Latest / Gilbert. K Show / Alec Puro on Scoring Nimrods, Green Day & Hollywood

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Alec Puro on Scoring Nimrods, Green Day & Hollywood · Gilbert. K Show

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today on the Gilbert K Show, we're joined by award-winning film and TV composer Alec Puro, the creative force behind the music of Nimrod's Don't Let Them Out, Black Summer, The Fosters, and more.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: From scoring alongside Green Day's iconic music to creating unforgettable sounds for horror, drama, and television.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Alec has built a career turning stories into music and emotions into sound.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let's give a big welcome to the one and only Alec Pureau.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Alec, how are you today?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Pleasure to have you on the show.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to meet you.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: You too.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh, let's uh get into it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so um at this at the beginning, what kind of kid were you growing up and when did music go from being something you enjoyed to something you knew you wanted to do for a living?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Let's see.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, going all the way back, um, I guess growing up, I had a lot of energy.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: I was kind of a crazy kid.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh at about age seven, eight, I started taking piano lessons, which I really liked, but I was still pretty crazy.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then by the time I was 11, I somehow discovered drums, and that really became like an outlet to, you know, get my energy out, you know, uh jam with friends, really, you know, kind of that that was really the gateway, you know.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: I still wanted to play piano, but once I found the drums, I really got heavily into it, and all I wanted to do was, you know, be in a rock band.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I just got that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: You you get this like uh with anything you love, I think you get like a bug, and something inside you just you just have this drive to want to learn everything about it and be as good as you can.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: So that I guess is where my journey started with music.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like 11.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and your your parents, like any of the family members that were in the music industry or entertainment or film or no, like it's it's strange, but yeah, none of my immediate family was.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I grew up in uh Santa Monica, California, and you know, was surrounded by a lot of you know friends' parents that were in the business and whatnot, but no, yeah, nobody in my family.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the only musician.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you do you remember the first movie or TV show where the music completely blew you away?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Was there a moment that made you think, I want to create that feeling for other people someday?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, so I guess the first part of my journey was really about being more of a musician rather than a composer.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I I mean, not to be cliche, but of course, you know, when I saw E.T.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: or Star Wars, that music, you're just like, oh my God, like I could never do that.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's you know, it's John Williams.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's you know, this just so incredible.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that definitely those sort of movies put the kind of you know, bug in my ear, or just thinking about that in terms of, you know, down the road, you know, when I started writing as well as being a musician, that's really when that sort of opened up for me.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um and became that possibility of like, oh wow, like touring in a band is like super fun as like a young man, no responsibilities, no nothing, but like writing music became just you know such a passion and you know the direction that I uh you know ultimately wanted to go in.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, who were some of your biggest musical influences growing up?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Were they famous composers, bands, or maybe someone close to home who encouraged your passion?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of all the above.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously when I started, you know, and I was a young teenager playing, you know, music, you know, everybody from Van Halen to Steely Dan to the Beatles to the police, like, you know, all those bands were incredible.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, composer-wise, I mean, I've always loved, you know, John Bryan, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, like all the greats, you know, you kind of hone in as you get more into it.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, overall, those are some influences.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I was lucky enough to uh, you know, have some really cool relationships with, you know, other musicians like Jackson Brown and Andy Suffert with the police, just because they were like family friends, and I really they they almost became like mentors and really kind of you know were people I could go to for advice and really helped kind of put me on the path that I'm on, you know.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So every career has its challenges.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Looking back before your first big break, what was one obstacle that taught you the most and helped shape the composer you become today?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, honestly, uh I think the biggest challenge in the beginning was, you know, being able to like eat and pay my rent uh between, you know, between jobs.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because like early on, I think the the first like real movie that I uh got to score and do an orchestra for was like in the early 2000s.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was this movie called The Goodnight with uh Penelope Cruz and Gweneth Paltro and Danny DeVito.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I did that movie, it went to Sundance, it came out in theaters.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, you know, for a young composer, it was like a huge, you know, I was like, oh my God, this is incredible.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: I only want to score movies, I don't want to do anything else.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, this job ended, and like six months went by and I didn't have another movie.