Cliff Martinez, once the drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is now a renowned composer of soundtracks for films like Drive, Springbreakers and Solaris. VPRO Cinema’s Cesar Majorana took him to a music store in Rotterdam (during the International Film Festival) to talk about his work, the magic of synthesizers and the secret of a good soundtrack.
Host Daniel Schweiger of the Film Music Institute interviews Cliff Martinez for Film Music Live. Cliff talks about his high-tech Herrmann-esque take for frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh’s new super-wired, pandemic thriller!
Nicolas Winding Refn and Cliff Martinez are one of the best director/composer duos working in the industry, and are bringing the spotlight back to auteur filmmaking in a time where studio-curated franchises dominate theaters. The two have worked together on Drive and Only God Forgives, and The Neon Demon marks their third collaboration together. In this unique interview we get to hear from both Nicolas and Cliff together. We discuss how they met, why they work so well together, what it means to be an auteur in today’s industry and their process for working on The Neon Demon. Enjoy this short but sweet interview from two auteurs who are blazing their own path.
Interview produced and presented by Kaya Savas with Film.Music.Media
“Do you feel like you never stop talking about Drive?” I ask Cliff Martinez, as I open my notebook full of questions about Drive, arguably my favourite film of all time. “You never hear the words ‘hit’ and ‘soundtrack’ together,” he replied with a smile. “But Drive is the exception. Film music is not that popular… but this one is.”
Read the full article at express.co.uk
Netflix announced today that Cliff Martinez (Traffic, Contagion, Solaris, Game Night), Peter Peter (Antboy, Over the Edge) and Julian Winding are composing the original music for the upcoming Danish Netflix neo-noir series Copenhagen Cowboy.
Read the full article at filmmusicreporter.com
Legendary composer Cliff Martinez talks about his score for Hotel Artemis; touches upon his work on Too Old To Die Young; elaborates on his Drive score; and shows how his craft has changed over the years, among other things.
Read the full interview by Aaron Vehlinggo at vehlinggo.com
The chemistry between the aural and the visual is so strong that The Neon Demon borders on synesthetic. Refn floods his frame with neon light, casting a glow on his vapid supermodels while lens flare cuts through bodies and faces like rainbow razors, while Martinez creates soundscapes that glow like stage lights and twinkle like glitter, only to butcher them with stabbing synthesizer pulses. The dreamy vision of LA’s fashion world is undercut with an intoxicating doom.
Read the full interview by Miles Bowe at FactMag
The Neon Demon, directed by Drive filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, is one of the most controversial films of the year. An exploration of LA’s modelling industry starring Elle Fanning and Keanu Reeves, the horror movie follows the exploits of a young model preyed on by cannibalistic older models threatened by her newcomer status. It’s extremely violent, was booed and Cannes and got The Daily Mail all up in arms. Its soundtrack, switching between ambient numbers and banging rock songs, was recorded by Cliff Martinez, who was the original drummer in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s worked with Refn before, on Drive and Only God Forgives, so we chatted to Martinez about The Neon Demon, working with Skrillex – as he did on the 2012 film Spring Breakers – and why he doesn’t miss the Chili Peppers.
Read the full interview by Jordan Bassett at NME
From Drive to The Knick, composer Cliff Martinez is now bringing his unique darkness to The Neon Demon
Whereas most film composers assemble orchestras, Cliff Martinez just needs a laptop and a keyboard (although he’s playing a Cristal Baschet here, above). The former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer’s stark, synth-heavy soundtracks for the likes of Sex, Lies and Videotape, The Knick and Drive have made him a go-to for directors with a dark side. Martinez, 62, has just completed the score for The Neon Demon. Out on July 8, it’s his third film with Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn. Here Martinez talks to WIRED about composing, Kraftwerk, and the value of long-term creative collaboration.
Read the full interview by Olly Richards at WIRED
The Neon Demon actress, director, and composer exorcise the film’s themes.
A former drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Captain Beefheart, and Lydia Lunch, the 62-year-old composer initially broke into film after scoring Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 breakthrough indie hit, sex, lies, and videotape, a partnership that’s continued ever since and ultimately led to his latest ventures with Refn.
