Latest / I Am All In with Scott Patterson / I Smell Pop Culture: Sam Phillips

Transcript

I Smell Pop Culture: Sam Phillips · I Am All In with Scott Patterson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am all in again. Oh, I guess you. I
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Smell pop Culture with Easton Allen and I Heeart Radio
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: podcast Everybody, Easton Allen, I amil and Podcasts one of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: them productions. iHeart radio, iHeart Media, iHeart podcasts. It's I
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Smell pop Culture. I Smell pop culture. And you know
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: what we're doing this week, everybody, we are hearing pop
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: culture too. We're incorporating another sense besides smell. Here's the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: thing about this podcast. If you're just joining us for
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the first time. My name is Easton and I have
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: been appointed by our Lord and Savior Scott Patterson, to
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: go through the pop culture references in Gilmore Girls and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: dive deeper, talk to the people that created them, that
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: are them, that make these little moments, these permanent fixtures
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: of pop culture in our world. We're doing something a
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: little different this week. We're not really exploring a pop
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: culture reference. We're going bigger, baby, we got we got
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: no limits here. Where the sky is the limit for
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: what we're doing. Here's the thing with Gilmore Girls. When
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: you're watching Gilmore Girls, you'll hear these little moments, these
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: little musical pieces. An acoustic guitar, maybe a la la,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: these little moments that set the mood in such a
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: perfect way. And I know what you're thinking. You're watching
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: this going like wow, this is These are such magical
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: little nuggets. Where did these come from? Who created these?
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Did they just come out of the air?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: No?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: No, No, A person created these, A person just like
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: you and I, A person with a beating heart created
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: these little moments. And that is Sam Phillips. She is
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: an incredible musician. She's a in our artists, a soul artist.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: She's released a bunch of records, She's Grammy nominated. But
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the reason we're talking to her is because she is
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the composer for all seven seasons of Gilmart Girls, including
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the revival. She also worked on Bunheads, Marvelous, Missus Masel,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: She worked on that beautiful Walmart commercial that we love
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: from the holidays. Sam Phillips is the leader of everything
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: musical in the world of Gilmar Girls. She composed all
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: those incredible musical cues and those that score that we
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: love so much. And we're going to talk to her today.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: We're going to find out what inspired those things. How
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: do you put it together? How do you score a
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: TV show like Gilmore girls, like, how does that work?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: We're going to ask all those questions and we're going
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: to ask so much more and Sam Phillips is here
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: with us. Thank you so much for doing this. We're
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: so excited.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Aston. That's such a lovely intro. Thank you, thank you
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: for having me.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: So you know we're going to talk a lot about
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Gilmart girls obviously, but before we get into that, I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: like going back to the beginning. I want to hear
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the origin story of Sam Phillips. Did you grow up
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: in Glendale, California? Is that right? I did, not far
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: from where I sit right now. Glendale's a Beatle Yeah,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I'm in Burbank, the gem city Glendale. When did you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: realize that you loved music? What point did that happen
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I think I was three? Yeah, yeah, I remember the
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Beatles at three?
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Was there a song that caught you? Caught your ear?
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I wasn't allowed to touch the record player, so I
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: there was a single.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: I think it was I Want to Hold Your Hand.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: And I made my older brother or my mom or
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: my whoever was around, I made them play again again.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I play it on the record player. So yeah, it
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: was it was early on. But you know, it's interesting
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: with musical, all the musical influences. A lot of people say, well,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: what you grew up listening to?
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Would you? And I feel like that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: You it's you've taken so much as a kid. You know,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: you're listening to commercials on TV. You're listening to kid music.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: You know a lot of people the Disney Channel or
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: whatever I was there was the Sherman Brothers when I
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: was growing up, to all the Disney movies, you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: and so you just you get all these bits and
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: pieces as well as classical music or jazz music, whatever
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: your parents are playing around the house or on the radio.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it all blends together to create the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: styles we love. I'm always so curious, like when people
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: become musicians themselves, like what what is that spark that
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: makes you go, I could do this. I want to
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: make my own like like I want to write songs.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Do you remember when you wrote your first song?
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I was about fourteen when I wrote my first song,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and I you know, this sounds terrible, but I think
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that I got the courage because there were people that
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I thought, well, they aren't that great. I could I
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: guess probably do like get close to that level, you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: but alas my I don't know if my singing chops
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: ever got to a su perior level. I, you know,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: seem to have a very specific as Amy Sherman Palladino
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: would say, I have a very specific voice, and it's
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: you know, it is what it is. But sometimes the
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: songwriter and me gets very frustrated with the singer. You know,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: that the singer can't perform all the things that the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: songwriter would like her to do.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Interesting, Yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way, that
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: that personality over here. Yeah. So you released four albums
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: as a as a Christian pop artist, and then you
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: switch to mainstream in nineteen eighty eight with the Indescribable
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Wow and One album. But I want to something stood
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: out to me about the credits on that album is
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Van Dyke Parks did some of the arrangements. I'm I'm
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a huge Beach Boys Brian Wilson fans. That was really
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: exciting to learn. Yes, what was that like that?