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, how do I, how do I like 50-50 this?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: How do I keep the lights on, but also do projects that I'm really genuinely passionate about that kind of push me as a composer, human, all that stuff.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: So that it's always been the big lesson, and that's you know, still today.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's that's kind of you you you unfortunately have to have a lot of plates spinning and be doing multiple things because you really don't know what is going to kind of be the thing at that moment.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're gonna take our first break and we're gonna play a game, this or that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a rapid fire game for the artist to get to know you.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, are you ready, uh, Alec?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: As ready as I could be.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and you can say both sometimes, some some of the um so let's let's try it out.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh piano or guitar?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Piano.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh orchestra or electronic synth synthesizer.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Both.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: I can even like back up to that first question.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: Is it's both, but uh way on the piano, I guess.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh film or TV?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, both.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh horror or comedy?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Horror.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh recording studio or live orchestra?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I guess both.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Green Day or Lincoln Park.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: You can't put me on the spot like that.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, you can say both.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Both.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Coffee or tea while composing.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, coffee.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um early morning or late night writing sessions.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Early morning.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: One unforgettable melody or one unforgettable rhythm.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Depends on the project.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm totally too many things are going through my head right now.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no worries.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: No worries.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, uh, you can say both for this one too, if you want.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oscar for best original score or Grammy for best score soundtrack.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean both, but you know, not why I do what I do.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's true.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, we're gonna move on to our next segment: building a career.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: You've composed music for everything, um, from heartfelt dramas and family series to horror documentaries, thrillers, and action.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: How do you completely change your mindset every time you start a new project?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it always depends on the director or producer you're working with.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, I mean, music is music in terms of like I think if you only did the same genre or the same thing, I mean, it would get so repetitive and boring.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: So to me, it's really exciting when there's a new challenge because each style of music, like, there's things you discover along the way, uh, you know, like little tricks or you know, go-to things that help with those styles.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: But for me, I love keeping it fresh and mixing it up.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, unfortunately, you can't really dictate what uh what you're going to be, you know, recognized for or wanted for or whatever, but you know, I'm always up for a challenge and I love mixing it up.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, so Alec, how did you get your break like from from um being a musician in a band?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Did you go to school for music?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: How old the transition happened?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm still waiting for my big break, to be honest.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the first like the first door professionally.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: First door.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, in my teen years, you know, like everybody, I was in all sorts of bands, and then I started doing a lot of session work, uh, playing drums on TV commercials, other people's records, like, you know, got to, you know, play with Cher or Jackson Brown.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: I toured with Robbie Krieger from the Doors for years.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: And at a certain point, I was like, I gotta, you know, I started writing music and I went to uh college at California Institute of the Arts for two years.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: And as I was at CalArts, I had started a band called Dead Z with a longtime, you know, one of my oldest friends.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: And we, two years into college, got a record deal with uh Sire Wreckers, this guy Seymour Stein, who signed, you know, Madonna Depeche Mode, heads, anybody you can think of back then, signed us.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, done, I was like done with college, obviously.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I'm going, I want to be in my band, and basically spent my 20s, you know, touring the world, opening for everybody from you know, the Deftones to Lincoln Park to Corn to Stone Temple Pilots, got to play Madison Square Garden, really like live the fantasy of being in a band.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we were on the tail end of you know record sales and all that.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: We sold a few hundred thousand records and did okay.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: But along the way, I was like, God, this is so fun.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: But like, I don't know, you know, if my band becomes cold play, yes, I'm I'm I'm I'm in, I'm sticking it out the rest of my life.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: But I was like, I I really am so passionate about like scoring to where I started writing music along the way, licensing it for different TV shows and stuff, scoring, you know, scoring friends' short films, this and that.