Other music projects
The War Boys
'The border: where dreams begin and end. A fence. A line drawn in the sand. A war zone.'
In the summer of 2007 Ron Daniels called me from New York, asking if I could write the music for a song for a film he was directing called The War Boys. The song was going to be featured in a scene in which actor Peter Gallagher dances a strange dance while listening to the song on his iPod. The song was called Guess What and the lyrics were written by Naomi Wallace who also wrote the screenplay for The War Boys, based on her play of the same name. It's always fun writing music for someone else's words. It takes you off in directions you'd never think of exploring on your own.
click on the image to listen to 'guess what'.
Lorca
'Un viaje de mil lunas.'
A theatre musical based on the life and death of Federico García Lorca, Spain's most famous poet. The script for the Lorca musical was written by John Howlett. I wrote the lyrics for the songs and the music was composed by Theo Jaskolkowski. Two other key members of the creative team were director Ron Daniels, and Txetxu Egurrola who adapted the script and lyrics for the Spanish version.
click on the album cover to listen to some songs from the show.
Maximum Credible Accident
'Factually correct and an essential element in the public debate.'
Adapted from John Howlett's 1980 novel, Maximum Credible Accident was a dramatised radio serial broadcast by BBC Radio 4. After the first episode, the Thatcher government tried to have it taken off air. The then heads of the BBC refused to censor it in any way. A 'maximum credible accident' is the most serious nuclear reactor accident that can be hypothesized from an adverse combination of equipment malfunction, operating errors, and other reasonable foreseen causes. I wrote the music with Michael Sheppard and we recorded it in a studio that he was building in Frankfurt.
click on the image to listen to the opening theme music.
The Picasso Play
'Paris is cold, Paris is hungry
No-one is eating chestnuts in the street ...'
In the summer of 2006, Fred Proud directed a reading of The Picasso Play (six conversations about life and death) at London's ICA Theatre. The play was written by Paul Thompson and included several songs. I wrote the music for the songs and performed them live at the reading.
click on the image to hear a song from the play.