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Well, Vandyke is one of the most lovely and one
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: of the funniest. It's it's like when when he came
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: to play on my record, we would you know anything.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: He is always the host, he is always the cruise director.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: He's always been funny and this you know, and I
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: have to say and all love the strangest person in
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: the room. So that was fantastic. But I actually had
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: the chance to work with Brian Wilson a long time ago.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: There was a record called Trios, and the bass player
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: for The Grateful Dead at the time was doing it
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: was a combination. He was a bass player, so he
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: would he and then two other guests would collaborate on
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: a song and then they would record the song. And
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: I didn't get a chance to record the song, but
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I did write a song with Brian Wilson, but his
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: daughter sang with him for the very first time ever
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: on sang my song, and I wrote it was quite
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: a crazy experience and a great thrill and so lovely
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: to see father and daughter, you know, sing for the
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: first time together.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. That is magical. Wow, what is you're
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: part of?
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Van Dyke was not there unfortunately, because I mean, just
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: to have Van Dyke anywhere all the time is a
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: great thing.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: So at that point in your career, what was like
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: when you make that switch? What like were there are
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: new sounds you wanted to explore musically, Like, what what
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: did you want to do at that point?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Are you talking about from the Christian Yeah? Yeah, that
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: is a this is a very involved story and I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: think there's going to be a book at some point.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: All right, Really it's a it's a crazy story. But
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: and and so many interesting experiences and you know, so
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: many great people and then a lot of nutty people and.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Crazy people not so great people.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: But I wanted to Uh yes, I wanted to move
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: on artistically. Wanted to be able to express a lot
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: of things artistically, and so I I just went to
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: a different label. It was basically changing and not really
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: starting over necessarily, but exploring some different ways of writing
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: songs and recording.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: And you know, it was just it was growing. It
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: was growth.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: And U I mean speaking of growth. Nineteen ninety five,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: you have an acting role and I heard with a Vengeance.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I thought that that jumped out of me. I thought
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: that was so cool. What did you enjoy that? Was
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: that something you had fun doing? I did.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I loved crew. I thought the crew were fantastic. One
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: of the crew had a potato gun shooter thing that
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: we would shoot it. I think it got close to
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Bruce Willis's trailer.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure. Well, yeah, but yes, it was lovely.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Jeremy Irons was wonderful, and yes it was a weird experience.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: But I basically was in my trailer a lot writing
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: songs because I didn't have any lines. I was a
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: mute arrest who's I had been blown up or something
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: my throat, my vocal cords were detached, I don't know,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: something like that.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Wow. So some of this, like, if you listen to
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: a Sam Phillips song, there's a chance that you wrote
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: it in the trailer on the set of Diehard of
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the Vengeance? Is that Is that right?
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: That? Yes, that could be. It might have been.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Like there's a song called Animals on Wheels that was
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: on a record that I.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Did in the nineties.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: That that I think that was written in the trailer.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: There are probably, yeah, a few others. I don't remember offhand.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: How'd you get put in front of the camera? Like,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: how did you get that part? I'm so curious.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that I had a record out called
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Martinez and Bikinis in nineteen ninety four, and apparently the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: director saw the cover of that and thought I looked
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: like a terrorist.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, what better compliment, seriously, the highest praise, like
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: a terrorist get her in here? And I was very
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: really Initially they wanted either they were trying to decide
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: between I was a mute and or I had a
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: German accent. And I'm so relieved that I was a
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: mute because I really, you.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Know, that was a lot to take on for a
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: non actor, for just a you know, a songwriter and
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: a singer person.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I love it so much. Sam Phillips is with us
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: from the composer of Gilmore Girls, and we're going to
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: take a visit to stars Hollow here on the IML
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: on podcast. We're going to take a quick break before
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: we do that. We'll be right back everybody. It's the
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: IML and podcast. I Smell pop Culture. My name is
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Easton Allen. We are sitting here with Sam Phillips, the
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: composer of Gilmore Girls, all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, the mark you leave on that show is indelible.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: It's one of like the music you wrote. Every Gilmore
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Girls fan hums it on a daily basis. I know
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: this to be a fact. How did you get involved
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: with gilmore Girls. How did that partnership begin?
