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Fraggle Talk BONUS EPISODE: Fraggle Music with Harvey Mason, Jr. · Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com

0:17
Hello and welcome to fraggle, talk.
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The Unofficial Fraggle, Rock podcast brought to you by tough
0:22
pics.com. This is the podcast where we
0:25
cover Fraggle. Rock back to the Rock Episode by
0:27
episode along with the town's of producers for performers,
0:30
writers and Builders, who helped put it together.
0:32
I'm your host silly creature Johannes.
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Today, we're breaking out of our format for a special bonus
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episode. All about the terrific music
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heard throughout the series. Our Guest today has written and
0:42
produced music for Aretha Franklin.
0:44
Michael Jackson Whitney Houston, Beyonce and hundreds more.
0:48
He's the current CEO of the recording Academy.
0:51
Best known for the Grammy Awards on back, to the Rockies serves.
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As the executive music, producer and key songwriter, having
0:58
co-written new songs for every Sewed and oversee new
1:01
arrangements for over a dozen classic Fraggle, Rock songs.
1:05
We are extremely pleased to welcome Harvey.
1:07
Mason Junior to the podcast. Hey Harvey, know, how are you
1:11
buddy? Good to be here and I'm doing
1:13
great. It's great to talk to you about
1:15
all this great fraggle music. Thank you.
1:17
Thank I, love the introduction. I'm a simple human.
1:21
A simple thing as well. I just love Fraggle.
1:25
Rock from the top to the bottom. From the beginning to the end,
1:29
the chance to work. Work on this show has been, I
1:32
don't know. I don't want to overstate it,
1:34
but it's almost like a dream come true because I've grown up
1:37
with the Henson company and Hansen family and a lot of the
1:40
characters, I'm a little old for the some of the Fraggle Rock
1:43
stuff. But I just part of what they've
1:45
done when what Jim Henson has created has been a part of my
1:49
DNA, my whole life. So it's just so much fun to be
1:52
involved in the show notes, want to talk to you about it.
1:53
So thanks for having me, of course, of course.
1:56
And I mean look, you're preaching to the choir here
1:58
because we're all free. Fanatics over here.
2:01
That's so so you mentioned being a fan of Fraggle Rock before
2:06
hands how much of a part of Fraggle Rock was was in your
2:12
life. I mean, you you say you didn't
2:14
grow up with it. But do remember watching this
2:16
back when it was on originally, or did you kind of catch up with
2:19
the DVDs before diving into the, to this show?
2:23
Well, I grew up more Muppets and some of the other Henson
2:27
properties, but then was very aware forever.
2:29
Iraq. And when I had kids we would go
2:31
back and watch a lot of that, a lot of material, and that's
2:34
probably got initially introduced a Fraggle Rock was
2:37
through my kids. But in preparing for this show
2:43
and for the new version of Ragnarok, I definitely went
2:45
back, watch some other versions. Listen to a ton of songs and
2:50
just not was one of the things that really resonated with me,
2:52
was the music was so well done in the songs aren't just the
2:56
most basic Kitty songs that you hear a lot of times on
3:00
children's programming, these are songs that are really well
3:03
written. Well, thought-out musically,
3:04
very Advanced and interesting and intricate but they're also
3:08
just catchy as heck and you just end up with singing them all
3:11
day. So in watching the old episodes
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I just came away thinking minutes.
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The music is really, really cool, really important.
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And so I was excited when they asked me to be involved in that
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side of it. So is that how it happened?
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You just kind of got the call one day that had some companies
3:26
like hey we want you on this show or well, I don't know if it
3:30
was they want me on the show was more just like the Henson
3:33
company is getting ready to do a show.
3:35
They're going to really work some of the Fraggle Rock
3:38
episodes and come up with new episodes and at that point we're
3:40
just doing shorts. I think they were, you know,
3:42
many episodes during covid and the word came to me that they
3:47
were starting to do that. And I'm not sure if they heard
3:50
that. I'd done some some good stuff.
3:51
Physically or what we end up sitting down at my studio and
3:55
just talking about what their vision for the show was, and see
3:58
if it aligned with what I would like to do the music.
4:01
And fortunately, for me, it didn't was a good meeting went.
4:04
Well, we actually won good storage on the meeting.
4:07
Was one of the people who works with the Fraggle Rock team.