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that kind of led to that first movie, The Good Night.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: And after that, I was like, this is what I want to do.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: The band was sort of like fizzling out, even though we you know still were working together, but I just really at that point focused and I actually went back to CalArts and studied privately for you know several years to really flesh out like orchestrating theory, counterpoint all that stuff because I was like, if I'm doing this, I need to do it, and I really want to be good at what I do, and so yeah, that kind of sent me off to the next phase.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, your work on the fosters uh earned you a BMI Film and TV award, which is an incredible achievement.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: What did receiving that recognition mean to you?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: And did it change the way you viewed your own career?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, honestly, I'm kind of a low-key guy when it comes to that kind of stuff.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I do have certain friends that are like, oh my God, I I need to be nominated for an Emmy and I need to do and it's like to me, like all I care about is I love to work and I love to make music.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, if those things happen, great.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I'm the guy that that happens to very often.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to work and like have a great career and get to make, you know, awesome music and challenge myself along the way.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that's more important to me, but of course, like such an awesome honor.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, all those things in my head, you know, maybe that helps me get the next job, or have somebody that maybe didn't look at me seriously be like, oh, okay, well, let's let's check him out.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's always kind of I guess that, like, but in terms of importance, you know, definitely.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: One of your early scores for The Good Night even uh received praise from Spiel Steven Spielberg.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: When someone like Spielberg compliments your work, what's going through your mind in that moment?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's not that doesn't feel like real life, to be honest.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, that was crazy to be mentioned in the same sentence, you know, uh in in this variety interview back then.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's the kind of thing that I'm talking about.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: He there was this article he sort of commented, and then like this guy that I knew who was like the head of music at Fox at the time, like wrote me an email, like, oh my god, I'm so proud of you.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it's nice to feel that, and like, yeah, I mean, yeah, I don't know.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's it everything, not to get like philosophical, seems like you know, you work so hard for these things, and they're these kind of like fleeting moments, you know what I mean?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, where it's like, even with like I have these couple movies that are coming out, it's like I'm so excited about them, and it'll be such a cool like week or so, whether they do well, don't do well, and then it's sort of on to the next thing because there's so much content and everybody's consuming so much, it's you know, it's kind of like ongoing kind of thing.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: So it I try to not put too much stock in too much, I guess, if that makes sense.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, it makes sense.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're gonna move on to our next segment, uh, Nimrods.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Your film Nimrods is one of the most unique projects on your resume because it combines Green Day's music with your original score.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: What first attracted you to this film and how did you approach bringing those two musical words together?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I mean, such a fun project.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so the director Lee Kirk is a friend of mine, and he had written this script, and you know, we had kind of like talked about it for years.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: It took him a while to obviously, you know, get the movie made, but I was like, when he first told me about it, I was like, oh my god, this is this sounds incredible.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I had done uh a movie, actually, two movies with with the guys from Lincoln Park years earlier.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm always really excited to kind of not step back into the band world, but like just that energy and that thing I just love so much.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: And Green Day, what an iconic band.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've you know been a fan forever.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it kind of came about organically that way, and you know, it was difficult to figure out where I fit in a little bit in the process because there are so many, you know, I don't actually know maybe there's another movie, but usually as a composer, you're watching like, you know, a rough cut and they temp music in, which means they put in like a Beatles song or something that you know they're not going to be able to use in the end, and you'll have to replace or they'll license something else.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: When I watched this rough cut, it was like every massive Green Day song, which obviously elevates the movie in such an insane way, and they didn't have to be replaced.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it was like, okay, how can I be the sort of emotional connective tissue?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because the Green Day music, I mean, those songs are characters on their own, you know what I mean?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: So how can I subtly fit in where you almost don't notice that their score, but to kind of elevate some of the like through lines with the character emotion and all that stuff?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it was definitely challenging to find what that thing was, but I think we ultimately struck a cool balance with it.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: So Green Day has such a recognizable sound that millions of fans instantly know it's them.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: As a composer, how do you respect that iconic music while still making sure your own score has its own identity throughout the film?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think you already responded to Is there is there anything you want to add?