Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman - Pat Irwin: Composer TV and Film and Multi-instrumentalist with B52s, SUSS and more

Pat Irwin: Composer TV and Film and Multi-instrumentalist with B52s, SUSS and more

04/28/23 • 98 min

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Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Pat Irwin is a renowned film and television composer; some of his scores include Dexter: New Blood, Rocko’s Modern Life, Pepper Ann, and Nurse Jackie. He’s also a multi-instrumentalist who was a member of the B52s for 18 years; he founded The Raybeats and 8 Eyed Spy, and more recently the band SUSS of which I’m a fan. Pat also teaches film composition at NYU, and Brooklyn College at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, and this conversation wove it’s way into important topics for all of us: a life well-lived, grief, the importance of creativity and of having a good hang. As always, I’ve included detailed timestamps, so if you want to jump to his days with the B52s or Dexter, go ahead, but I hope you’ll take the time to listen to this whole episode which is rich with music and stories. Pat is as articulate as he is creative. You may be surprised that the episode begins with his time in Paris interviewing jazz musicians and learning from John Cage.

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Like all my episodes in this series, this is also a video, and the transcript is linked here as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/pat-irwin

Pat Irwin: https://patirwinmusic.com/

Rocko's Modern Life soundtrack album link: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4cxM57oL5yL3wIDlagQyOG

Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:51) Paris meeting Dexter Gordon, Bill Coleman, Mal Waldron, Steve Lacey, Nadia Boulanger, John Cage (09:54) intro to clip from Rocko’s Modern Life (10:21) clip from Rocko’s Modern Life the Pogo Stick Scenario (10:52) Nadia Boulanger, love of jazz (13:25) intro to Lost and Found albums (14:02) Swing Time from Volume 3 of New Sounds From the Lost and Found (15:51) Open Window from Volume 4 of Lost and Found (17:06) intro to Rocko’s Modern Life (18:11) Rocko Versus Food Boy from Rocko’s Modern Life soundtrack (20:11) Rocko’s Modern Life, Kevin Norton, Art Barron (22:12) Walter Hawkes, Long Island City, Ernie Brooks, Don Cherry, The Talking Heads (26:07) In Another Time from Wide open Sky with J. Walter Hawkes (30:36) NYC 8 Eyed Spy, The Raybeats, the B-52s, deaths of Ricky Wilson and George Scott (37:24) touring life and joining the B-52s (44:03) writing music for film and television, collecting instruments (47:12) Early Morning Song from volume 5 The Lost and Found (52:56) Dexter: New Blood (57:21) music from Dexter: New Blood Suite part 1 (59:12) SUSS, Gary Leib (01:06:06) Winter Was Hard SUSS (01:07:59) pedal steel, lap steel, Jonathan Gregg (01:09:00) teaching film composition at NYU, advice to young composers, the importance of the arts (01:17:30) SUSS (01:24:54) SUSS Across the Horizon (01:30:46) Pat’s start composing for film, changes in film composition industry (01:35:27) reflections on the importance of music

Please buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

Like all my episodes in this series, this is also a video, and the transcript is linked here as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/pat-irwin

Pat Irwin: https://patirwinmusic.com/

Rocko's Modern Life soundtrack album link: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4cxM57oL5yL3wIDlagQyOG

Previous Episode

Colin Aguiar: Composer

Colin Aguiar is an award-winning Indian-Candian composer based in Los Angeles who specializes in film scoring. In this conversation we talked about his youth, growing up across parts of India, the Middle East, Europe and Canada and studying the music of various cultures, learning different instruments with a start on drums as a toddler, as well as his love for the music of Arvo Pärt and other great composers. Colins spoke about some of his mentors including Mychael Danna. This episode with Colin is the first release of several film composers I have interviewed recently, and I find it fascinating how diverse their musical backgrounds are and what a challenging and little-understood part of the music world this is. During the episode you’ll hear some clips from Colin’s compositions, used with permission. Like all my episodes, this is available on your favourite podcast player as well as a video, and the transcript is linked as well to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/colin-aguiar

https://colinaguiar.com/

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:18) toddler drum set, Dad’s band

(05:47) Parents’ travels and emigration from India, different cultures

(09:17) intro to music from Fly

(12:41) music from Fly

(16:01) intro to music from Torn from her Arms, Arvo Pärt

(17:59) music from Torn from her Arms

(19:42) synthesizers, working with session musicians who play by ear

(22:51) immigration stories

(25:15) arrangement of El Salvadorian anthem

(26:25) learning drums and cultures through music

(30:52) practicing 5 hours a day, learning different instruments

(33:32) starting to compose and arrange

(35:41) composition studio gear

(38:46) intro to music from film “Construct”, use of dubstep

(39:45) music from “Construct”

(40:43) Mychael Danna and learning the job of film scoring

(48:14) Lou Natale, challenges of time pressure for composers

(51:29) intro to palindrome

(52:18) clip from palindrome written for Construct

(54:23) learning from other composers

(56:55) composition Roman Toi

(58:29) mentors Lou Natale, John Welsman, glenn Morley, Mychael Danna, Robert Dunca, Christopher Young

(01:00:10) internal music soundtrack, being able to remember music with precision

(01:02:41) Kathakali, other parallels with film music

(01:06:00) different styles of film scoring, decision making, time crunches

(01:13:16) use of temp tracks

(01:16:27) Canadian film industry

(01:17:46) pandemic shutdowns

Next Episode

Madeline Bruser: author of "The Art of Practicing", Pianist, Educator

I’m so honoured that Madeline Bruser has agreed to be featured as a guest on this series. When I first read her book The Art of Practicing more than 20 years ago, it helped to transform my experience as a performer and teacher, and on many aspects of my life. Although Madeline’s teaching is aimed primarily at classical pianists and other musicians, I find that much of what she talks about will resonate for everybody trying to get in touch with their emotions, their connection to beauty and meaning, and their experience of being in their bodies. If you happen to be listening to this when it first is released, you should check out Madeline’s free interactive workshop on May 11 at 1pm Eastern. Her website is: https://artofpracticing.com/ Like all my episodes, this is also a video, and the transcript is also linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/madeline-bruser Please help me keep this series and this channel going, with a tip or as a monthly supporter: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman If the topics we address in this conversation are of interest to you, you’ll be interested that many of these important issues have come up with past guests and upcoming guests. Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:00) why Madeline wrote the book “The Art of Practicing”, Menahem Pressler, meditation (09:58) Body and Sound Awareness Technique (13:14) change from performer to teacher, big realizations, founding The Art of Practicing (19:48) intro to Madeline’s performance of Chopin Fantaisie Impromptu (20:33) Chopin Fantaise Impromptu (25:59) Rhythmic grouping, Stephen Burns, Kirk Ferguson (32:04) colour in harmony and tonal nuances (34:02) story of tape recorder, listening to ourselves and being vulnerable (39:14) parallels with actors and musicians, Performing Beyond Fear exercise (43:43) lineage (46:23) perfectionism (50:17) Madeline demonstrates common problems for pianists (58:04) dealing with injuries, mindfulness (01:01:25) dealing with stress, teaching online (01:06:56) journaling (01:08:58) student-centered teaching, “Freedom to Learn” Carl Rogers (01:12:51) stage fright and beta blockers (01:15:06) dealing with stressful or traumatic history (01:20:42) teaching constructively with kindness, and teacher training (01:24:00) dealing with feelings of overwhelm, orchestra playing (01:28:37) pianists and ensemble experience (01:31:51) upcoming workshops Mindfulness for Pianists, Freeing Your Energy for Performance