4:10
John is his name, he brought a Fraggle Rock Character to my
4:15
studio like a real puppet, and he pulled it out and he started
4:19
like manipulating the puppet. I'm sound embarrassed.
4:24
I'm embarrassed to even say it, but like, I started tearing up a
4:26
little bit because, like, just the eyes and the fuzzy hair,
4:30
just the almost was so surreal having that character in my
4:35
studio talking to me. And it hit me, like this is
4:39
incredible. And this is such a great chance
4:42
to work on something that is really meaningful to me and my,
4:46
you know, upbringing but also for millions of kids all around
4:49
the world. This is going to hit them the
4:52
way that it hits me. So when he pulled out that day
4:54
puppet I would have done the job.
4:57
I would I would have done, they don't have to pay me at that
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point. Hopefully I didn't say that out
5:01
loud but I was I was hooked and those are so fortunate for me.
5:06
We got along well and they asked me to do the shorts which led to
5:09
doing the series on Apple so it's great.
5:13
You know, it's funny. We interviewed John tartaglia
5:15
here on this podcast earlier and he told a very similar story
5:18
about how he brought a puppet to meet with apple to kind of help
5:21
seal the deal there. So it seems like that's a pretty
5:24
good strategy. Yeah, bring a puppet big step up
5:27
anywhere. He can get anyone to do
5:28
anything. I'm pretty sure.
5:31
Amazing. That's a it's a scary talent to
5:34
have. So you worked with a ton of
5:38
legendary artists, we mentioned just a few of them of the top of
5:40
the show here but beyond this are the fraggles, the biggest
5:42
divas that you've ever worked with no question.
5:45
The fraggles are, by far the biggest.
5:48
I mean, they are so demanding, so difficult so much attitude,
5:52
but they can sing. So they have the right to be
5:55
deepest. This is how it is true, and they
5:58
work for radishes. So makes it it a little bit
6:00
easier to read out to the stomach there.
6:03
Some of their requests out of control, their living conditions
6:06
of things they want to eat. I mean, I've seen pre-show
6:09
writers or Prestigio Riders from artists but stuff with Rivals
6:13
requires just out of control. It must be, I can't even
6:16
imagine. So I so walk me through the
6:20
process of how you would approach a new.
6:23
So we'll start with the new songs before we get to the, the
6:25
classic ones. But did you just kind of get a
6:28
script? And they would say, like, okay,
6:30
there's a song that would go in here and then it's just up to
6:32
you to figure out how to fill the space.
6:35
Well in some instances, it was that simple.
6:37
But most of the times they had a very specific purpose for the
6:40
song and there's a scene where they want the song to happen.
6:43
So we're talking to the writers and And some team and then sum
6:47
of even the puppeteers, but definitely Johnny was involved
6:50
in some of these conversations but they're saying, here's the
6:53
flow of the episode. Here's the original store, the
6:56
pre-existing song we're going to use because in each up so
6:59
there's a pre-existing and original.
7:01
So here's the pre-existing song we're using that episode.
7:05
Here's the area of the episode where we would like to introduce
7:08
a new song. And here is our hope for what it
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accomplishes story-wise. Sometimes they would have a
7:14
title sometimes they'd have A line or two.
7:17
Sometimes they just had a concept or Ematic idea of what
7:21
the song should feel like and convey to The Listener.
7:24
They say, we're right here, there's a lot of tension or
7:27
uncertainty in the character and story beat or here is a
7:30
celebration. We love an up-tempo thing, and
7:33
then sometimes it would give me examples of pre-existing songs
7:36
just, you know, songs that were streaming that you would hear
7:39
that ago. There's a Bruno Mars song, the
7:41
kind of like or here's a dually poisson.
7:42
We like or, you know, an older song they would reference So,
7:46
giving me references, giving me story, be ideas and giving these
7:50
specific lines or lyrics or titles were sometimes things
7:53
that I got really helped Define or at least point us in the
7:56
direction of what a song should be.
7:59
That's great. And then, you had a couple of
8:02
code writers as well. So, was it, just you and the
8:05
others just kind of sitting in a room, kind of hammering.
8:07
It out that you guys split the duties.
8:10
It was, uh, sitting in a room and the co-writers on this
8:13
particular project, Sama mirrors.
8:15
And Andrew, hey, were really instrumental in setting the
8:19
sound of the tone for a lot of this stuff.