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it definitely like you you want to stay out of the way.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: You want to you want to let you want to let that breathe because that is the core of the movie, and that's like that is the kind of centerpiece, you know, if you will.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: But so yeah, really staying out of the way and really trying to compliment and lead into those songs and not, you know, not crowd the movie with unnecessary, you know, score themes or whatever, like really trying to be thoughtful about it.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so without giving away any spoilers, was there one scene in Imrods that challenged you creatively more than the others?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And what made that moment so rewarding to score?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, there's always like a scene or two that becomes challenging that you write and you rewrite and you rewrite, and you really want to get it right for the director.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, there was this one scene I the cue is called Drawing the Line, where you know three of the characters mid-movie are just kind of at a crossroads.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's like we tried it so many different ways because it's kind of like an emotional scene, but you also don't want to like play up the emotion too much, and you want it to be subtle, so it really took a lot of rounds to to get it right, and ultimately it was like a very simple kind of piano piece, which we didn't even think we would be using that in the movie because it's all Green Day music.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Why would there be piano?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: So where it ended up, yeah.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we're gonna take a final break and we're gonna play a game true or false, and it's time to test some facts about your life and career.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, you can you can say both, or um, so let's try it out.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: True or false, silence can sometimes be more powerful than music.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, true.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh true or false, horror is one of the hardest genres to compose for.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: True wish.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh true or false, you still get nervous before audiences hear and you score.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: Medium.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I guess true, yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh true or false deadlines sometimes make you more creative.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh true or false, every project teaches you something new.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, true, yeah.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And true or false, the audience notices music more than they realize.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, true, I think.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh true or false technology has completely changed the way composers work.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: And true or false, you already hear music in your head before writing the first note.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: And true or false, there's still one genre you've always wanted to score, but haven't yet.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, true or false, if you weren't a composer, you still find a career somewhere in music.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of truths.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of truths.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, we're gonna move on to our next segment, Don't Let Them Out.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about Don't Let Them Out.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's a horror film that relies so much on atmosphere and suspense.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: What excited you the most about choning this project and what can audiences expect emotionally from your score?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I love movies like this because it's literally there's there's one main character, there's like really one location.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's very cerebral and like you said, like ethereal and ambient to where, like, you know, talk about silence playing a big role in this film.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I you're almost like scoring the silence, so you have to be very delicate about how you do stuff to where I you know, in horror, like sound design and score are are pretty much one and they need to work together.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, this movie was awesome.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: It was so fun to work with Lila, the director.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: She uh she just really let me kind of go off the rails a bit, but had such great direction and ideas, and uh yeah, it was really, really fun to do, if that sort of answers the question.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, one of the best things about horror music is it can make audiences nervous before anything scary even happens.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: How do you decide when music should lead the scene and when silence becomes even more powerful?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's hard.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's really trial and error.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and and again, with horror movies, you know, the final mix is like so important because that's really where you blend the sound design and the music and the silence.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, with any score.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, less is more.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um if something works without music, you're off to such an amazing start because you know, you you can be subtle.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to, you know, announce the presence of music per se.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and this one was, yeah, it was a really delicate balance, but I think we came up with, you know, some really good stuff.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it and it's definitely very atmospheric.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: The uh the soundtrack for that uh film comes out on the 4th of August, which I think is Tuesday.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: So excited about that.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: So every horror movie has at least one unforgettable sequence.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Was there a particular scene in Don't Let Them Out that really pushed you creatively or emotionally as a composer?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I guess there was this one scene.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's several, but this one scene where this woman, uh, you know, she's out in the middle of nowhere, she's inherited this like weird house, weird stuff's going on, and she you don't know if it's ghosts, people, whatever.