The Neon Demon marks their third collaboration together — fourth, if you count Liv Corfixen’s My Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn — and Martinez’s compositions have certainly added a flavorful touch to Refn’s stoic ouevre. In a way, each score serves as a ghostly narrator, haunting the filmmaker’s trademark long shots with an ambient glaze that’s meditative and comforting.
Read the full article and interview by Michael Roffman at Consequence of Sound
The composer (and once Red Hot Chili Pepper) who has made multiple films with Nicholas Winding Refn and Steven Soderbergh, as well as such diverse projects as Spring Breakers, The Normal Heart, and Pee Wee’s Playhouse chats with David Poland.
DP/30: The Oral History Of Hollywood
The Neon Demon is on its way to theaters. Refn’s macabre ode to the LA fashion scene arrives in theaters this week on a wave of positive word of mouth and boasting one win from the illustrious Cannes Film Festival. That win came by way of the film’s moody original score from Composer Cliff Martinez. The Neon Demon is Martinez’s third collaboration with Refn – after Drive (2008) and Only God Forgives (2013) – and sees the composer bring a brooding grandiosity to his signature ambient sound. Behind throbbing electronics and an ocean of synthesizers, Martinez’s compositions build a dense layer of sex and dread behind Refn’s stylized visuals. The result is a fever dream – or nightmare – of a film unlike anything else you’ll see this summer. The composer recently took some time to speak with CutPrintFilm about his less than traditional path to composing, working with Nicolas Winding Refn and strategically placed tube socks.
Read the full interview by Patrick Phillips at CUT PRINT FILM
The film steers the ship; gives you the structure and the ideas. Interestingly, I don’t see the three works as fitting into distinct categories as you just described. They always seem like they blurred together. We both share a love of sparse electronic music. We both love ’70s and ’80s electronic music. I think every work shares these sensibilities. We’ve always talked about Kraftwerk, Goblin, [Giorgio] Moroder – those artists have always been reference points. It always seems like an evolution to me, but we’ve always tried to consciously steer clear of past work. But can we actually escape our pasts? -Cliff Martinez
Read the full interview by Jacob Knight at Birth Movies Death
The longtime movie maestro’s third collaboration with the director Nicolas Winding Refn opens Friday.
An important ingredient in my artistic upbringing is punk rock. Shortly after moving to L.A., I was rehearsing in South Central L.A. with a top-40 band that was doing George Benson cover songs. In an adjacent room, I heard an offensive racket that turned out to be L.A.’s first (or second) punk rock band, The Screamers. At first I was repulsed. My next response was, “This is interesting,” and by the end of the song, I was hooked. Shortly thereafter I joined The Weirdos. We played at the Whisky A Go Go and when I saw three people do swan dives off the balcony, I thought to myself, “That beats applause any day.”
Read the full interview at Vanity Fair by Spike Carter
But as long as there’s something happening and getting a reaction it’s worthwhile?
I don’t think people quite realize how difficult it is to create a film or music that is divisive or controversial. You have to have a big enough audience that is in love with it for the controversy [to exist]. For the people at Cannes who booed it, you have to have enough people cheering it for that to happen. If you make a shitty film, it just dies a swift, miserable death. You really have to burn a lot of calories to create something that people will want to talk about. When I was in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, we tried really hard to be Sex Pistols 2. That was the birth of us coming on stage with nothing on except a strategically placed tube sock. Even then, people found us endearing, because everywhere we played the club owner would say “You’re going to do the sock thing, right?” It was a real crowdpleaser. So to be commercial or uncommercial, controversial or divisive, to make a big stink with a film is an accomplishment that we should all be proud of. -Cliff Martinez
Read the full interview by Jacob Hall at /Film
Refn is quick to admit that he has no problem leaving many of the technical aspects of composing to Martinez. “I can’t play an instrument, I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I don’t have the confidence,” he admits. “That’s never stopped me!”, Martinez interjects with a laugh. Fearlessness in singing and dancing aside, he humbly credits Refn for helping him branch out and take chances. “I always tend to be really conservative because music just takes a long time to create so I don’t take that many risks, but Nicolas encourages risk-taking in the music. So that trust factor is a big deal and you kind of earn it, in our case, over three films. I seem to be getting bigger and bigger roles in Nicolas’ films.”
