AN INTERVIEW WITH RYAN SHORE

BY CHRIS GRAVES

Chris Graves: For those who do not know, what is your background? When did you first get involved in music?

Ryan Shore: I was born in Toronto, Canada and moved to Florida when I was 3 years old. I starting learning music and the saxophone when I was 11 years old in middle school, and then in high school I also took up the piano, clarinet and flute. In addition to playing, I also had a great interest in all aspects of music — composing, arranging, orchestrating, conducting, music theory, etc. — and so I pursued private lessons and summer studies for all aspects throughout high school. After graduating high school, I moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music where I majored in film composing. When I graduated, I moved to New York City to begin my career.

CG: Did your uncle, composer Howard Shore, play a significant role in your early career plans?

RS: When I was growing up and getting into music, I was definitely aware of and inspired by my uncle Howard. He gave me a keyboard for my 13th birthday, and then later suggested going to Berklee for college. After graduating, he offered me one day of employment, which turned into four years, and I worked with him on all of his projects during that period. He definitely played a significant role in my early career plans.

CG: How were you introduced to the world of View Askew and Kevin Smith?

RS: My first introduction to View Askew was around 1997. A friend of mine was making a movie, and he set up a meeting with Scott Mosier to ask for advice. My friend asked if I would come to the meeting as well, so that was my first introduction to View Askew. A few years later, in 1999, I co-orchestrated Howard’s score for “Dogma”, which is where I met Scott again and Kevin.

CG: You attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. What was the Boston experience like for you?

RS: I loved Boston, and it was a great place to go to for college. Berklee is an amazing and unique place. There are so many talented students and teachers that I learned from, and being submersed in a music environment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week was an incredible time. To me, geographically speaking, the fact that Berklee is located in the city of Boston was almost a side note, since I spent almost all of my time inside the school — in the rehearsal rooms, classrooms, studios, performance halls, dorms, etc. It’s almost as though those few city blocks that Berklee is on could have been on an island in the middle of the ocean, and I would have had a pretty similar experience. I loved it.

CG: How did you become involved with Dogma? What were your thoughts on the controversy surrounding the film?

RS: Prior to working on “Dogma”, I had been working with Howard on all his projects for about three years (”CopLand”, “The Game”, “Gloria”, “eXistenZ”, “Analyze This”, and others.). I became involved with “Dogma” when Howard asked me if I would co-orchestrate his score with him. I was aware of the controversy, but was mostly watching from the sidelines. I was really happy to see it have the proper release that it had.

CG: You produced the music for the Saturday Night Live Studios theatrical logo. How did this come about?

RS: Howard composed the music for it and asked me if I would produce the recordings. In addition to producing, I also performed most of the instruments on it. It first premiered on the film “Superstar”.

CG: Can you tell me about your relationship with Elmer Bernstein and the Elmer Bernstein Scoring Award?

RS: Elmer was a great supporter of mine and it was truly an honor to have known him before he passed. I first met him at the 2001 Woodstock Film Festival where a film I scored called “Cadaverous” was premiering. I knew that Elmer had an award in his name at the festival, and he was also going to be giving a masterclass as well. The masterclass and the award ceremony were both on the last day of the festival. On that day in the afternoon, I attended the masterclass and I introduced myself to him. He was very nice and cordial, but he didn’t give any indication that he had heard of the film I scored or recollected my name from the submissions. So after meeting him, I was a hundred percent certain that there was no way I would be winning the award later that night. Then during the ceremony, after he stated what his criteria was for his judging, and just before he gave the award he said “…and the winner is going to know I can keep a secret”, and then he gave the award to me. It was one of the biggest honors I have ever received — being recognized by one of the greats in the industry, and by someone for whom I have so much respect. I will always remember and appreciate it because in a business which is filled with so much rejection and one which can have all it’s ups and downs, it’s very inspiring to have the support of someone for whom I have so much admiration and from whom I’ve learned so much. We kept in touch until his passing, and he used to tell me, “…if you are ever up for a job, and you need a recommendation, feel free to have them call me”. He was a true inspiration for me.

CG: How did you become involved with Vulgar? What was your first reaction to the film’s content?

RS: After completing “Dogma”, Kevin, Scott and Monica Hampton told me about the film “Vulgar”, which they were making, and asked me if I would be interested in scoring it. Bryan Johnson, Scott, Monica and I sat down at their offices to watch the film together and talk about the music. My first reaction to the film was that it felt like the antagonists (the Fanelli family) were legitimately intimidating, however, Bryan, Scott and Monica were really laughing at everything. So I knew from that moment that although things seemed frightening on camera, the reaction that they wanted was for people to ultimately laugh, but in a very dark comedic way. We approached the music with a jazz score, which would provide a license to laugh, but a dark jazz score in order to tailor to the arc of the film and of Brian O’Halloran’s character.

CG: What were your experiences like on the movies Cop Land, Ransom, and Analyze This?

RS: Copland was the first studio film which I worked on, so it was very exciting to be part of it and see a score progress from the beginning of the process to the end. Howard wrote great music for Ransom and it was fantastic to hear the orchestra play it during all the recording sessions. I had a great time on Analyze This. Orchestrating music while watching Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal work together on the screen was inspiring. That was also the first studio film which I orchestrated for, so it was especially exciting to be a part of it.

CG: Have you ever been in any bands or musical groups?

RS: I played saxophone with Matchbox Twenty in their horn section on tour for the “Mad Season” album. We played on David Letterman for a special street performance, which was a lot of fun. I’ve also performed with Natalie Cole, Oleta Adams, Clark Terry, Gerry Muligan, The Uptown Horns, Bob Brookmeyer’s Big Band, and some other artists.

CG: Do you have any new projects coming up?

RS: I have 5 films coming up: “Numb”, a romantic comedy starring Matthew Perry and Mary Steenburgen; “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer”, a horror/comedy starring Robert Englund, which I recorded and conducted with the 91-piece Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; “Shadows”, a supernatural drama written and directed by Milcho Manchevski (Milcho’s prior film “Before the Rain” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film); “The Girl Next Door” based on the best selling period novel by Jack Ketchum; and “Made for Each Other”, a comedy starring Bijou Phillips, Danny Masterson and Patrick Warburton.

CG: What is your favorite View Askew / Kevin Smith flick (Dogma / Vulgar excluded)?

RS: “Chasing Amy”

CG: And finally, do you still keep in contact with anyone from View Askew?

RS: I speak to Scott Mosier and Monica Hampton on occasion, and I bumped into Kevin and Bryan (Johnson) not too long ago.

As always, a fine job by Chris with the Q and of course, much thanks to Ryan for the A. More Graves interviews coming soon!