Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale has re-imagined an album from his long solo career, "Music For a New Society"; as the "X-Files" returns, we get the story behind its iconic theme music; even at the Sundance Film Festival, the talk of the town is #OscarsSoWhite.
How 'X-Files' composer Mark Snow accidentally created the show's iconic theme song
It’s been more than 20 years since “The X-Files” debuted on Fox. The hit show followed FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they investigated cases involving the paranormal. Now, Fox is hoping to relive the success of the show with a new six-episode miniseries debuting Jan. 24.
One thing that remains exactly the same in this new series: the iconic theme music composed by Mark Snow.
Snow says he got hired for the job as "The X-Files" composer in part because he lived close to director Chris Carter. Carter lived in the Palisades while Snow lived in Santa Monica; the other composers were either in the Valley or downtown. As every Angeleno knows, when it comes to getting anything done, drive time matters.
Snow is also bashful about the origins of the theme, saying it was no bright idea that struck him in the middle of the night. Rather, the first material came about accidentally when he "haphazardly" lowered his elbow onto his keyboard.
"Lo and behold there was this echoplex digital delay that became the accompaniment figure in the theme. It had that repeated sound."
Time — and the "X-Files" audience — have treated the music a little better. The show became a major hit during its nine-season run of stories about ghosts, aliens and the rest of the unexplained. With its lightly-scored sense of mystery — the theme sounds like a puff of smoke vanishing into thin air — Snow's music fit the mood of the show perfectly.
Now that "The X-Files" is returning fans are remembering everything they loved about the show — including the theme.
Michelle Lanz of The Frame met with Mike Snow to talk about the origins of the theme music and how he benefited from the creative freedom that Carter granted him.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
How did the theme music come about?
Chris Carter came over and said, 'I like the drum sound here, I like the synthesizer here, I like the strings here and the flute here.' So I wrote a theme, the first one I wrote. But it was more what you’d think a sci-fi theme should sound like. He came over and listened to it and said, 'Boy that’s good. But you know, I think we could move on from here and do something different and better.' I said, great.
After the third time, I said, 'Maybe we should start from scratch. A total blank canvas. And I’ll see what I can come up with without you nagging me and butting in, ha-ha.'
I put my elbow accidentally down on the keyboard. Lo and behold there was this echoplex digital delay that became the accompaniment figure in the theme. It had that repeated sound. Then it was time to write the melody. Wrote the melody, and here comes the whistle sound. It was called 'Whistling Joe' on a certain sample.
What did Chris Carter think of the music when he first heard it? How about the Fox executives?
Chris Carter comes over, hears it. He wasn’t like, jumping up and down. He keeps it pretty close to the vest. And he said, now we have to play it to the Fox executives. Bring a cassette tape and a boombox and we’ll go in.
I go in, I see these gentlemen in suits. They’re very nice. I said, here’s the theme. And I play it. And no one said, 'OK, we love it. It’s great. We’re going to go with it.' But they left it up to Chris Carter. And that was it, it was in.
What happened after the show started getting popular?
Four months later, the show came out. It was moving along and gaining popularity and that theme was getting noticed. When I finished it up, before anyone heard it, I thought it was kind of cute, fine, a little novel idea. But I didn’t really get the fact that it was going to turn into such a big deal that people were going to be talking about. That it would be covered by punk bands and country music — any kind of thing. So there were many versions out there which was wonderful, very flattering. It’s a very simple piece. And the wonderful part is nobody reined me in from doing any of that stuff. I just went for it, so to speak. It didn’t seem like such a big deal to me at the time. Well, it worked out really well.
Season 10 of "The X-Files" will premiere on Fox on Sunday, Jan. 24.
John Cale of Velvet Underground fame re-imagines 'Music for a New Society'
John Cale was a founding member of The Velvet Underground, the hugely influential band that changed the rules of rock. After Cale and the band parted ways in 1968, he began producing other artists and releasing his own albums.
His eighth solo album, “Music For a New Society,” was released in 1982. It came at a tumultuous time in Cale’s life as he fought a well-documented drug addiction. He eventually cleaned up and continued producing and recording albums at a prolific rate.
Fast forward to 2013, when Cale was asked to perform the entire “Music For a New Society” album in concert. That led to him re-visit his original recording. The result, called “M-FANS,” has just been released.
John Cale joined The Frame's Oscar Garza to talk about making old sounds new again.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
I want to go back to the time when you wrote and originally recorded “Music for a New Society,” which was released in ’82. What was your life like at the time?
It was a mess. Lifestyle, everything was kind of an assorted mixture.
Was it difficult for you to revisit these songs? Because in essence you were revisiting that time and whatever you were going through.
Yeah, I try to avoid it. But I think [the songs] stood up. It was the intensity of standing there and getting on with it, and finding the strands of the original album. Because it changed with every song. There were different personalities in every song. How do these personalities live today? I didn’t want to go back and visit those personalities necessarily, but I mean, there were things about them that really lasted. A kind of method acting with who are you today.
And maybe you can sing the same words and not be the same person. So all of that role playing happened again.
But you weren’t necessarily role playing at the time.
No, I mean, at the time… the role playing was really about survival. How do you express an idea? Is it an idea that you’re trying to express, or is it sheer anguish?
But you weren’t discounting the creative part of you that made those songs. Whatever difficulty you were going through. And was it personal? Was it drugs?
