The Auckland Fringe Festival also kicks off next week with Balkan music titans Dr Colossus and music animation duo Colliderscope two of the highlights. SCOTT KARA talks to them about their very different takes on cinema music
KEY POINTS:
Twenty two year old Leon Radojkovic was still in nappies when Tim Burton films like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands came out.
But a little later on in life it was these films, and the music in the movies by composer Danny Elfman, that intrigued him.
"He was the
first film composer I really got into, and through getting into him I realised there was a whole world of great film music out there," says Radojkovic.
And now, with his eight-piece Auckland band, Dr Colossus, he's doing a concert for Auckland Fringe 2009 made up of the songs of Danny Elfman.
Elfman's also the man behind the music for Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Mars Attacks!, as well as non-Burton directed films such as To Die For, Men In Black and Spiderman.
He's also written TV show themes like The Simpsons and, more recently, Desperate Housewives, although the Dr Colossus set is made up strictly of film music.
"I've always been interested in trying to branch out with the band because they are such a great lot of musicians that it seems a shame to be doing the same thing over and over again.
"I just thought he [Burton] would be a good choice because he's done some musicals, like The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is show tuney, then these great melodramatic romantic themes."
Elfman's music is kind of creepy but fun. "There is definitely humour there, and that gothic element, but it is tongue-in-cheek. But not always, and there are genuine poignant moments. It can be seriously dissonant and disturbing, and I like his earlier work, especially because it does have a coherent gothic vibe which I kind of like, it was angsty, which I identified with at the time," he smiles.
The Dr Colossus versions are worked out on a case-by-case basis with some of them taking a "faithful approach" and others getting some "fast and loose" treatment.
From Edward Scissorhands they are doing the music from a romantic scene, and it starts off "pretty" and in keeping with the original and then morphs into a "new wave/surf/disco interpretation"; there's a track from The Nightmare Before Christmas done in a "rollicking saloon", Cab Calloway style; and a metal inspired Batman "like if Pantera hung out in Gotham City and got in a fight with Batman".
"So in [the Batman] instance it's about being true to the character and if Batman was a musical instrument then he'd be an electric guitar, for sure. He's got this brutal aspect to his character and he's exceedingly conflicted."
They will also be doing an obscure Elfman composition that only the most die hard fans of the composer are likely to know. But it's a secret. "It was never recorded properly, and it was just demo versions that got out," he says.
Dr Colossus, who release a new EP soon, also play a traditional show at the Festival Club in Red Square on March 14 as part of Auckland Festival.
Soundtrack and film music are a big influence on Dr Colossus' dark, soulful, and rhythmic Balkan inspired sound. As well as Elfman's music, Radojkovic also points to the "bold" music in films like Mildred Pierce, China Town and Vertigo as being an inspiration. And the films themselves have also made an impression.
"A good film is very evocative. You walk out of a good film and the way you think about the world - for a few minutes at least - is completely changed. It can put you in a whole new head space."
Which is what Doctor Colossus Does Danny Elfman is likely to do, too.
LOWDOWN
Who: Dr Colossus
What: Dr Colossus Does Danny Elfman, The Basement, tomorrow night, 11pm, as part of Auckland Fringe.
Also playing: Red Square, Festival Club, March 14, 11.30pm