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: By default, I would say Valadino met with her. I
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: think initially she told me she wanted Carol King to
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: do the score and the theme song. But Carol My
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: understanding of the story was that Carol did not want
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: to do the score, She just wanted to do the
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: theme song. So for some reason, I think Amy had
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: come to one of my shows in Los Angeles and
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: she we met and we just kind of had to
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: hammer it out, you know, because she was saying she
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: wanted she wanted me to write these little pieces of music,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: but wanted me to use my voice, and so I
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: tried writing some lyrics and that, you know, with the
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: really funny and.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Rapid fire dialogue. Obviously that wasn't going to work. So
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I started I kind of went back to one of
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: my idols, and Harry Nilssen, the great Harry Nilson, who
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: had done I think he'd done a score in the
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: sixties when I was a kid of a TV show
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: and he did a lot of background vocals, and so
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I just started doing that and little melodies that I
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: had had been working on, I kind of I just
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: took them into gilmore Land and Amy had said, I
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: want this score to be or your voice to be
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the voice inside Laurla and Rory's heads.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Which is a very interesting concept.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And I love Amy and Dan Palladino and you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: for being so they love music so much, and I
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: really appreciated that they knew a lot of music and
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: that they wanted to do something very different and experimental,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: because I think at the time their network was connected
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: to Warner Brothers record Company, and there was a lot
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: of push it, like, you know, just play our new music,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: you know, all the way through, just you know, from
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: start to finish, because that was done a lot, you know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: and it's still done a lot where there's music just
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: through everything.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: But I kept saying, you.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Know what, let's just maybe take a break because we
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: want you know, there's that great dialogue and just some breaths,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: not music throughout the whole thing. So then there are
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: these little mini you know, songs. But it's interesting, it's
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I never would have thought that people would have listened
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: to it. I in fact, I know one of my
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: friends because the Gum Girls in the beginning, you know,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: was had been classified as a chick show by many guys,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: and one of my friend's husbands said, you know, what
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: is that? Like she was watching Gimbore Girls one time
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: and he said, from the other room, what is that?
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: What is that?
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Terrible lala music? What is that? That was me, so
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: I didn't know if.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's again it's a specific thing, and I'm I'm
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: glad that people did embrace it and it wasn't annoying.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I certainly didn't mean it to be that way, but
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I just had so much fun doing those you know,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: those cues, those little music interludes.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, in terms of it be annoying, I could
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: not disagree more. I think that is like it's it.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Every one of those cues sets the mood so perfectly
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and feels so it's so unique and distinct to go
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: more girls, And that's something that I don't think you
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: don't get that with so many television shows or movies
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: for that matter. When you were like figuring out the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: sound and what this was going to be, I mean,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: you know, I know you got these notes like you
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: wanted to be the voice inside their heads and things
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: like that, but like, I'm just curious how you, like,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: did you try a bunch of different styles, different instruments,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: like what was the experimentation process like trying to find
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: that kind of lane.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it was interesting because I think that there was
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: some kind of connection in the very beginning of what
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: because I had done pop records, you know, in the
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: nineties and at that point, right at that point, I
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: had had my own kid and I just made it.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: I just kind of pivoted to something that was much
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: more stripped down, and I was working in that less production,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I guess, and also at that time, working with my
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: producer at the time, was was doing a lot of
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: kind of country or Americana music, and so I think
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: we tried mandolin at one point, and you know they
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: were just like no, no, not country, you know, and guitars,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: and I was very working with acoustic instruments, not really
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: working with a lot of you know, electronic instruments at
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: that time, and so that was kind of the that
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: was my world at the time, and I just proceeded
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: to do that and and just make it very simple
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: and that that seemed to work, even even trying to
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I tried to put some strings on it, you know
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: a little bit, and that seemed to be you know, no, no, no,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: too dark, too heavy. So you know, there wasn't a
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: ton of experimentation. I didn't try to, you know, bring
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: in like a lot of synthesizers or anything.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't or drum machines.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: So it was pretty straightforward what I was into, what
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: I was doing at the time, and I was making
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: still making records at the time or for None Such
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: the Non Such label, So it was it was an
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: interesting time. I just was working a lot, you know,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: composing a lot and singing a lot, and it was
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: really fun. And I'm so glad that that happened to
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: be what resonated with Amy.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I know that you were like you had your own
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: like music career going out at the same time, And
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about that this morning, going like, how
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: do you That must have been wild, because like you
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: have I imagine the Gilmore Girls production, Like when you're in production,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: you're just working NonStop on that, and then you have
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to find time to like go home and like, oh
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I will I want to write my own stuff, or
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: you have maybe you want to go on tour or
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: something like that. Was it hard to balance those two careers?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: No, not really a little bit of the scheduling. Yeah,
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: sometimes the scheduling. But but it's sort of like you know,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: when you're I think the more you work, the more
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: you work. And I think it was a really great productive,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: creative time and I did. I did have a setup
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: at home, which was a lifesaver because I think it
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: you know, that would have been harder to have to
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: go into the studio all the time, you know, so
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: I was able to that made it a little bit
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: more convenient. But it was really wonderful and I and
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: luckily those one fed off the other, you know, there
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: were you know, I felt the main thing I was
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: trying to do. I was trying to write melodies that