8:21
And we need three of us work together on both the
8:25
pre-existing saws and creating the production and not upgrading
8:29
is a complete wrong word, but doing new interpretations of the
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classic Ragnarok. Songs is something that Andrew
8:37
myself and Sam worked on and then that gave us some cool
8:40
context and kind of vision for what the original song should
8:45
sound. And like because we've been
8:46
producing some of the pre-existing sauce we kind of
8:48
are in that mindset and in the spirit of keeping with what the
8:52
songs are in originally were so we didn't want to try and
8:56
distract pain songs that didn't have any correlation weren't
9:01
related in some way to the songs that were pre-existing wanted to
9:04
feel it coherent and of the same world.
9:07
So I think saying and you did an amazing job of working with me
9:11
on that. Yeah, absolutely.
9:13
I completely agree and you mentioned kind of matching the
9:16
tone of the old songs, those fraggles songs.
9:20
I don't know how anyone, even if you're a musical, genius can
9:24
boil them down and kind of label why this is a fraggle song
9:29
Because Philip Balsam and Dennis Lee.
9:30
You're just genius Geniuses and you know what was it for you
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that made a song? A fraggle song?
9:39
It was a clever wordplay was the Melodic kind of intricacies that
9:44
they do but it's also the singable and sing-along nature
9:49
of a lot of parts of their songs are very catchy, they're very
9:52
hooky not nursery rhyme either. You know, a lot of kids songs
9:56
are very simple and like nursery rhyme.
10:00
Their songs Just were really well-crafted and you could tell
10:04
they spent time on it you could tell that the lyrics really were
10:07
meaningful and they went back and forth on some of these
10:09
lyrics, they weren't just superficial or Story-wise, they
10:14
really had some depth but I think it was a lot of at The
10:18
Melodies and intricate parts and overlap.
10:23
Each other also makes it a Priceless.
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Honest. They just fun and they would say
10:27
things that just made you smile, it made you feel good.
10:31
Even on some of the ballads are more introspective stalls.
10:33
It would just say things in a way that just giving me that
10:36
warm feeling like, oh, the fraggles are just so cool.
10:39
And so sweet and so heartfelt, And I think that's really the
10:43
Common Thread among all the fraggle songs and really
10:47
episodes that matters the earnestness and the heartfelt
10:54
type of approach to everything they did.
10:56
Maybe that's why people like him all these years later and love
10:58
them like like me. And you were sitting here
11:00
talking about the darn pregnancies because they had a
11:03
lot of heart, a lot of feeling and they were real you're so
11:07
fake but they were so real. It's true.
11:10
Yeah did you get a chance to talk to or work with either?
11:14
Fill up all summer? Dennis Lee before, working on
11:16
these songs. Yes.
11:18
In fact, one of the songs we co-wrote with Dennis and
11:23
potentially fill up as well, and they were a big part of
11:27
obviously, informing, what we did with the original songs and
11:29
they were a big part of the song that we wrote with them was
11:32
really a treat for me. That's fantastic.
11:36
I love that. I mean, that's, that's been a
11:37
pattern for the new Fraggle, Rock for sure of bringing back.
11:40
A lot of these people who used to work on the old show ya.
11:44
Some, the original poisonous and some of the writers.
11:46
Yeah, exactly. The you can't leave the magic.
11:49
It's true. And now you're a part of that
11:51
you're stuck. Now, is part as a member of the
11:53
Fraggle, Rock Family. You're going to be working with
11:56
them for the rest of your career.
11:57
I'm sure and Beyond hope. I'm that.
11:59
I hope I'm that lucky you. I really do.
12:01
Absolutely. Let's talk about some of those
12:03
classic song. Things, you said that, they that
12:06
the writers just kind of handed you which songs to use with your
12:10
research beforehand, where there any songs that you were like,
12:13
well, I really hope I get to get to play with that one.
12:15
You get to play in that sandbox. Yeah.
12:19
And we listen to probably 50 or 60 songs and we did as a group
12:23
and we have a big link or a box with all the songs that they
12:26
were considering. So, we would talk about and say,
12:28
which one is, you think would be best which ones?
12:30
You think we should avoid. So we all had some input, the
12:34
song Was that I didn't want to do.
12:36
I only didn't want to do them because they were so amazing.