by Ari Drew at Dread Central
Jóhann Jóhannsson, Joseph Trapanese, Cliff Martinez i Łukasz Targosz gośćmi specjalnymi piątkowego wieczoru w Centrum Kongresowym ICE Kraków
„Partytura dronowa jest może trudna do zdefiniowania, ale ma przed sobą wielką przyszłość pod warunkiem, że zostanie połączona z tradycyjnymi elementami muzyki, takimi jak wyrazista melodia czy klarowna rytmika” – uważa Łukasz Targosz, jeden z bohaterów piątkowego wieczoru w Centrum Kongresowym ICE Kraków. Jego muzyka do serialu HBO „Pakt” i dramatu Patryka Vegi „Pitbull” otworzyła wczoraj uroczystą galę „alterFMF: Drone Sounds”.
Film composer Cliff Martinez joins Elvis Mitchell to talk intentions and meaning of auditory accompaniment in his newest work Neon Demon.
Cliff Martinez has strong roots in rock music, having begun his career as the drummer of Red Hot Chili Peppers. But, after reflecting on his love for the soundtrack of A Fistful of Dollars, Martinez broadened his musical scope as film composer behind scores for such films and television series as Spring Breakers, Sex, Lies and Videotape and The Knick. He joins Elvis Mitchell to discuss his personal music history and the thought process behind his latest musical work on Neon Demon.
The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell on KCRW
Cannes Film Festival Press Conference with Cliff Martinez Winner of Best Soundtrack for The Neon Demon (starts at 14:30)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers: Nicolas Winding Refn, Nicolas Winding Refn
Stars: Elle Fanning as Jesse, Christina Hendricks as Jan, Keanu Reeves as Hank
‘The Neon Demon’ Summary: When aspiring model Jesse (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
Cliff Martinez is my hero. Well, not specifically my “only” hero, but Martinez and a handful of other Rock-Band-Dudes-Turned-Real-Deal-Composers —I’m looking at you, Danny Elfman, Mark Mothersbaugh, Jon Brion, Clint Mansell, and Hans Zimmer)— were the guys who indirectly gave me permission to put down the microphone, step off stage and start writing music to picture. Martinez is specifically inspiring in that he has created an immensely varied body of work—I mean, dude is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers!— that nonetheless is threaded with tones, textures and grooves that are singular and recognizable. By that I mean that you, as a listener, know when you are listening to “Cliff.” – by Ryan Miller
Read the full interview at DECIDER.COM
“The Knick’s” chief benefactor is Steven Soderbergh, whose daring approach has been complimented by the game-changing, alt. scoring of Martinez. He’s taken the most outré Soderbergh scoring for such soundtracks as “Sex, Lies and Videotape” and “Traffic” and placed his trippy grooves with anachronistic wander into the medical gore-filled misadventures of a drug-addicted doctor and a staff that’s full of malpractice – some of it well-intentioned.
Now “The Knick” and “Fargo” strongly expand their sonic palettes this month (with the shows’ second seasons respectively debuting on October 16th on Cinemax and October 12th on FX). As the good-bad surgeon Thackery continues to fight his addiction, Martinez adds to his hallucinatory sound with ethereal, glass-like beauty and a beat that’s as out of early 1900’s place as it is intrinsically linked to it. – Daniel Schweiger
Read the full article at Film Music Magazine or click play to listen to the interview.
Cliff Martinez is hard at work on the score for “The Knick” season 2 for Steven Soderbergh, is mulling music for Nicolas Winding-Refn’s “The Neon Demon” and has at least seen the script for Harmony Korine’s next “The Trap,” which is perhaps his next firm gig.
Those names have been, erm, instrumental to Martinez’ rise as an in-demand composer (though for some reason he just can’t seem to hold down those outside, one-off commercial projects, dang it). Weaving organic, odd instruments in with electronic sources, the musician/writer has found natural creative companions in equally odd, forward-thinking and intuitive directors.