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: would really go to picture, which I found very difficult.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: It was really especially you know, especially with comedy.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I think when you're doing like action movies or suspense,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: you know, or very serious you know movies or television shows,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I think it's so easy to be dark, you know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: it's really you could just you know, that's to me,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: that's a lot easier than some of the lighter moments,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: you know, So it was a challenge.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: I wasn't used to.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I was a little bit more serious, you know, in
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: some of my music, so to making it lighthearted I
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: tried to just use the melodies the best I could
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: because I didn't quite know how to go about that,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: but you know did and she was there to guide me.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And I have to say she in the beginning, in
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the first spotting sessions, which is where you find, you know,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: spots for music you watch the show, and she was
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: there at all of them. I love that to guide me,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: and of course was just we laughed a lot. She
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: was so funny and so great to work with, and
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: I was lucky to have her because you know, I
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: mean she was the showrunner, you know, the executive producer,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: the writer, the creator, she was doing everything, and I
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: respected that she wanted to shape her show, you know,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: she wanted to be involved in all the different aspects
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: of it and wanted to have a lot of women
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: on the crew, you know, which is that's pretty unusual.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: There aren't.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, there are more women composers now, but maybe
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: not as many then, you know, so I really respect
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: that and it was great to be.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: A part of it.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much really about Amy Sherman Paladino,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: and like I mean, hearing all this is just so
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: exciting because it's like things that I always kind of
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: thought and then hearing you say it, you're confirming it
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: is awesome. But doing this podcast and like we explore
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: like the pop culture references on the on the show
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: through these episodes, and I've come to like kind of
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: figure out what the music that Amy likes, like you know,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: like B fifty two's xCC stuff like that. There was
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: there a lot of her like personal tastes that kind
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: of like came through in the score. Was there like
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: times where you'd be in those sessions and she'd be like, oh,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: we should do something like this band would do or
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: did she kind of give you ultimate freedom?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: No, she gave me ultimate freedom.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: And she said at the end that and it's you know,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: made me tear up. She I think her at the
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: very end when she stepped off the show, she just said,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for all these little masterpieces that
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: you created and meant so much to me.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Because you know.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Amy's you know, she's a she's a tough guy too,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: and but I I know she she and protected me.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: She protected me from a lot of the notes. Maybe
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: that the network had they there could have been somebody
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: that went that lady stinks, get her off of it,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: you know, stop that person from you know, doing the score.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: But I don't know, I'll never know, because Amy wanted
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: me to do it, and I didn't get notes.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: I just kept going.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, of course, you know, she would say maybe,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: like I said before, you know, maybe that's too heavy,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: maybe you know.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Something light or something different.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: But but I think again, I think that she the melodies.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: I think somehow, you know, resonated. So I just I
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: feel lucky that we were, that we connected in that
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: way and were able to work together, because that just
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: doesn't always happen. And again, you know, I always have
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: a director or you know, an EP that loves music
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: or knows music, and a lot of I agree with
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: her tastes, you know, sparks and.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: You know a lot of the XDC.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, we you know, talked about that in the
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: beginning too, because when I the funny part was when
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: I came in to talk to her about doing the
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: score of the show. I just said, aiming, I haven't
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: really watched TV in a decade, like.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: I've been on the road, I don't.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: At the time, I was like, I've watched movies, but
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I the last I think, like the last television show
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I was really watching was Twin Peaks.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: I just have no I don't know what you know,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: what a normal score is. So that's the other part
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: of it.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: I just kind of came into it kind of very blind,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: you know, because and somehow it worked.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: So, I mean, I love it, and to me it
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: makes so much sense of why it's like so unique
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and distinct. Is like you weren't trying to emulate something else,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: You're just creating something so organic. I love it. It's beautiful.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Uh So that was I mean, Gummar Girls, is your
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: first time scoring something? Is that right?
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Yes? Wow, yeah, I never thought I would ever do that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: So and I'm glad that.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: She took a chance again because it's you know, it
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: was it was odd. But they also though they had
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: tempted in some things that were kind of that gave
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: me clues, you know. That's always the interesting thing within
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: the pilot. They had tempted in different you know, uh,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: musical moments that I thought, oh, okay, I could I
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: think I can do that in a different way, So
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: that that was.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: A little bit of a clue.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: But I really had to go, you know, step by
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: step and episode by episode, which was great and I
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: actually probably missed a lot of those cultural references because
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I was so focused on doing the music. I heard
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: the dialogue, but I've since you know, been able to
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: watch and see more of the you know, the genius.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: They had so many great writers coming through their writer
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: room during the series and it you know, I'm.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Still amazed that it's that people are still love it.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it's kind of crazy but not yeah, right, wonderful.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I really love her writing and love the show
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: that she created.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: We're so lucky to live in a in a Gilmore
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Girls universe. It's it's just the best. Uh, forgive, forgive
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: my ignorance. I'm I'm so naive when it comes to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the process of scoring something Like when I think about it,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I always picture those like you know when you see
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: those like behind the scenes thing of like John Williams
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and the big and they have the movie on the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: big screen. You know, I'm curious, like what can you
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: take me through? Like like a typical Gilmore Girls episode,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: But like where how does it start for you?
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: How?
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: What's the process?
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Like we would we would watch the episode, watch it
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: with Amy and and and sometimes the director.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to remember what we did.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: But anyway, we had a crew of people that we
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: would watch it with and then and then usually Amy
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: would say I think music should be here, you know,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: and and how about here?
