made In Japan, perform during the film's New Year's Eve TV special, which is the setting for the terrorization of the evidently famous Blaze. It's pretty atrocious, but the performances are cool as hell, with Made In Japan's power-pop being especially good.

The band was coaxed out of the woodwork a few years back by the folks at Chicago's Hozac Records, who released two songs from the band's heyday on 7-inch, making this the first time Made In Japan's music has ever been readily available. An announced soundtrack for New Year's Evil never materialized, despite statements in the closing credits of the film, as well as promotional singles sent to radio stations.

Artie Kane composed the music for over 250 television shows, conducted scores for 60 motion pictures, and had eight marriages and a career spanning over eight decades. At the end of last year, Kane released his memoirs, entitled Music To My Years: Life and Love Between the Notes. In the book, out now from Amphora Editions, the musician recounted his life in Hollywood and New York as a child prodigy, composer and conductor working with such stars as Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, John Williams, and Quincy Jones.

This interview is a little different than most, in that Kane is a very busy man, so we sent him the questions via email, and he recorded his responses at his home studio.

If there is a list of iconic '80s movie songs, Stan Bush's "The Touch" has to be be on it. Notably featured in 1986's Transformers animated movie, the song has made repeated appearances in any number of '80s homages, and its soaring opening lines are instantly memorable.

However, while Bush is best known for that song, his work on the early Jean Claude Van Damme hits Kickboxer and Bloodsport, are just as amazing, as well as the highly-underrated "Hearts Vs. Heads" from the equally-underrated 1986 sci-fi teen movie, The Wraith.

On this episode, we're talking with April Wolfe, host of Switchblade Sisters, a podcast providing deep cuts on genre flicks from a female perspective. Every week, Wolfe -- former lead film critic for L.A. Weekly -- sits down with a phenomenal female film-maker to slice-and-dice a classic genre movie - horror, exploitation, sci-fi and many others! Along the way, they cover craft, the state of the industry, how films get made, and more.

On this episode, we're talking with Franklin Fantini, host of Dollar Country, a podcast which primarily features country 45's that Franklin finds in dollar bins around the country. The show has everything from old hits to b-sides, common records to rarities, and everything between the most popular artists and private press junk. Franklin swung by my house to talk about his favorite soundtrack -- Don Cherry, Ronald Frangipane, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's music for Jodorowsky's 1973 surrealist fantasy film, The Holy Mountain.

he official music video for “Black Sheep” essentially takes the scene from the film and plays it out to the full length of the song, complete with Brie Larson vocals throughout — meaning this is an actual Clash at Demonhead video, not just a lip-synched performance to a Metric song. I mean, that’s the way it goes, right? There are all kinds of fake bands in movies, but rarely do you get a future Oscar-winning actress to record a cover of a song by a Canadian dance-rock band.

Plus, the video looks cool as hell: we get more of the cool back-and-forth cuts on the rhythm of the guitar riff — with the intense stares between Envy, Scott, Ramona, and Todd — from the scene in the movie, and it’s also intercut with clips from the film which do a lovely job of consolidating the storyline of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World into a three-and-a-half minute clip.

The “Black Sheep” video does an excellent job of selling the cool of the movie, as well as making those of us who love it want to go watch it again (seriously, I went to watch the Clash at Demonhead scenes for this piece, and ended up sitting in front of the TV for a solid half hour). Strangely, the video’s not available on either the DVD or the Blu-ray, but you can get it if you download the deluxe version of the soundtrack on iTunes.

Following on the success of Troma's Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High, Troma's War saw the independent studio taking on the action-adventure genre in their own way. Surprisingly well-reviewed, the movie doesn't quite have the following of the studio's tentpole franchises, but it's definitely an entertaining and inventive Tromatic view of the guns and glory films which were everywhere in the latter half of the '80s.

TROMA’S WAR tells the story of a group of marooned citizens who stumble upon a terrorist plot to take over the United States. With no help in sight and no way to contact reinforcements, it’s up to these ordinary people to save the world!

Musician Chris DeMarco performed the music for the film, as well as appearing in it. His score -- along with the power ballads "Alive" and "Storm Is Rising" -- was a major part of how well Troma's War works. Sadly, it was never legally available in any form, failing even to make an appearance on Troma's 20th anniversary compilation, Toxic Tunes From Tromaville.

Featuring the complete motion picture score including cuts not used in the final film, Troma's War was released on 140-gram red and orange “Triumphant Explosion” colored vinyl back in July of last year. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide, the LP was put out by New York's Ship to Shore PhonoCo, in collaboration with Locked Groove Recording Company.

We spoke with Chris DeMarco last year about his work on Troma's War, as well as what he's up to now.

Scrooged always seems to get shunted to the side when we’re talking Christmas genre movies. Black Christmas and Gremlins always get the horror nods, in addition to Santa slashers like Silent Night, Deadly Night and Christmas Evil. The action advent selections are always Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, with maybe I Come In Peace for the heads. Romantic and family movies abound, obviously.

However, with the exception of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, comedies with an acknowledgement of how awfully stressful the holidays can be — and that manage to be funny — are sparse. Somehow, Scrooged always seems to get left aside when lists get put together or people make their marathons.

For whatever its flaws — and yes, there are many — the John Williams score for the film was stellar. The video for “Duel of the Fates” debuted on MTV’s Total Request Live on May 3, the first video of a week of premieres that included both “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears’ “Sometimes.” A cut from a film score getting a video is a pretty big deal: I mean, despite the fact that Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” was an international number 1 hit in 1985, it never had a video, and you can dance to that sucker. But the fact that it was on the same level as the Backstreet Boys and Britney in 1999 is astonishing.

