Tyler Bates

Tyler Bates is a music producer and composer for films. His most known work includes "The Hangman's Song" and various other tracks from the zombie horror film Dawn of the Dead, and 2008's Day of the Dead. Other projects include Rob Zombie's Halloween, Halloween II, The Devil's Rejects, Zack Snyder's 300 and Watchmen, Neil Marshall's Doomsday, See No Evil and Slither.

Biography

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Tyler Bates spent his formative years in Chicago, developing his keen obsession with music. An avid enthusiast, his mother introduced him to a wide range of recording artists; from Zappa to Coltrane, Simon and Garfunkel to Sly Stone. The soundtrack albums for the Broadway musicals Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar left an impression upon him, both compositionally and emotionally. His cousins introduced him to rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Kiss and Bates dropped his alto saxophone in favour of an electric guitar. He then found the early records of U2, Gang of Four, and King Crimson which influenced the principles apparent in his music today. The limitations of his home studio equipment became an integral part of his creative process sparking an experimental approach in effort to complete his compositional ideas. He began daisy-chaining cassette recorders to produce multi-track recordings. An Echoplex and other sound mutation devices became the gateway to his atmospheric explorations and counter-rhythmic sensibilities, as he studied the effects of varying tape speeds on live and pre-recorded sound sources.

Early in his career, while composing a string of low-budget films, Bates, along with singer-songwriter Lisa Papineau, formed the band, Pet. The duo drew the attention of a number of industry veterans and artists, amongst them Tori Amos, who after seeing them perform began a campaign to get the band a major-label record deal. Pet recorded their Atlantic Records debut at Amos' hillside castle in rural Ireland in 1996. Pet soon had a platinum record to their credit for the song "Lil' Boots," from the "The Crow: City Of Angels" soundtrack album. They began touring stints with Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, and Social Distortion. By late 1997, Bates' desire to write and record music on a daily basis prompted him to leave the group and focus his energies solely on scoring films.

The film that cemented Bates' career in scoring movies was director Stephen Kay's art house Be-Bop film, The Last Time I Committed Suicide, starring Keanu Reeves, Adrien Brody, and Thomas Jane. This film, whose soundtrack was released on Blue Note Records, led to their collaboration on several films, including Get Carter; the catalyst to Bates' emergence as a film composer. Bates followed up with Matt Dillon's directorial debut, City Of Ghosts, and Mario Van Peebles' acclaimed BAADASSSSS!

Plagiarism controversy regarding the soundtrack to 300

Bates was heavily criticised for extensive plagiarism of Elliot Goldenthal's soundtrack to Titus in the soundtrack of the film 300 and Warner Brothers at one point issued an apology on their website.[1]

Discography

Film soundtracks

• The Crow: City of Angels
• Slither
• The Day The Earth Stood Still
• Dawn of the Dead
  • "The Hangman's Song"
  • "How Will Your God Judge You?"
  • "America Always Sorts Out Its Shit"
  • "That Dog's Just Fucked Up"
  • "Subterannean Sewer Attack"
• The Stand
  • "300" (promo short)
• The Devil's Rejects
  • "Shootout"
  • "Staples"
  • "Another Failed Escape"
  • "Mama Pulls the Trigger"
• The Last Time I Committed Suicide
• City of Ghosts
• Goodnight
• BAADASSSSS!
  • "Angel Muse"
  • "Bills' L.A. River Stunt"
• Get Carter
  • "Main Titles"
  • "House Of Cards"
  • World Upside Down
• The Dead Will Tell
  • "Emily Investigates"
  • "I Had A Breakdown"
• Night at the Golden Eagle
  • "Gabriel"
  • Closet Voyeur"
• Wasted
  • "Back On Junk"
• See No Evil
  • "Making a Monster"
• Halloween
  • "Halloween Theme 2007"
  • "The Shape Stalks Laurie"
• 300
• Doomsday
• Watchmen
• Halloween II

TV Show soundtracks

• Californication
  • "Hank's Theme"
  • "Dale's Energy"
  • "Title Theme"
• PG Porn

Video games soundtracks

• Rise of the Argonauts
• Watchmen: The End Is Nigh
• Army of two: The 40th Day

Own work

• Roseland with Azam Ali

References

2. Video: Tyler Bates talks about scoring Doomsday, released by Lakeshore Records
http://www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=1155

External links

• Tyler Bates' Website (includes samples of music and many video clips from movies worked on)
• Tyler Bates at the Internet Movie Database
• Examiner.com 2009 interview with Tyler Bates discussing Halloween II

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