All of that. That’s what was still there, that I was using music as a way of working out of situations.
How did you decide on the process of going back in the studio and revisiting these songs and that album. Did you work with a producer? Did you have a sound in your head of what you wanted to achieve?
Well, we got down to it when we did the live show. It all stemmed from that — the string quartet work, the backup vocals work. I just worked at deconstructing it, pretty much. And using rhythm a little.
I got hooked on hip-hop. And I started using all sorts of electronic drums and stuff. But it was more about noise involved in the album. That noise created an atmosphere, which is something that [John] Cage knew about, that films [use] with sound design. And you always have room tone. So I tried to find different room tones.
There’s a song on “M:FANS” that wasn’t on the original. It’s titled “Prelude.” Why did it not make it onto the original and why did you decide to revive it?
At the time, when I spoke to my mother on the phone, she wasn’t really feeling well and I didn’t think it was fair to put it on the record. So I took it off. And now I put it back on because — well, at the time I called her because I wanted to learn a song I wanted to put on the record. A Welsh folk song. So now it completed the picture. The portrait of "M:FANS" began with reaching back to Wales. At the time I was really trying to figure out — it was before I did “Words for the Dying” — why it is exactly I ended up in rock and roll when my background was classical music. So that was a place to start.
There’s another song on the album I wanted to ask about. You’ve collaborated with so many people over the years in your career. On the remake of “New Society” you’ve collaborated with Amber Kaufman from Dirty Projectors on the song “Close Watch.” Were you a fan of theirs? How did you work with them?
Oh yeah. I was really happy to find Amber. The song itself was really perfect. Because it could use a ghost in it. This person is talking about this image. And putting a voice to the image was a good idea.
I was doing a lot of vocoder. Sometimes it gets out of control and you have microtones creeping in. And sure enough she sang the microtones. I thought, What? That was really interesting.
You said earlier you became a fan of hip-hop. Who did you start listening to?
Vince Staples. Chance the Rapper. Fifty Cent. Eminem. Especially Eminem for the poetry. Just the screaming poetry. It’s just relentless.
There are actually two new versions of the song “If You Were Still Around” on the record. One of them is with a gospel choir. I don’t know who inspired the song originally, but hearing it now I couldn’t help but think of your old friend and bandmate Lou Reed. Once you went back and decided to revisit this record, did that thought occur to you immediately?
Well, it was really something that happened later. And it seemed to be perfect because I don’t know who Sam [Shepard] was writing about in that poem, but it seemed to fit really well.
If we could go back for a minute to 1982 when you first made this record — did you think then, given that it was a hard time for you, could you see your future at that point? Could you see yourself doing this in 2016?
No better than realizing that music was the answer. And that, you know, if I could use this as a way of finding my feet, and realizing that life is not just a good melody.
"M:FANS," the reimagining of John Cale's 1982 record, “Music for a New Society,” is out now.
Sundance 2016: Sending more diversity to Hollywood, gun violence and films to watch
Half of The Frame's staff is away at the indie film world's biggest event, the Sundance Film Festival. So far this year there's been discussion of the Oscars' diversity problem, as well as new security measures at screenings and lots of television.
The Frame's Oscar Garza called up host John Horn to get a Sundance update.
Interview Highlights
Sundance is the epicenter of the indie film world, but the talk of the town here in L.A. is the biggest award show in the mainstream film industry and how much diversity seems to be a challenge for the Motion Picture Academy. How much of Hollywood's diversity problem is in the air at Sundance?
I think it's very much in the air. A lot of people are talking about it. At the opening news conference for the Sundance Festival a lot of questions were asked about it and I think there are two things that are worth noting.
One is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is generally representing movies that are made either by big studios or by the art-house subsidiaries of big studios. Sundance skews very differently. It's focusing on films that are made outside the studio system. So you're going to get generally a more diverse array of films — in terms of budget and in terms of storytellers. That's one main difference.
And the other thing... is that a lot of filmmakers who do good work at Sundance — and they might be women, they might be people of color — go on to work in Hollywood. So in some ways, the Sundance Festival can be kind of a feeder for Hollywood studios.
In the state of Utah, where the Sundance Festival occurs, it's an open-carry state. And it looks like you're noticing some additional security at the festival?
Now you're seeingon the front doors of these venues. There are enhanced securities that involve bag searches. You have to open your jacket — and it's 20 degrees, so a lot of people are wearing parkas. And it's not just that people are looking for guns going into theaters, people are looking at guns in terms of documentary filmmaking.With Utah now an open carry state #SundanceFilmFestival has upped security. For the 1st time bag searches for guns. pic.twitter.com/GIZfPrg9si
— The Frame (@theframe) January 22, 2016
There are a couple of major gun-violence documentaries at Sundance this year, "Under the Gun" and "Newtown."
Yeah, these are both movies that essentially say, even after all of these tragedies, the gun laws not only are not getting stricter, in some ways they're getting looser.
What are you looking forward to seeing?
I'll just give you today, because generally you can see four or five movies a day.
"Swiss Army Man" is a narrative feature with Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe.
There's a movie from New Zealand called "Hunt for the Wilderpeople." [It's] an adventure comedy set in the bush — could be interesting.
And then there's "Morris from America," a dramatic film about a 14-year-old African American boy who moves to Germany. So who knows — everything looks interesting on paper. My rule is to get an aisle seat, because if the movie isn't that good, you might want to get over to another film.