Spring Breakers

Cliff Martinez joins Elvis Mitchell on KCRW’s ‘The Treatment’

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

VICE : NOISY : An Interview With Composer Cliff Martinez

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

A Conversation with Composer Cliff Martinez – Cool Hunting

The brains behind the film music for Solaris, Drive and Spring Breakers on his newest bloody project with Steven Soderbergh.

A Conversation with Composer Cliff Martinez at Moogfest this year attracted a mix of curious festival attendees and die-hard fans – many of whom cared much more for Martinez’s dark, ambient scores than the actual movie plots. The regular Steven Soderbergh collaborator (“Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Traffic,” and “Solaris”) has reached even more prominence lately since scoring critically acclaimed films such as Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” and Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers.” Martinez, a soft-spoken and charming speaker, was surprisingly upfront about where he gets his ideas and how he executes them. Budding film score composers, take note: Martinez uses software synths like Omnisphere and u-he, arranging in Ableton Live, but calls himself a preset guy. However, you probably don’t own a gamelan metallophone or 17 baritone steel drums from Trinidad—the latter of which are prominently featured on the “Solaris” soundtrack, which Martinez cites as his all-time favorite score: “I wish I could roll out of bed every day and write another ‘Solaris.'” – Nara Shin

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Cliff Martinez: Drummer As A Composer

Cliff Martinez by © Robert Charles Mann — Cliff Martinez by Robert Charles Mann

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!

Cannes Daily Buzz: Cliff Martinez Scores Again

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

‘Only God Forgives’ Composer Cliff Martinez
on Reuniting With Nicolas Winding Refn

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

Score!: A Chat with ‘Spring Breakers’
and ‘Drive’ Soundtracker Cliff Martinez

The outrageous trailer for director Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers plays out as a Girls Gone Wild episode turned street war, where drugs and territory are marked by city blocks and thugs with guns. Or, in this case, babes with guns. The story’s four leading ladies — played by Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Korine, and Ashley Benson — wear neon bikinis throughout, toting Uzis and sucking face while goaded on by a drug dealing creep of a rapper named Alien, played by James Franco. Just for good measure, Gucci Mane makes a cameo.

In a brilliant move, Korine brought on Skrillex and Cliff Martinez to score the film. Pairing the dubstep idol with the latter, the in-demand composer responsible for the music behind Drive (and who’d played drums with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart) led to a handful of collaborations between the two. We talked to Martinez about scoring this beach blanket bloodbath. – by Puja Patel

Read the full interview at SPIN