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: And sometimes I would say.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think maybe music would be good here, and
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: then other times I would say, I don't know, I don't.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: Think there's music there. But so we would just go
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: through the whole show.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I would make notes, I would go home, and then
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I would just take my guitar and sing.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: To the show.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: It was really basic, and I was not on a
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: computer with timecode or any of that kind of stuff.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Since you know, of course done that because it's you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: that's what you sort of sort of have to do now.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I mean you can kind of spitball it, but not really.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: But so that was basically the way to do it.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: And I would try things and I would just you know,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: run the spot again and again and again and see
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: what came to mind what I liked, and then I'd
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: go and record a bunch of cues with my engineer,
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: mikey and who has done all the Gilmore things, including
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: the revival and including the commercial that we did for
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: the holidays, which was pretty amazing to be able to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: go back and do that with strengths they wanted to.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: So I got to put you know, an orchestra on that,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: which was really cool.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Oh my god. I mean I was going to ask
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: you if you because I know you came back for
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the revival, but I was wondering if you were involved
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: with that commercial because that was like such a that
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: was so gilmore.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: They yet, well, they asked for my song how to
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Dreamy and so without the lyrics, which was also in
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: the series as a cue without the lyrics, and so
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: I did that. But I got to put all these strings,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of my friends, a lot of string players
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: on it, which was you know, so fun, so much
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: fun for me. And I thought that even though it
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: was only like you know, twenty seconds or whatever, with
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: thirty seconds, it was you know, a great thrill. And
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: that's that's the other thing about composing. It's so so
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: odd coming from songwriting and making records.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: It's so odd to make things that.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Are so tiny, so small and quick, and you know,
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: fitting in these little spaces between you know, around dialogue
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: and between scenes. And it wasn't it was very that
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: was more complicated and difficult for me. But somehow we somehow.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: We did it in seasons. I don't know how we
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: did it.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Was it like writing these little cues and stuff and
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: not using any lyrics or or anything like that. Was
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: that challenging or was it did? Or was that easier
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: than like a typical songwriting.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm more particular about lyrics, and so I'm
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: slower with lyrics. So I never There's no way I
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: could have been writing lyrics that fast for because you know,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: we were airing every week twenty one episodes. I think
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: it was, you know, with some breaks in our schedule,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: but it but I also felt that just the I
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: didn't need to do that because of the dialogue, I
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: didn't need any lyrics. But I also it did make
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: it more of a challenge to make that melody speak
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: to you know, the to to support the scene, to
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: speak to the mood of the scene.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: So it was it was a challenge. It was.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was difficult, but so much fun again, and
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: I just forged ahead. I don't know, I just I
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: just kept going. And I think there's something about it.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: I have a friend who's a haircutter, and he always
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: does his best haircuts when he's in a hurry, like
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: when he's just like he doesn't have time, you know,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: And it's so funny, and I felt like we were
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: just working, working, working. I think it was better not
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: to worry about it too much, not to get too
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: uptight about it, just to keep going, just to keep working,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: keep you know.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: Trying to just get it done.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Sam Phillips is with us.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: This is the I Am all In Podcast. This is
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: I'm loving this. I'm just eating this up. This is
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: so cool and so fascinating. We have more questions for you.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: We're going to be right back though. We're gonna hear
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: about some nice goods and services that you might want
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: to participate in. It is I smell pop culture. My
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: name is Easton Allen. I'm hanging out here with Sam Phillips,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the composer of Gilmart Girls, all seven seasons, the revival,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the Walmart commercial, you heard over the holidays. Sam is
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: just every musical moment that you loving Gilmart Girls. Sam's
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: fingerprints are all over. This is so much fun hanging out.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: So when you're watched, like like scoring the show, I
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: mean I was thinking about that, like you said the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: first part of the process is you sit down Amy
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: and you watch the show. It just struck me that,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: like there's no music. There's no music like at that point,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: right because you haven't written it yet, you haven't recorded anything,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Sometimes Amy would drop in a I mean she would
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: sometimes there were episodes she wrote where she had specific
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: songs already you know, they were already trying to license
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: some of the songs, either for a comedy bit you
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: know that, or just you know, she something she wanted
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: them to get to, you know, to put in there.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: So she had very strong opinions about that, which are
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: great and has I think served her so well. She
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: and and Dan and Robin the music supervisor in Marvelous
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Missus Maisel, I thought, did such a beautiful job with
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: the music, and they did mostly it really wasn't much score.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: It was mostly just as they say, needle drops, you
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: know music because of the period, you know, time and
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: just so great a lot of Broadway and just loved it.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: I just thought it was such a for younger viewers.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: It was such a great education who people who didn't
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: know that era or didn't know a lot of those
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: different you know songs, even like Frank Sinatra or Barbara
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Streiss and a lot of really cool stuff. But anyway, digressing,
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: but yeah, it was, Yeah, there wasn't any music, so
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: I just kind of had to do my thing, yeah,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: to make it not be empty. But also I just
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I didn't like, I don't like a lot of the
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: for maybe a dramedy like that, I don't love wald
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: while music. And at that point, I think I was
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: very stubborn about like a lot of times I would
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: just say, no, I don't think there should be music here.
