7. “Rockstar” – Sucker Punch
I love this movie, and people who try to tell me that I shouldn’t are not welcome in my home, nor are they allowed to ride in my car, handle my food, or touch my clothes. Three songs from the self-titled debut Blue Stahli album (“ULTRAnumb”, “Anti You”, and “Scrape”) were in TV spots [linked] and the “Meet Amber” and “Meet Blondie” featurettes [linked]. From the very first teaser, this was a movie I wanted to be a part of, and when even ONE track landed in spots for it, I was beyond excitement. Though it didn’t do well in the box office, I saw multiple screenings and loved it each time. The best was when it was concluding its theatrical run, and my car had irreparably broken down a week prior, so I walked to the theater for a late showing (my third time seeing it), and it didn’t matter what was going wrong in my life, I was the only one there, so I had the theater to myself. Event soundtracks with more bands filling up the film than score are a big influence and reason that Blue Stahli is the multi-genre monster that it is. So in writing the music of “Rockstar”, I wanted to capture the same feeling I had sitting alone in an empty theater, with this movie playing just for me and escaping into the rich world and stunning visuals. Hell, lyrically with this track I hope to make people feel like they can take on army by themselves and handle whatever life throws at them.
8. “The Fall” – Soldier
Another one where the movie tie in and inspiration is based purely on the music. The lyrics usually come last in the process, so for many of these I’m building a track solely on atmosphere. While I love the movie itself, this is another one where I adore the trailer just as much as the film itself. Hell, that trailer is kind of a signpost along with other things, of “where Blue Stahli comes from”. You’ve got intense sci-fi shootouts, spaceships, and damn near everything catching fire or exploding to a soundtrack of Propellerheads, Fluke, and White Zombie. The music of “The Fall” is here to soundtrack Kurt Russell slow motion rising out of the water with a wall of flame behind him, and wielding a massive minigun.
9. “Shoot Em Up” – Strange Days
This flick is one of my favorites, and it’s amazing how well the movie holds up. But I guess that’s what happens when you have a James Cameron screenplay and Kathryn Bigelow directing. This movie is where I first saw (and fell in love with) Skunk Anansie. And this is a movie that gave me the goal of not only having songs in a film, but performing them in the film as well. Absolutely fantastic soundtrack to this as well. The satire lyrics of Shoot Em Up have a very pointed target in irresponsible ratings-at-any-cost media, so there isn’t really the thematic parallel with this movie. It’s another where it’s the overall feel of the music. The music of Shoot Em Up, just feels like this film. The nihilistic doomsday swagger of the verses with apocalyptic beats, the badassery and toughness of the main riff and bridge riff, and the soaring relief of the chorus. Also, I was ALL about Angela Bassett in this. Definite movie crush.
10. “You’ll Get What’s Coming (feat. Mark Salomon)” – Split Second
If I were basing this on lyrics, then it’d be easy to just throw down a bunch of relentless revenge flicks like The Horseman, but I’m going to be focusing on the music. I had been excited to see this ever since I saw a write up about in a Starlog Magazine in 1991. And a fun fact that Stephen Norrington, who worked on the robotic fx of ‘Hardware’, worked on fx for this movie (and did other stuff I dig, like ‘Death Machine’ and the first ‘Blade’ movie). I first saw this movie on VHS while watching on the tiny screen of a portable TV in a dark room. Despite the less-than-ideal viewing situation, I was fully taken in by the atmosphere. Whatever the movie didn’t show, my brain filled in, and I would spend hours drawing extra parts of the locations and many instances of a character that was directly Rutger Hauer’s “Harley Stone”. I love the fact that the feel of this to me was “cyberpunk action horror” and all I want is a million more movies with that same description. The music of You’ll Get What’s Coming is designed to be used in the soundtrack of one of these doesn’t-exist-yet Cyberpunk Action Horror flicks.
11. “The Devil” – Kill List
Another one of my all time favorite movies, and I’m a fan of Neil Maskell ever since the BBC show ‘Utopia’ and also has me excited to see everything director Ben Wheatley does. In the album sampler video that we made to preview tracks from the album, where we made the pitchfork logo in flame via the practical method of “setting fire to the earth”, the very last shot of my face lit by flame is a visual nod to the movie. The creeping and looming dread of this film is something I wanted to fill the title track with, and so it is layered with sound design, atmospheres and fx (some below the surface, so you catch them when listening in different environments). The song echoes the feel of certain scenes, and I suppose there is a connecting line that could be drawn lyrically in brutal realization and human nature. The trailer for this film is one of my faves as well.
12. “Demon” – True Detective (Season 1)
I was completely drawn in and enveloped in season one of True Detective. The landscape, the cinematography, dark atmosphere, allusions to weird fiction, the music. Just everything. Something I do to recharge is go off the grid and take long solo road trips to nowhere. That isolation of feeling like you’re alone in the middle of the vast unexplored ocean while speeding down blacktop is something I live for. This season (which I’m treating here as an 8 hour movie) managed to capture that feel perfectly. There’s a scene in episode 5 where Dewall tells Rust “You got a demon, little man.” That stuck with me. Made me want to put the entire sentiment of acknowledging and embracing my own numerous demons into a song made for the speeding road trip into limitless oblivion. On one particular long excursion with a seemingly endless repeating backdrop of expanse, I wound up writing the lyrics for this track. Unlike the other tracks on this album that typically end with a big finish or a stab, this one rings out, giving way to ambience and distant overtaking chants. It may be the end of the album, but it’s just the beginning of the ritual.