12:38
And they were so classic and iconic that I was scared to
12:41
touch them. The title song was like that a
12:43
little bit. You've heard that song so many
12:46
darn time than use you associate so many feelings and memories
12:51
with it. That for me it was daunting to
12:53
try and re-approach it. And think what I would do with
12:56
it to make it more modern but also not ruin it and not kill
13:02
the vibe of what that song was. Is that what it meant to so many
13:05
people. So that was one of the more
13:07
challenging songs for us to reinterpret is that iconic title
13:13
song. Well, let's talk about that for
13:15
a second. So I do think that you did nail
13:19
it, you know, it does feel like the old song it does feel
13:21
updated, but it doesn't feel disrespectful in any way.
13:25
What exactly did you do to the song to give it that update?
13:29
But not, but not too much of an update?
13:31
Well, that's the secret sauce. I can't tell you everything.
13:33
I did Joe those. Okay.
13:34
That's fair. No.
13:36
You know, it's really a challenge and it's something
13:40
that I've done a lot in my career, I'm not sure how I got
13:44
to be. Person.
13:45
But sometimes I've been challenged with projects that
13:48
you're working on a piece of music that a lot of people know,
13:52
are a lot of people love and you have to figure out how to make
13:56
it work in the current setting or make it relevant for what it
14:00
is. You're working on without making
14:02
the people who loved it really pissed off at you.
14:04
And so, I started doing that produced Dreamgirls.
14:08
All the music for that film in two thousand six or seven.
14:13
And that had been a musical. That people around the world and
14:15
love for a long time. So we're looking at these song
14:18
when I saying, how do I make these songs sound great for
14:21
today's movie-going audiences without making everyone hate me
14:25
and said hate mail to me. And so that was really where the
14:28
process started of being able to walk the tightrope between
14:32
respecting, what the original version was and picking out the
14:36
very best most meaningful parts of what was working about the
14:40
original song and adding to that my own personal flavor and Of
14:44
infected contemporize it in a way that sounded fresh but
14:49
didn't sound trendy and so, in order to do that way back then,
14:53
and all the way up until the Fraggle Rock songs.
14:56
It's just really assessing and evaluating what are the key
15:00
parts of those songs that make you feel, something that make
15:03
you want to smile or sing or cry or dance, whatever the mood of
15:08
the song is finding the key elements.
15:10
Pulling those out, making sure you always retain those and
15:13
whatever version you're doing going forward.
15:14
Forward and then you're trying to add to them the sonics that
15:18
are applicable to what people are listening to today.
15:21
If you're streaming something on Apple and spot of or whatever it
15:24
is, you want it to sound competitive to that, you know,
15:28
music from the 60s, 70s 80s, even 90s sonically doesn't have
15:33
the same sound as what we're used to.
15:35
In the Fidelity, we're used to today.
15:38
So taking the key Parts out adding in some some, some weight
15:42
and some Sonic, Modern touches along with just making a few
15:48
musical choices that I think in our team thinks will work today,
15:53
is kind of the juggling act that we're doing with each and every
15:57
song. It must be challenging to
16:00
because Fraggle Rock is supposed to be so Timeless.
16:03
Fraggle Rock could have been like the episodes that we got
16:05
here could have been made in the 80s or today or 30 years from
16:08
now and I'm sure it's tempting to put in something that's just
16:13
like really hip like the thing that you know you would see on
16:17
Tick Tock right now or whatever, whatever the kids are watching.
16:20
But you don't want to go too far because you know five ten years
16:23
from now if it sounds dated. That's not really, that's not
16:26
really good thing. Yeah.
16:28
Yeah, well I almost think it's inevitable at some point.
16:31
It will sound dated but you don't want a time stamp it in
16:34
this era. I would love it to be part of a
16:36
bigger pallet a wider window of opportunity for people to think.
16:41
Oh this sounds sounds great. And I think if you start doing
16:44
the really really trendy specific tricks production wise
16:49
or instrument instrumentation wise than I think you are really
16:52
cutting down the window of relevance by a lot.
16:55
So it was a challenge and you do have that tendency to try You
16:58
sound exactly like everything that's on, you know, almost
17:01
streaming platforms but our goal is to make something a little
17:04
bit more timeless. Definitely, speaking of
17:08
Timeless, you got to work with some like, really incredible.
17:11
Celebrities, a few of these songs Patti, LaBelle and
17:14
Stephanie Cynthia areevo, daveed Diggs the Foo Fighters.
17:19
Did you get to work with them Hands-On directly?