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: You know, we need a breath, we need to we
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: need to breathe.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: And so I that's a lot of times I think
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: that no music was was a good choice. And that's
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: kind of funny when you're a composer, you know, oh no, no,
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: no music.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: That's so interesting because that that, I mean, that's like instinct,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: like you just have to know just go like what
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: feels right, and because like I would, you know, I
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: would want to go in there and just be like,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, we'll just play something the whole way through.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: But like, but like you said, the absence of music
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: has its place too and conserve a purpose.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and Amy did that well too, because sometimes she
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: wanted music in spots we would try something and then
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: you know, she would take it out and we both
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: agree yeah, or or she would just you know, she
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: would have her way with the score. And again I
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: just think she was really really she's great at it.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: She's really good at it.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: What was it like coming back for the revival after
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: you know, after not having done Go More Girls for
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: that long, that period of time, Uh, did you like
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: fall right back into the groove or what was that like?
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah? And also it was it was really fun to
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: And I feel like we did because again I worked
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: with the same engineer, recording engineer, and and also it
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Amy wanted some of the old cues in there, so
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: you know, we did have to re record some of
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: them for the revival, and and that was that was
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: interesting too to hit hit some of those notes, you know,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: And I thought especially fun with the very first cue,
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: you know that we I got to do one of
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: the you know, one of the ones that and that
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: was another funny thing that Amy had cues that she
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: loved and she would choose them again and again and again.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: It was really it was great that we loved.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: There was one Q called music Box and she loved
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: it to just use it all the time. It just
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: was for some reason, and it was really descriptive of
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: of a lot of Gilmore moments.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: So I wish I could play it for you. There
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: was no vocal on it, so I can't sing it
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: for you. I'm sorry.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: But anyway, would you say, like I mean, was there
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: a point where like something like music Box was in
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: like three episodes in a row or something like like
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: where they use that.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Did she have certain favorites that were that frequent? Really?
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Sometimes maybe somebody would say, oh, we maybe used that before,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: but you know, she had no shame.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Hey she's the boss.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: I loved it, and I think also, I'm sorry, but
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: the other thing that I have loved about, you know,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: maybe growing up being a TV baby, and and also movies.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: I do like reoccurring.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Themes, and I think that that's you know, and not
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: in a funny way.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: There is a comforting thing to that too.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: There's I don't know, and I've heard that often that
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: a lot of people find Gilmore girls comforting. I mean,
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: it's certainly feels sometimes to me like it you know,
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: it's like a cup of coffee or you know, a
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: warm cup of tea, you know, Camma milt tea, whatever
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: you know, at the given moment, whatever.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: Is going on.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: It's funny, but it's also I think you really love
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: the characters and the town that she's created, and you
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: love spending time with them.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. That's something I hear from people the most, is like, like,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: there's so many people that I know they're like, oh,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I rewatch it every fall. That's like part of my
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: yearly tradition. And it feels it's so comforting. It's so
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: it feels like I'm visiting old friends. It's and I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: think that's such a magic thing to be a part of, uh,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: because you know how many shows can be are that
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: for people? I think if you ask people like what's
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the most like what's your comfort show, Gimmrgirls has got
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: to be like number one, if not number number two
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: or something.
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: That's so interesting.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I hadn't really necessarily thought about it that way, but yeah,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: it really is. And I don't know that that's the
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: way that you know, Amy started out thinking about it.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: Maybe she was thinking more of like Twin Peaks but
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: sort of happy.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: I don't know, you know, like a cast.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Of characters in a town and intrigue. The intrigue is
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: really just if you know, where can you get the
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: good cup of coffee, rather than you know, somebody gets murdered.
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: So that's okay with me. I love it.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: One of the first times that I saw Lauren Graham,
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: actually not on my copy of the show, watching it
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: for music, was a little coffee shop near the Warner
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Brothers lot. I went in to get a cup of
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: coffee and there she Lauren was walking out, and she
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: was dressed like Laura I, and she was had a
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: cup of coffee, and I just it was so weird
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: because I've just been watching her with a lot of coffee,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of coffee, a lot of coffee cups. That
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: it was just it was wasn't sure if I was
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: in Stars Hollow or I was in Burbank, California.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: So I'm curious too, Like there are so many people
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: that at watch Gilmart Girls as young people and hear
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: those musical cues that you wrote and you recorded and
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: probably I love thinking about this, Like they hear that
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: and go like, wow, this music is making me feel
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: such a specific way. I want to do something like this.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: I want to start making music like and I know that,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: like you, you started out as you know, just a
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: musician making your own songs, like you didn't necessarily dream
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: of being a composer, I'm sure when you were a kid.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: But but did you do you remember like were there
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: specific like movies or TV shows where like the music
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: really stood out to you?