Martinez has been in these pages before, after massaging a cold, macabre and grand score out of bloodlusty “Only God Forgives.” His electronic soundtrack for Cinemax period drama “The Knick” is so gorgeous, the tracks stand boldly on their own. – by Katie Hasty
Read the full interview at HITFIX
Niegdyś muzyk Red Hot Chili Peppers, a od wielu lat uznany w świecie autor muzyki filmowej (Traffic, Solaris, Drive) – Cliff Martinez to ostatni gość specjalny Międzynarodowej Gali Seriali w ramach tegorocznej, 8. już odsłony Festiwalu Muzyki Filmowej w Krakowie. W sobotę, 30 maja w krakowskiej arenie kompozytor zaprezentuje muzykę stworzoną do jednego z najgłośniejszych tytułów 2014 roku, nominowanego do Złotych Globów serialu The Knick.
Il est l’auteur privilégié des bandes originales de Steven Soderbergh, pour lequel il a composé les musiques de Traffic, de Wicked, ou encore de Sexe, Mensonges et Vidéo. Cliff Martinez est à l’honneur dans Cinéma Song.
Ancien batteur des Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cliff Martinez débute sa carrière de compositeur de musique de film en 1989, avec Sexe, Mensonges et Vidéo de Steven Soderbergh. Aujourd’hui âgé de 61 ans, il compte plus d’une trentaine de bandes originales à son actif. Thierry Jousse a rencontré le compositeur, et livre dans ce Cinema Song son entretien.
Radio France Musique Podcasts – Une Soiree avec Cliff Martinez
This is an exclusive interview with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Cliff Martinez. Cliff is best known as a former drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s also played with The Dickies, Lydia Lunch, Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, and has composed the scores for numerous award-winning films. During the show he discussed his time with RHCP, composing music for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, and the influence Captain Beefheart had on his life – See more at: http://thefivecount.com/interviews/an-evening-with-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-cliff-martinez/#sthash.CirHLYQf.dpuf
To hear the entire show visit The Five Count.
If you were initially thrown by the modern, electronic music used to score Steven Soderbergh’s 1900-set medical drama The Knick, you are not alone: The idea also caught the show’s composer, Cliff Martinez, off guard at first.
“The most important thing that Steven usually does that outlines the approach is that he sends me a rough cut of the picture. The big curveball in The Knick was that temporary music [he used] as he was editing — he was using my music from Drive and Contagion and Spring Breakers, which was a surprise because it didn’t acknowledge the period whatsoever. In fact, it kind of went in the opposite direction,” Martinez tells TVGuide.com. “At first it seemed like a risk because the whole idea of the show was to try to put the viewer in 1900 in New York and everything was pulling in that direction except for the music. I had a phone call with Steven and then I just said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ He said, ‘Yeah. It’s going to be all electronic. It’s going to be modern. That’s intentional.’ And after a few weeks, it had become the sound of the show.”
Read the full article at TV Guide
Cliff Martinez is probably most known through his collaboration with filmmakers Steven Soderbergh and Nicolas Refn. The composer of Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Drive, Solaris, and Only God Forgives, Martinez has had the chance to set the mood for some of the best movies of the last few decades. In fact, a cursory glance through Martinez’s filmography will reveal a nearly flawless tract record. It isn’t just through his composing, however, that Martinez has received recognition. Beginning his musical career in the late 70s/early 80s punk scene, Martinez has had a career as diverse as they come; including putting in time with bands like the Dickies, Captain Beefheart, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which awarded him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Following the release of his latest work, the score for the HBO film Normal Heart, we caught up with Cliff to ask him about his transition from an LA punk to Grammy-nominated film composer. – Joseph Yanick, Jul 15 2014
Read the full interview at NOISY, Music by Vice
With Only God Forgives about to hit DVD, composer, former Chili Pepper and Captain Beefheart collaborator Cliff Martinez looks back on more than twenty years of soundtrack composition. It was his minimalist electronic score for Nicolas Winding-Refn’s Drive which brought Martinez to widespread recognition – his pulsing, understated compositions were absolutely vital to the film’s slick appeal, and with a deluxe vinyl edition released in the UK by Geoff Barrow’s Invada imprint, suddenly Martinez’s name was on the lips of every hipster and film fanatic … – by Bram E. Gieben
Continue reading at THE SKINNY
The art of film music made a quantum jump when composer Cliff Martinez made his big-screen scoring debut with the pulsing rhythms and otherworldly tones of Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 Sex, Lies And Videotape. Martinez, who’d previously served as a drummer with rock and punk bands including Red Hot Chili Peppers; The Weirdos; and Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, brought a pleasingly strange new tonality to his soon-to-be heavily influential scores, often derived from a plethora of exotic percussion instruments such as giant steel drums and Indonesian gamelans. His artfully minimal aesthetic of simple, haunting melodies and subtly dense harmonic textures has graced a legion of other high-profile Hollywood films, including Soderbergh’s Traffic, Wonderland, Solaris, and Contagion, and recent releases including Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, scored in collaboration with Skrillex. – by John Payne
Read the full interview at DRUM!