17:21
Or was that kind of after you've written the song, it's kind of
17:24
out of your hands. No, we were Hands-On with all of
17:27
them. It was a great treat.
17:29
It was doing, you know, covid still.
17:32
So people were socially distance and aqua The booth but we were
17:37
very Hands-On from six feet away but it was sure a Bergman.
17:41
It was a great experience and I think a lot of the people were
17:46
attracted to the Fraggle Rock stairs as I was because it is so
17:52
iconic and such a part of the, the culture in the DNA of all of
17:56
us growing up. So we did have access to some
17:58
incredible talents, amazing people.
18:00
I mean working with the Foo Fighters as you said was just
18:03
amazing and working with all the different When people in the
18:06
cast Patti Labelle we had some great great guest stars.
18:13
And every time I think about different ones that just makes
18:15
me laugh but a lot of fun. Were there any any of those
18:21
Stars? Kind of I'm able to hit that
18:27
that perfect Fraggle, Rock tone. Do they even had trouble with
18:30
that? Or were they able to just kind
18:32
of Dive Right In now? You have to name names?
18:35
I run. I'm just curious if any of them
18:36
words like I your clothes but like just a little little to the
18:39
left and you got it. I mean, we're always doing that
18:42
whenever I'm working with artists and making music.
18:46
We're always trying things and pushing different areas with the
18:49
cool things about the, one of the cool things about the fried
18:52
Rock Series in the characters is it's really about being yourself
18:55
and about, you know, finding your own voice and not trying to
18:59
be anything that you're not. So our tendency was as a music
19:03
team, was to try and just capture the coolest parts of
19:06
people that were coming in to be involved and letting it live as
19:09
that and not trying to You know, horseshit or horn something
19:13
into, you know, a square peg in a round hole.
19:18
It just it just really about trying to make stuff authentic
19:21
and feel good. And a lot of the people already
19:24
came in, with somebody going on Tiffany haddish was, was one of
19:27
our guests use. Amazing and hilarious, and just
19:30
letting everyone do what they do and making that be part of the
19:33
Fraggle Rock family. And that was, that was one of
19:36
our goals. Fantastic.
19:40
So Leave you co-written about 15 new songs for the series, where
19:46
there any of them, a kind of stand out as your favorites.
19:49
Oh my gosh. It's like which of my favorite
19:53
children. I can't answer that possible.
19:57
They're all fun. They're all challenging.
19:59
But what's your favorite? I'll tell you a couple of my
20:02
favorites. If that helps, I love honestly.
20:06
I think my two favorites are the ones that bookend, the series
20:09
party down in Fraggle Rock from the first episode and then new,
20:13
excuse me, one heart from the final episode of the season.
20:17
I think both are really strong songs.
20:19
They felt frag lie, they were fun and they felt they have that
20:22
sense of importance that Fraggle Rock songs tend to have Well,
20:27
thank you very much. That means a lot that a couple
20:30
of them made it into your favorites list.
20:33
That's really cool. Definitely there.
20:36
They're so fun to write because a lot of times you can say some
20:41
things that you normally wouldn't say in the song and you
20:43
can do different styles of music.
20:45
That was one of the cool challenges about the series is
20:48
all the music isn't just one sound or one genre.
20:52
You're able to touch a little bit of country, a little bit of
20:55
pop and rock and R&B. Jazz reggae, you know it's all
20:59
over the map with the music so it's a fun challenge for a music
21:02
person like me. It's got to be fun like you're
21:06
not just stuck in one place. You can really go anywhere with
21:08
the songs. Yeah.
21:09
And and the Henson company and the producers and directors were
21:12
all, you know, they were all for like Hey try something crazy.
21:15
Try this try that which those are the projects you like to be
21:18
on people looking to push the boundaries and do cool things
21:21
and have fun. It's not like you must be a
21:24
robot and do this and do that and that's that's boring.
21:27
I want to have fun music supposed to be fun.
21:29
It's some other show. That's not a boring show.
21:32
We don't worry. We're not doing a podcast about
21:33
that one. No.
21:34
Nope. Was it was it tough to find the
21:37
balance between when you're writing the lyrics for these
21:39
songs? To find that balance between
21:43
something that feels Universal. And something that is actually
21:46
specific to the plot at hand. Yeah, a little bit because you
21:52
do have to tell a story through the lyrics and you have to make
21:55
sure that the song is actually moving the plot along.