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Again, you know, it's a little harder because everything just
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: kind of went in As a kid, I wasn't, I think,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: you know, as I got older, I think that I
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: would music would stand out to me sometimes if it
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: was annoying, you know, but then also when it was
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: really great, like I one of the composers I think
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: is so amazing, as Mika Levy, who did she did
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Jackie the movie Jackie about Jackie Nassa's Yes, yes, And
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: it's such an arresting score, so beautiful.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: But and there are plenty of scores like that. Of course,
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: of course we love.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: John Williams and all that, you know, I mean that
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: is waltwall music with an orchestra. It's just crazy, you
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: know what he can do. But I don't really remember
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: because I watched, you know, all the kids shows that
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: everybody else watched growing up, and I just I don't
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: remember that. I remember listening to records more and the radio,
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: you know. But I think a lot of that television music,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: that movie music went in because my dad loved old movies,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: so he was constantly, you know, getting me to watch
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: old movies and and there is to me. I guess
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: where maybe Gilmore Girls fans might you know, find the
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: score to that comforting. I find a lot of the
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: old forties music in scores, specifically the Newman Family. They
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: did a lot of the old scores like in the
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: forties and late thirties, and so that music, you know,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: those scores, and I think I think Warner Brothers used
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of those cues in other movies. I've heard them,
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: like there's something in Casablanca that's in another movie that
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: I heard with Betty Davis in it. You know, it's
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: a library of music, and there's just something about that
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: beautiful music that's really comforting. And I will always say this,
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: I think one of the best scores, maybe one of
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: the craziest scores, Bugs Bunny. I think that the Bugs
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Bunny scores are pretty nuts because I think they were
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: scoring a picture. I think they were watching the cartoons
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: and going and they and they hit so many different
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: songs and styles that it's really it's it's pretty acrobatic
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: when you listen to a Bugs Bunny, you know, especially
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: some of the older cartoons.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, those, I mean, yeah, the music is as
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: crazy as like the cartoon is, and it's so fun.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: It's so fun to listen to, and it's so effective,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: I think, and making you feel the certain ways.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: So you you worked with Amy Sharm Paladino on her
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: other shows bun Heads and Marvelous Missus Maisel.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: Uh?
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Were those there? I know they're they're different from gilmore
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: but they also obviously share a lot of the same
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: DNA like like, was that a different experience for you
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: working on those other shows?
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: I worked more with my partner, Eric Gorfain on both
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: of those shows.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: He and I.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: He is a wonderful violinist and arranger, composer, and so
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: he was. I think the Bunheads was a little more
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: it was closer to gilmore Land, but then when we
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: got to Marvelous Missus Maisel, he was doing some beautiful
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: you know, string cues and beautiful things. I think with
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: Mazel it just seemed like it really they really needed
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: to do more of those, you know, the needle drops again,
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: the previsting music.
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: There was just so many great things.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: And then you know, there were some wonderful composers in
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: New York that were, you know, Broadway composers, which is
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: just not my that's not my world at all. I
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: appreciate it, but I just that's other than maybe being
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: kind of melodic. But I just I don't understand how
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: to how to make Broadway music at all. It would
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: have to be a really weird Broadway fighter. I don't
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: think it'll ever happen for me to do something like that.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: But but yeah, it was. It was really interesting and
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: fun to work on the different shows. Yeah, but again,
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: I just I don't know. That's not that wasn't ever
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: my focus and that wasn't ever my direction to be
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: a composer. It just so happened that we there was
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: that intersection of of what I do and what AMY wanted.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: It's yeah, it's it's so it's so interesting and it's
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: so cool. I was going to ask that, actually, like,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: have you has this experience made you want to like
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: write something for Broadway or or anything like that, or
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: would you ever want to score for someone other than Amy,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Shearam Palladino. Has that ever been something you're interested in, you.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: Know, in the with the right the right person and
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: the right film or or series.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: It, yes, that that would be great.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: I just it's it's tough though it sometimes you're you
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: have to be a little bit of a mind reader
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: if you're not on the same page. And I know
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: a lot of composers and what they've been through, and
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: it's it's hard, it's not easy. I admire one of
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: the composers, you know, John Bryan.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: I love him.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I've known him for a long time and he is
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: wonderful at it. But you know, it's not easy giving
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: a director or a studio or you know, business people
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: what they want. So there's there's a hard, cold reality
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: to it on the other side, on the business side
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: that I feel wasn't as hard.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Wasn't hard and difficult with Amy, you know it was.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: It was much more fun and just I think, as
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: it should be, so, I think, really, and that comes
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: from just having that that musical, those musical tastes in common,
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: and and and hearing it the same way you know
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: hearing I think, you know, the score should be simple
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: and and and we should have some piano in it
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: or you know, so I don't, I don't know. I'm again,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: it would just depend on the situation. But I'm have
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: just finished a record or just finishing a record today,
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: actually my last, the last mix, and I enjoyed doing
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: that so much. I enjoy writing songs and recording, so
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm I'll always be doing that.