The director and composer behind Drive talk about karaoke, the beauty of camp, and their polarizing new film, Only God Forgives, starring Ryan Gosling.
A few hours after my conversation with Refn, I ask Cliff Martinez, who composed Only God Forgives’ sparse, droning score, what he thought of the film after seeing it for the first time. “Nicolas called me right after I finished watching it,” the 59-year-old former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart drummer laughs, with a hint of unease. “He seems to take pride in not listening to anybody, but he’s always all over you, like, ‘What’d you think?’ So I said, ‘Where did all the dialogue go?’ Nicolas’ answer was, ‘I never shoot everything on the page. If I did, there’d be no element of surprise, and where’s the fun in that?'” Refn then asked Martinez about one of Only God Forgives’ most graphic scenes, in which (spoiler alert) Julian plunges his hand into his murdered mother’s open stomach wound, apropos of nothing. “I told him it was really weird,” remembers Martinez. “He said, ‘What do you think it means?’ I said, ‘If you think it’s important that it means something, you might want to tell me.’ He never did.”
See the full interview at Pitchfork.com
It’s a little past 11 at night and I’m sitting in the bar adjacent to the Slaughter Lane Alamo Drafthouse in South Austin, Texas. Amidst the din of diners and drinkers I’m reading and rereading then rewriting my own scibblly notes I took from the just-attended-screening of Only God Forgives. The film’s director Nicolas Winding Refn, and its composer Cliff Martinez, are sitting in a dark corner of the joint, wrapping up an interview. I’ll then be up to bat. It’s still hard to fathom that six hours ago the three of us were amongst a small group firing guns at an indoor range (To read of that adventure click here). My first experience with a gun just mere hours behind me causes the violence in the film (especially the gun play) to feel ten times as powerful in its precision than it normally would. Slowly but surely I begin to understand the almost zen-like qualities one must be instilled with to truly and effectively enact violence on others. As I sit and wait, now doodling Ninja Turtles, this thought makes me a little uneasy. But I do not shut down to it. I stay aware of it. I stay awake to it. – Ben Umstead
Read the full interview at TWITCH FILM
Even though this was composer Cliff Martinez’s first trip to Cannes, his movies have been screening at the festival for years. He first made his mark on the event with his work on Steven Soderbegh’s first film, sex, lies and videotape, back in 1989. This year he was back in Cannes with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives.
Martinez is an acclaimed composer; in addition to recent work with Refn and numerous projects with Soderbergh, he recently collaborated with Skrillex on music for Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. – By Eugene Hernandez
Read full article at FILMLINC DAILY from Film Society Lincoln Center
It might be hard to believe, but this year’s Cannes Film Festival marked the first one to host in demand composer Cliff Martinez, whose work with frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh helped land the then first-time filmmaker the Palme d’Or for his debut “Sex, Lies and Videotape” back in 1989. The former drummer (he played for the Red Hot Chili Peppers among other acts) has since had another film featuring his music, Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive,” play on in Competition. This year he made his first Cannes appearance in support of his second project with Refn, the ultra violent revenge saga “Only God Forgives.” – by Nigel M Smith
Read full interview at INDIEWIRE
Backstage interview with Cliff Martinez about receiving his Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award at the 2013 BMI Film and TV Awards.