21:59
And that was one of the objectives or asks from the the
22:04
Showrunners is make sure these songs are accomplishing
22:08
something. So you want to make impersonal
22:10
to the characters, you want to make a specific to the episode.
22:13
But also trying to find that overarching bigger picture
22:18
message that will resonate with a lot of the listeners are
22:21
consumers and it was a challenge.
22:24
But I think we I think we got enough done on a couple of the
22:27
songs that people can find their themselves in the lyric, or
22:32
their situation. What's happening on Fraggle
22:35
Rock? Not just kids either like people
22:37
in life and even if you're an adult or a young adult you're
22:43
hearing themes and messages in these songs at least I hope you
22:46
are that resonate with you on a different level.
22:50
Whether you're you know, just starting your, your adult
22:54
Journey or your kid just kind of listen to him bobbing your head.
22:57
I think the messages are subconsciously in there and kind
23:01
of cool work their way into your brain.
23:04
Hopefully. Did you ever get a note in a
23:07
script that you just saw a new? And I don't know how I'm going
23:12
to turn that into a song that sounds impossible and yet you
23:16
know. Yeah.
23:18
Make some magic. Maybe not that drastic of a
23:22
reaction but you haven't. I'm sure when I'm reading the
23:25
script I'm like, okay, this is gonna take a little bit of
23:28
thinking and stewing and some of the right.
23:33
The writing was so good and so visual, you know, we're working
23:36
on the stuff way before you see any action.
23:39
No puppets. A lot of times when you're
23:40
making music for a film, you see what's there?
23:43
And you can, you can get something from that and you can
23:48
get a little bit of the energy from What you're seeing on
23:50
screen but this is all in your imagination.
23:52
So it's really kind of cool because the writing is so well
23:54
done and the direction, you know, even though there's
23:57
nothing director, nothing's been directed, yet the directors and
24:00
the writers are giving us all this information, and we're able
24:03
to use that as ammunition or inspiration for the music that
24:08
are riding. So, sometimes it would have an
24:10
extra round of phone calls and we get to scribble.
24:12
I cannot this one. I'm, I'm going to need a little
24:15
bit more help on, and they would just talk us through it.
24:17
They give us more insight and here's what the characters are
24:19
feeling. Like, because a lot of times you
24:21
read a script, you don't know the motivation or the lead up to
24:25
a scene in the film and what's the history there for the
24:27
character? What's their interaction or
24:30
relationship with another character that leads into this
24:32
place? And they can give us that.
24:34
Once we have that, then we have, I think a better chance of
24:37
making the song land for the scene.
24:40
So I gave you a freebie, not giving me your favorite song
24:46
that you've written for the show, but I'm not going to let
24:48
you go without telling me. What some of your favorite songs
24:51
from the old show. Our that you got to bring along
24:54
to the back to the Rock. Oh no.
24:57
That's impossible to how can I tell you that I need to look at
25:00
a list. The song I have to start
25:01
singing. Oh and I said start remembering
25:03
which ones are my favorite. We did, I think 15 original
25:07
songs and 15 pre-existing songs. If my math is Right hard to say,
25:13
for sure, one of my favorite would definitely be the theme
25:16
song because it was so challenging and I had heard it.
25:19
A lot of times. So by the time we were done with
25:22
it, I felt proud of where we ended up, and that's usually
25:27
hard to do for me because I'm always like, oh, we can change
25:29
this, we can make this better, this maybe should be different,
25:32
but when we finish the theme song, I felt really good about
25:34
it. I felt like okay, this feels
25:37
like like we talked about earlier feels respectful but it
25:40
feels a little bit, you know, a little fresh and little new.
25:44
And so maybe that's my favorite. I don't know.
25:47
It's a tough question. Well, well, well, well, go with
25:51
the theme song. That sounds that's fine with me,
25:52
but I will say that like the fact that you kept the perfect
25:57
base line, it kept the claps. I think anything else beyond
26:00
that. You can't go wrong.
26:02
All right. Good.
26:03
Well I'm glad you approve, tough.
26:06
One Fraggle Rock is known for having a lot of really heavy
26:10
topics. You know, this, this season had
26:13
things like, you know, consent as a topic or or fake.
26:18
Use as a topic was that tough for you to kind of find like
26:22
take those really tough topics and have to kind of layer them,
26:27
on top of basically songs for an all-ages audience.
