About M2 | Subscribe | Advertise | Contact

	ENTERTAINMENT		FASHION & GROOMING

	FOOD & DRINK		GADGETS

	HEALTH & FITNESS		JOKES

	MAN		MAN MADE

	PHOTO SHOOTS		SPORT

	SUCCESS		SUNGLASSES

	TRAVEL		WATCHES

	WHEELS		WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

	WINE REVIEW		WOMEN

FREE M2woman Trial issue worth $9.95

Been meaning to try a copy of M2woman Magazine for your partner?

Well here's your chance to get one for FREE! Saving you $9.95.

Get a FREE trial issue of M2woman Magazine worth $9.95 with the latest issue of M2 Magazine, from these...

KEEP READING

VIEW SIMILAR

LEADERSHIP QUOTE OF THE DAY (23 May 2012): You gain STRENGTH| COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. - Eleanor Roosevelt

MAN

Peter Gabriel

How much of WALL•E were you able to see before you began work and what was your reaction to the film?
It was 30 - 30 - 30 of sketches, rough animation and fully realised sections of the film. I thought it was very brave because there isn’t much dialogue at the beginning of the film. I also loved the references to films like 2001 and Alien, and I liked the humor of the story. I also thought it was quite timely, though it’s done with a light touch, so it isn’t as if the moral of the story is thrust down your throat. I mean, WALL•E is an environmental film in many ways but it really doesn’t say anything more strident than that looking after the planet is a good idea.

You wrote the lyrics for “Down to Earth” but the music is a collaboration with Thomas Newman, who also composed WALL•E’s score. Is that a different sort of process for you?
Yes, because I usually work on my own but Andrew was very keen that I should try working with Tom because Tom had created this musical world in which the film resided and he thought we ought to at least collaborate on a bridge going from “Thomasworld” to “Peterworld” [laughs]. I was hesitant about it to begin with.

But it worked...
Part of it was that I’ve always enjoyed Thomas Newman’s music, especially what he did on American Beauty and the theme for Six Feet Under. In fact, I nearly wrote to him having heard Six Feet Under because I thought that was the best TV theme I had ever heard: it was very original, very evocative and just a beautiful composition with lovely colors and textures and choice of sounds, and deceptively simple too.

So did the two of you get together in a studio somewhere?
Tom flew over here to England and we sat around and we played around on the keyboards until we came up with something we liked. It was pretty fast. Tom made a couple of visits and we got the basic bones of it done in about two or three days. Then we carried on working on various arrangements and I brought various people into the studio. My friend, Tony Levin, put on his bass part remotely in America and then the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa did some vocals and Tom had some of the musicians he regularly works with do a demo in Los Angeles. So it became a pretty international effort.

And are you playing on the recording as well as singing?
Yes, there’s a little bit of my bass-playing and I also play the keyboards and some things that sound like guitars but are sample guitars. It’s also me making some of the wackier, bendy sort of sounds.

So have you seen the finished film with your song attached yet?
No, and I can’t go to the premiere because my wife is about to have a baby. I’m really intrigued to see it though because I think it’s going to be a great film for everyone, but especially for kids to see and to dream about I hope.

And we should remind people to stay right to the end of the film to hear you perform...
Exactly! I mean, I know it’s a great honour to the be given the last slot in the film but most of the films I go to you’re playing to a pretty empty theatre, maybe just the cinema employees who come in and clean up the popcorn between shows. Fortunately, Pixar credits are generally more entertaining than everyone else’s, so people do tend to hang around a little longer. I think I’m in with a chance of being partially heard at least.

Back to Page 1...

Previous Page 1 2