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: Her keys are gone and she has to like enter this weird room at night.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it is like the slowest kind of build-up.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a three and a half minute scene where she, you know, is going from outside, she's walking down this hall, all this weird stuff is happening, and it's like I had to sort of help that along, but be so subtle and atmospheric to where, like, you know, it's it's not a melodic score, you know, but uh it was challenging to kind of support that, but also not make it sort of like boring or drag or you know, so um yeah, that that was that was a good fun scene.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: If someone listened to your don't let them out soundtrack without ever seeing the movie, uh what emotions or story would you hope they experience just through the music?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't know.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously anything, of course, but uh I mean it's very like you said, atmospheric.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I always one of my favorite composers of all time is Brian Eno, and the way that he, you know, uses ambient music.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I always kind of draw from that when it comes to kind of like these atmospheric kind of things, even if it's horror, obviously.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I guess just an unsettled kind of off feeling, I think the score would probably bring.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it'll be interesting to just listen to it on Spotify and not watch it with picture.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because again, it's like, you know, this isn't an answer to your question, but in general, you know, when as a composer, when you compose anything in your studio, it's it sounds exactly how you want it, the best, you oh, you know, you love what you're doing.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: The minute you send that out and that goes to the mix, it's kind of not yours anymore in terms of like a lot of times people will, you know, mess with the stems or music editors will edit your cues, and it's like you don't have the control over that.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, you know, sometimes you're like, Oh, really?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: You did that?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: But I'll have to just, you know, you you kind of have to just like go with it and not be precious in terms of like it's a team sport, it's not just about you, you're servicing you know, a much bigger vision, the story, basically.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're gonna move on to our final segment, looking ahead.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: You've built an amazing career across so many different genres.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: For young composer watching today who dream of doing what you do, what's the best advice you can give them?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything you wish someone told you when you were first starting out?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, to me, it's like you need to do anything and everything because work begets work, and the more you put out in the universe, the more that comes back to you.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that uh I, you know, I mentioned Andy Summers from the police early on, and he was like a family friend.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: And when I was sort of transitioning thinking about writing songs, but I was still kind of a drummer, he was one of the few people that was like, you need to write music.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like that is the most important thing.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: You can't just be a musician or just be a drummer, like you need to write, and that kind of I feel like not only it like awakens this whole other creative thing inside you.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: I just you have to put as much out there as possible, and you gotta you know, seize every opportunity.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I really do believe work begets work and you know, forward momentum is important.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so what's next for you, Alec?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh can you share any projects you're working on?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or can you share?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if you don't have to.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm finishing up this movie right now called Double Blind.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's a I think it's like a Lions Gate Universal movie with Lakeith Stanfield, and it's a really just out there kind of, I guess it's a psychological thriller.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's so I I've gotten to make the coolest music, like some of the favorite, some of my favorite things I've ever gotten to write.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my friend who directed it, John Himes, is just like just such a prolific, you know, creative and really pushes me and lets me kind of get to a place where I, you know, don't always get.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: So been working on that.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm starting a documentary.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: I probably, I don't know that I can say what it is, but it's with a legendary uh musician, songwriter.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, I have uh I have a company called Gramoscope Music that has a you know massive catalog of music that we license to you know all the different networks and production companies.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we squee we do a ton of like unscripted shows from the housewives to the first 48.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that helps keep the lights on.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I'm just you know in the mix for hopefully a bunch more movies and TV shows that will be exciting to uh get creative with.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, do you have any dream directors, musicians, or stories to love to collaborate uh on one day?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, anybody that's talented that will have me.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, I mean, I sure I'd love to score a Michael Mann movie, or you know, there's all sorts of people, but uh yeah, uh anything that would kind of help me push the boundaries in some way.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, Alec, we're we're nearing the end of the show.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's all, folks.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for watching, Alec Puro, everyone.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Alec.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was a pleasure.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you so much for your time.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: This was awesome.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.