26:32
It was definitely a challenge, it was one of the things I like
26:37
most about working on this. Those trying to take those
26:39
messages and make them easily digestible and you taking pretty
26:44
heavy Concepts. You trying to break it down in a
26:48
way that people Might not even know they're getting
26:52
information, might not even know the message that's hitting him
26:54
but they'll be singing right along to it.
26:56
And hopefully subconsciously, it's sticky enough where they're
27:00
getting the idea what, you know, what the song is about.
27:03
And that's the cool thing about music.
27:04
And that is why I love what I do is you can use music.
27:08
It's so powerful and it's it, amplifies emotion.
27:13
It, heightens the sensitivity towards being able to hear
27:17
things and it really is a tool. Tool to bring people together
27:23
and to almost change people's minds and hearts about things.
27:28
So when you talk about topics that are a little more deep than
27:31
you would expect in a show like this, that is the most absolute
27:35
perfect position from music to be in, is to be able to bring
27:40
these stories and these topics. Into conversations through in a
27:46
really sneaky and clever way which is a sing-along Melody
27:51
with really catchy words, but with meaning and depth and
27:55
topics and subject matters that are really important to be
27:58
addressing. So I think that's one of the
27:59
coolest Parts about my job and especially when I'm working for
28:02
Fraggle Rock. That's a great answer and it
28:06
just really highlights how important what you're doing is
28:09
you know, for the show like this where we really are trying to
28:11
get some important parts points across to kids and families
28:14
adults even and you know sometimes like that's that's the
28:19
you know we got to have a little bit of ice cream that we're
28:20
putting the medicine into your the ice cream.
28:23
That's right. And it's delicious ice cream.
28:25
I hope exactly what is it like for you to to write a song and
28:31
then months later you get to see See the fraggles, on-screen
28:35
singing the the stuff that you've written.
28:38
It's crazy for sure. I think I told you about my love
28:42
for the puppets and how those hit me.
28:45
So, when you see the songs that you've written, and it's one
28:48
thing. When you see the songs, you
28:49
produce that were pre-existing songs and we've heard those
28:51
before, but to have the puppets performing, one of our songs,
28:56
like an original song and sing the lyrics that me and the team
29:00
were singing in the studio just like going crazy and laughing
29:03
and celebrating That we were so excited about and to have that
29:06
transfer to a TV show with the penson fraggle singing.
29:11
It is a surreal experience and it's definitely not strangely
29:15
unlike when I'm writing a song for a pop artist that I've grown
29:19
up loving you know I work with Whitney Houston or Michael
29:22
Jackson or Aretha Franklin or you know artists that are just
29:25
iconic legendary artists that you lived your whole life
29:29
singing their music and then all of a sudden you look through the
29:33
Glass and they're seeing one of your songs.
29:36
I used to have a full head of hair and those experiences blue.
29:40
All my hair completely off my head and very similar to the
29:44
fraggles. It is really true, it's very
29:46
similar to the fraggles singing, one of your songs, it's an
29:49
experience that's hard to describe.
29:53
It's amazing. What a gift?
29:54
That must be. Yeah, I'm very lucky. we are
29:59
very much keeping our fingers crossed that back to the Rock
30:02
gets picked up for a second season if it does, and if you
30:07
are able to continue working on it to do you have any like,
30:10
bucket list items, anything that you want to, you want to make
30:12
sure that you get to do on season two Well to be honest Joe
30:17
my bucket list thing is I need a harvey, Mason Junior fraggle on
30:22
the show, playing an instrument, sing a song or something.
30:26
He needs to have, like I used to have a lot of hair.
30:29
He should have a nice, beautiful flowing, afro, nice, brown skin,
30:34
and he should be just dancing and partying on screen.
30:38
I think that's going to be part of like a prerequisite to my
30:40
deal. If I work on the show I need a
30:42
real character on screen. Him to have a great singing
30:46
voice, very different than my singing voice but I'm obviously
30:52
kidding, I would never expect that but bucket list is just try
30:56
and do more great songs, you know.
30:58
I don't think there's any one song that I'm dying to tackle.
31:01
I think the songs will the scripts will dictate what songs
31:05
work for the script so I'm sure will I think I heard a stat that
31:08
there's 210 or 205 Fraggle Rock songs that are catalogued.
