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Peter Green - Composer
Prelude
How did you develop your interest in music?
Long story. I was interested in electronics when I first started, building synthesiser circuits. I was more interested in how they actually worked and what you could get from the electronics of them. Then I got into what sounds were coming out of the other end.
I got the first cheap and nasty Casio keyboard. Then I decided to invent a bastardised cassette recorder which I could use as a multitrack, and the story goes on from there.
Sounds good
Do you prefer orchestral or synth scores?
My favourite thing, my true love, is orchestral sounds. That really does it for me, it's what I really love doing. I suppose technically I'm actually trained in the electronic, computerised sound, in electro-acoustic music, which has a lot of reference to the old electronic circuits I was building before.
That was really interesting because of the intellectual challenge of learning these new ways of working.
Electro-acoustics
Explain electro-acoustic music please.
Electro-acoustic music, is essentially real sound recording, audio recordings from the outside world - anything of any description really - which I then record into a computer system and pass through some quite sophisticated algorithms. That transforms them in some quite unique ways.
It's very very different in context, because people say you can get a similar effect from quite expensive synthesisers, but the point is they always maintain a reference from the outside world that you've recorded, and they always have this lively organic feel to them, no matter how far they're [been] processed. That's the real difference.
Water music
What's the most unusual sound you've sampled?
The most fun thing I ever did, not the most bizarre, was a dripping tap in my flat when I was a student in Brighton. I couldn't believe it was making all these musical noises, blip blop blip blop...
I made a piece from it, worked out the median notes then the timings and made an algorithmic composition from that, and that was fun.
Influences
What inspired the Ghosts of Albion score?
Well, I got a lot of inspiration from Buffy obviously. Ghosts has this whole resonance to Buffy. I thought of some lavish scores, and some excitement and energy and a lot of mystery and mysticism, so I just used that as inspiration.
With one of the themes, I was running hard on ideas. I was watching Attack of the Clones, and thought, "ah, good old John Williams, good bit of inspiration there, got a nice little brass line from that".
Heroes
Who were your musical heroes?
I love all of the film scores, not just [John Williams], anybody that does quality ones. There's loads of them out there. My music has always sounded very cinematic and so it always comes across in that storytelling kind of way.
But my first real hero was Gary Numan I suppose. That was because of the electronic music and the synthesisers, because back then in the late '70s, electronic music was unheard of, in the popular context at any rate.
Spooky
Do you believe in ghosts?
Ah, ghosts, interesting one. Well, there's some great theories about ghosts. I'm prepared to believe in ghosts, I've got no reason not to.
For example there's some theories that there's a lot of iron content in bricks in houses, where they think there's a possibility where you can effectively have a holographic recording of a person, which in certain circumstances can be projected. i.e. you effectively get this wispy, ghosty character.
And arguably, what is time, and life and just because they're a recording doesn't mean they don't have some sort of context and life about them, maybe.
Time Warp
What would you enjoy about the 19th Century?
I think the thing I'd most enjoy would be is, assuming that I was lucky enough, or unlucky enough, take your pick really, to be in the countryside, because obviously there was a lot more of it back then, I'd enjoy the fresh air and the summer hay and things like that.
What would I miss? All the high technology, all my keyboards and my samplers. Mind you, it's all very well to say in hindsight, but I'd try to invent some sort of mechanical piano device or something. But then, I wouldn't know how to do that, because that technology wasn't developed back then.
Spaced-out
What kind of magical power would you most like?
I don't know, it's not quite mystical, but I'd quite like to go and visit other planets. That would be quite fun, "Oh I fancy going to Jupiter. Oh dear, it's a bit bubbly down there, I'd get my fingers burnt, but..."
There's all sorts you could do, the old classic one is mind-reading I suppose. Invisibility is a bit boring, because it doesn't give you any special powers, you're just hidden. Although you could... yes, my male fantasies are going wild here, so we shall stop that right there.
Pre-production
Was it harder to compose the score before the recording took place?
It was a bit of a problem because I had no idea what the actors sounded like. I hadn't even seen a script, so I was purely going off my raw emotions of what I felt the whole thing should be about.
I only had a tiny tiny written brief and it did bring it sharply into focus when I did get the script and the recording of the actors, so that was good. You can argue it two ways. Maybe it made me more fluid because I was able to not be restricted, then again I maybe wasted time doing things which weren't appropriate. I don't know.
Satisfaction
What has been your favourite commission?
The most interesting thing was being commissioned by Mick Jagger to do an audio-video piece to launch his new centre. That was nice, all sorts of royalty and God knows what there. Jerry Hall was there.
The most fun thing about that was that her kids were on crutches because one of them had broken her leg, and I thought, "Yeah, you're a supermodel, but you're just a mum dragging the kids along." It was bizarre.
Did you incorporate any Rolling Stones stuff into the piece?
Absolutely not. I just totally blanked it. Took the money and did what I wanted. That's the best way.
Amber
What did you make of Amber Benson as a director?
I thought she was very good. She was very realistic about what could and couldn't be done [in terms of] timescales and technical issues.
She was also listening to me, quite a lot of what I was saying, what I thought was a good idea, and what I thought could and couldn't be fitted in there, and what would impact on emotional tensions, and so it was really good. She was also quite a nice person. I got on quite well with her.
Pop or pap
What are your thoughts on modern music?
Oh, I really detest and loathe manufactured bands. And I'm not too convinced either about the opposite side of that, where people are having a reaction and just going into guitar bands, because people like Blur are making a positive statement to try and be a bit like the Beatles, and I think, "Well, haven't we already done that?"
The other side of things in terms of technology, is I don't think the young kids are really truly getting to learn what music really is. When I started, I had to record everything from tape and I had to play it all myself with my hands, and kids today they just get a few loops, and they've all been matched [already] and the synthesisers are pre-programmed, and they don't have to do anything.
They learn how to be good producers but they don't learn how to be good musicians at all. So they really lose out on a lot of the key skills. I had to learn them and I was actually quite a good keyboard player until my computer came along and I learn to programme, and I lost a lot of my physical keyboard playing skills.
Caveman rock
Any other period style you'd like to try?
It might be quite fun to explore it back in prehistoric times, although I know Ghosts of Albion is never going to go there. I can just think of some quite amazing and bizarre electro-acoustic or Stravinsky-esque sounds you could do to match the bleak or lush landscape depending, that would be great fun.
A future one, done in about 2300, that might be quite interesting. You could do some real experimentation. Because then today's pop music would almost be classical music by comparison, so you could put lots of drum loops and things in, intertwine that with some orchestral things, and some interesting textures of electronic soundscapes. That would be good fun to do.