Since 1981, the alternative rock band Soul Asylum has gone from a scrappy pack of dudes recording for Minneapolis label Twin/Tone to becoming a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum act. Along the way, the band's recorded music for all kinds of films. Most notably, Soul Asylum or its frontman, Dave Pirner, have had songs in three of director Kevin Smith's films, as well as So I Married An Axe Murderer, Twister, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Faculty. Pirner also recorded as part of the Beatles cover act the Backbeat Band for the 1994 film, Backbeat.

I was lucky enough to speak with Dave Pirner back at the start of September about all of these, as well as Soul Asylum's latest album, Change of Fortune. It's kind of all over the place, but Priner seemed up to discuss pretty much anything, so while it's kind of long, it's really fun. Check it out.

The animated music video is absolutely bonkers -- basically an anime nightmare -- and this sentence from the Wikipedia entry on the song sums it up nicely:

“It features the band performing in Gotham City, with Bono battling between two of his alter-egos from the Zoo TV Tour: ‘The Fly’ and ‘MacPhisto.’ The band also chases the Batwing, using a yellow supercar and their guitars as flamethrowers.”

The Bosstones celebrated the 20th anniversary of Let's Face It with a bunch of dates this year, and when I spoke with the band's frontman, Dicky Barrett, about their Lawrence show this summer, I took the opportunity to ask him about the Bosstones' appearance in Clueless, and how the club scene came to be.

Back when I discussed Phunk Junkeez and their contribution to the Tommy Boy soundtrack, I mentioned offhand that Goo Goo Dolls’ cover of The Damned’s “Wait for the Blackout” wasn’t bad. Being as how I’m always trying to track down weird-ass music videos for this column as well as look for bands to come on my soundtrack podcast and talk about how weird it was to have their song in a movie, I come across quite a few surprises.

Thus, we come to the fact that Goo Goo Dolls’ first soundtrack contribution was all the way back in 1991, when they had not one, not two, but three songs on the soundtrack to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. And they were alongside songs by Chubb Rock and Iggy Pop. And and Fates Warning. And, and, and the soundtrack was on Metal Blade.

Shot in 1990 and unreleased until this very moment, Jungle Trap is the final collaboration between exploitation demigods James Bryan (DON’T GO IN THE WOODS) and the late Renee Harmon (FROZEN SCREAM). The movie is a decapitation-fueled, shot-on-video horror masterpiece about a jungle hotel haunted by kill-crazy ghosts in loin cloths.

The movie remained unedited, unscored, and unseen by human eyes for over two decades, until it saw release back in late July. Under Bryan’s guidance, the Bleeding Skull team meticulously edited the movie and Taken By Savages recorded a soundtrack utilizing vintage 1980s synthesizers.

Despite the fairly atrocious “Baby You’re a Rich Man” from Disorderlies, the Fat Boys might’ve recorded one of the best horror movie soundtrack songs you’ve probably long since forgotten, probably because there are two Nightmare On Elm Street-themed hip-hop tunes, both released right around the same time. Like most folks, I’m sure you probably think that DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s “Nightmare on My Street” is the real deal holyfield.

The soundtrack to The Lost Boys is a collection of amazingly catchy tracks. Be it INXS teaming up with the Easybeats' Jimmy Barnes to do a version of "Good Times," the Who's Roger Daltry covering "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me," or the exquisitely perfect version of the Doors' "People Are Strange" by Echo and the Bunnymen, the soundtrack is a solid collection of classic songs by what were then modern artists. It's a nice nod to the ageless nature of the forever young vampires in the film.

However, the film's theme song, "Cry Little Sister," by Gerard McMann, is the only cut to appear twice in The Lost Boys, and definitely does a great job of sonically conveying the concept of the film in a thre-minute pop song. McMann, who now performs under the aegis of G Tom Mac, has also recorded a musical sort of prequel to The Lost Boys. A Lost Boys Story sees release later this month, and we were excited to talk with McMann about both the film and the upcoming musical.

Freaked is a crazy-pants bit of claymation, makeup, and blaring punk rock. In addition to Blind Idiot God, the soundtrack also features the Butthole Surfers, which should definitely clue you into the sheer madness of the film, whose plot is too bizarre for words. Suffice it to say, there are freaks, evil corporations, ecological warnings, and a talk show hosted by Brook Shields. The film's soundtrack was never officially released, but the titular song, by Henry Rollins and Blind Idiot God, sees its debut when Blind Idiot God's sophomore album, Undertow, is re-released on October 13, where that song is a bonus track.

"Scotty Doesn't Know" was written for the film by the band Lustra. It's kind of taken on a life of its own, due in no small part to its hilarious premise -- the lead singer of the band is singing a song about fooling around with Scotty's girlfriend, Fiona, and describing things in excrutiating detail. It's kind of nasty, and hilarious. The fact that Matt Damon's lip-sync'ing it all while pierced to high heaven is icing on the cake. We spoke with Lustra's guitarist, Nick Cloutman, about writing the song and Matt Damon singing for them.

On this episode, we're running down “City of Crime” by Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd, from 1987's Dragnet, which represents the pinnacle — or nadir, depending on how you look at it — of the "terrible end credits rap song" trend. The film — starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks — was a filmic reworking of the popular 1960s television show, which was itself a reworking of the popular 1950s radio program. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, yet managed to be a fairly faithful homage to the show, which had been running in reruns for years by the time the film came out.

You can check out the video and the original column at Cinepunx.

We're glad to be back from vacation, and on this episode, we're talking with Sean Tillman -- better known as Har Mar Superstar -- about his musical contributions to the Netflix series, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, as well as his new EP, Personal Boy.