31:13
So I think getting a chance to to get back to some of those
31:16
songs and be amazing. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to
31:19
write more original songs and definitely a goal would be to
31:23
continue to have really cool collaborations with amazing
31:27
artists and singers. And people that grown up loving
31:31
the fraggles like like, you know, we all have I will say
31:35
it's not that far-fetched to get a harvey, Mason fraggle screen
31:40
because Philip Balsam had one really all.
31:42
There was a he yeah, he voiced a character.
31:45
He didn't obviously perform because he wasn't a puppeteer.
31:47
But but yeah. He got to sing a song or two on
31:50
the show and all right, we called it Balsam, Balsam
31:53
fraggle. So that's what we need.
31:56
That's Right. Alright, whoever's listening
31:58
from from The Henson Creature Shop.
32:00
Get working on on your next hit fraggle.
32:04
Oh my gosh. I'll ER, is that so we can look
32:06
for him in the background. Yeah.
32:08
It's gonna be great. Well, is there anything else
32:11
that you want to kind of save to your fans to the folks, who've
32:15
been really enjoying your, your work on back to the Rock here.
32:19
Obviously, we start with a huge thank-you because people
32:23
watching the show and loving the show is the best.
32:26
Best payment in the best form of a thank-you that comes to us in
32:32
both from the music side and from The Henson side, I'm sure.
32:36
So the fact that people are enjoying it and appreciating it
32:39
means the most to me. I hope that we do get another
32:44
chance to do some more episodes, but I hope more than anything
32:47
the people that love the show feel like it was in keeping with
32:51
the tradition that Jim Henson and his team at set.
32:53
Well before we started and I hope People feel like it brought
32:58
something good to the world, you know?
33:00
That's my whole purpose in life at this point.
33:03
I've done a lot of things in my career.
33:05
I've been making music a long time, a lot of film and TV
33:08
shows. And now I like to try and make
33:10
sure everything I'm doing is bringing positivity and love and
33:14
good energy into the society and to different community.
33:19
So I would just say, I hope you all appreciate it.
33:23
I hope you love it. I hope it makes you feel.
33:26
Something, feel good, feel included, feel welcome, feel
33:28
loved. And I hope you get a chance to
33:32
do more. Well, I can confirm for you that
33:35
you are accomplishing all these things and more.
33:37
The fans are really loving this new show.
33:40
I am loving the show very much. I think the songs are fantastic.
33:42
I really am very, very grateful that you brought new life into
33:46
these classic songs that I've Loved for my entire life.
33:50
And now, it's like, we get these new Arrangements, these new
33:52
recordings, they're showing up on, you know, Apple music and
33:55
Spotify and all Listen to him whenever I want like, what a
33:58
gift that is that crazy. So crazy amazing.
34:03
And it's been really crazy working with some of the
34:05
puppeteers and hearing them, sing these, these songs again.
34:10
You know, after all these years and having them re-approach in a
34:13
couple of them, I sang on the original this song and this is
34:16
such a cool moment to be able to revisit these.
34:19
That has been a huge treat for me.
34:22
And like you said, you've all enjoyed hearing them, I've
34:25
really enjoyed. Creating them, I really enjoyed
34:27
working with the talented people that, you know, do so much more
34:31
work than I do. I feel like my job is the
34:33
easiest job in the world. I just make the music, but they
34:35
all perform and bring it to life and give it so much, heart and
34:38
soul. And so, it's been definitely a
34:42
life, accomplishment and a lifetime memory for me to be
34:45
involved with something like this.
34:46
No question. They really are some of the most
34:49
talented folks in Hollywood. I mean incredible.
34:52
Those those hence and puppeteers, crazy Harvey.
34:55
Thank you. So, Much for being here.
34:57
Thank you for all the great work that you've done on the series.
35:00
Again, we're keeping our fingers crossed for season 2 and that
35:02
you get to be a part of it, at this point.
35:05
It would feel weird if you weren't, you know, you are now,
35:08
like I said, you're a member of the Fraggle Rock family.
35:10
We are fully expecting more of your songs moving forward, love
35:15
it. Well, thank you so much and
35:16
really enjoy being with you and hopefully we'll get to talk
35:19
about another season. Yes.
35:20
Absolutely. And that brings us to the end of
35:23
another episode of Fraggle talk. Next week, we'll be back to our
35:27
regular format. So until then we'll see you next
35:30
time. Fraggle, talk The Unofficial
35:38
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