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: I'll be doing that whether anyone listens, I'll just keep
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: doing it.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: It's a you know, I guess it's a hard habit
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: to break after all these years.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Tell us about this record you just finished? What wh
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: can we know about it? I'm so excited?
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: What can I tell you about it?
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: Well, there are a lot of strings on it, all right,
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: And and and also you know, it's I think it's
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: to get a little serious for a second. I hope
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: that's okay, absolutely, But it's it's about it's about identity.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: I think that identity is a really important issue during
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: these times culturally politically. I think, you know, just with
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: the technology that that is so prevalent in our culture
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: and in our in our heads and around us all
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: the time. I think, you know, as Nick Cave wrote,
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: you know, hold on to yourself. And I think that
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: holding on to our identities and and listening to ourselves
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: not always just you know, riding the waves of social
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: media and all the information that's coming at us.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: I think it's really important. And so that that was
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: a theme.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: That's a theme in there, and there's some other things
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: I think kind of like that scene you know, uh
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: where oh my gosh in Chinatown where if they done
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: away is kind of going my you know.
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: She's my sister, she's my daughter, my sister, my daughter.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: I kind of feel like it's it's personal, it's political,
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: it's personal, it's there's a lot of things that came
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: out not meaning to just the kind of the way
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: I write is just always I don't think about it
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: as much I do edit, you know, I think about
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: it once i've sort of composed something, but it's just
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: a lot of it just comes out more from my
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: subconscious or just stream of consciousness, I guess you'd say,
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: and then I craft it later.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot. There's a lot in there, a
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: lot packed in.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: There, and and some very pretty strings and interesting we experimented,
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: you know, I kind of did a different kind of
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: thing that I've done before with the instrumentation and the writing,
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: So it's I don't know what kind of music? Do
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: you make it? A lady of my age? You know,
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know what kind of music.
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: But it's sort of like, you know, do I wear hats? Now?
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: Now when you're over a certain age, like you're over fifty,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: do I wear hats?
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: What do I do? Do I wear long skirts? I
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: don't know?
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: And I think as an artist, you know, I just
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: want to keep growing and keep pushing until, you know,
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: until it's like time until okay, times out. I just
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: want to get as much done as I can to
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: put into the time capsule for you know, whatever that is.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: It's so it's so inspiring to hear and so exciting
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: because like I love talking to people like you because
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: you know, you're making music and then someone comes to
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: you and says, hey, do you want to score a
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: TV show? And I've never done that, Yes, let's do it.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: And and then now like this music you're making like
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: trying new things and just want to keep going and
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: keep creating. It's such an infectious like thing to be
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: around it. It's it's really exciting. And the twentieth anniversary
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: of your album A Boot and a Shoe. I saw
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: it came in on vinyl late last year. That's exciting too.
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was fun because that of that reflecting light,
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: which seemed to resonate with so many Gilmore fans, is
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: on that record, you know, which is that? And that
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: was an odd thing too, that Amy chose that for
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: to be Lorela and and you know Luke's first dance.
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: It was not at all that sort of a song.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: It was more of an esoteric kind of song, but
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: it I thought, but it did work, you know, for them.
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: And then you know, we revisited.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: That in the revival and I added a little section
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: to it to the original, so it was it was fun.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: I love those through lines and I you know, just
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: the care that Amy always takes, I think with the
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: with the writing, with the little.
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: Visual cues, with the music.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Again, there's there's nobody really like her, and like Dan
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: Palladino that they nobody really does what they do. The
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: dramedy is not a common thing. And I remember talking
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: to her about when we started I think bun Heads.
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: It was a long time ago, and we were just
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: talking about television and how there were so many shows
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: that were so violent and so serious, like like they
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: just didn't and I thought that's interesting. They were just
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: missing a sense of humor completely. And you know, since then,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: there are shows like The Bear that are you know,
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: that's intense and has some really crazy serious stuff, but
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: still has a sense of humor.
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: You know, it's still funny.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you'd call it a normal comedy,
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know what you call Maybe that's a remedy.
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but it's just it's cool to always
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: I think see things like that they're intense or what
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: you know, crazy stories, but that they still there's still
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: a sense of humor and because we just need more
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: of that, which we do a lot more of that
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: these days.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Sam Phillips, thank you so much for your time today,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: for indulging us and sharing your music with us. Just
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: the greatest gift that we could receive. It's it's so
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: it's so beautiful and uh and you're just the coolest
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: person in the world. I thought you would be, and
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: you did not disappoint. You exceeded every expectation I had.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: So thank you.
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: Wow, Easton, thank you so much. It's so kind.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: Of you to say I will take all of that
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: in and just have the best week now.
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Excellent, and everyone look out for this new record that
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: Sam Phillips just recorded the Instagram best place for people
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: to keep up with you as your.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: Website Instagram on the website. And yes, don't have a
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: release date at the moment because we're just finishing, but
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: soon soon.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: All right, well we can't wait. Thanks again, Thank you
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: so much everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: at I Am all In podcast and email us at
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.