Feature Category: Interviews

by NICK SPACEK

For anyone into modern progressive rock, the band COHEED AND CAMBRIA should need no introduction. Over the course of their nearly 30-year history, the group has melded sci-fi, comic books, and music in a way not seen in decades, due in no small part to CLAUDIO SANCHEZ – the lead singer, guitarist, and primary lyricist for COHEED AND CAMBRIA. While the band was on tour in Europe this fall, we took the opportunity to speak with SANCHEZ away from any new album to talk about the musician’s overall creative process…

STARBURST: It’s always interesting talking to musical artists who don’t have anything to promote, but it seems like you always have something you’re in the middle of. How do you keep it all going?

Claudio Sanchez: For me, I think it’s just I have a pretty good team around me, with my wife as a collaborator and management just helping to facilitate some of these wild ideas. I think that really helps. When I sort of constructed the idea in ’98 – which was a complete idea – and then actually started trying to execute it in 2003, a lot of that had to do with that assistance. The help involved by some of my collaborators – that’s what really helps keep it all in line and structured because I come up with these ideas all the time. I really need somebody to help narrow it down and ensure that they can actually happen, rather than just, “Here’s a bunch of stuff,” and I can’t figure out how to execute it.

When you start out a band that is also going to be comic books and novels and things like that, how do you even begin to find people who are willing to be like, “That’s a big start, but let’s go”?

Well, again, I think it just happened through time and proximity because at first I’m not entirely sure that anybody really understood the idea. Certainly the band, in its infant stages – I mean, I don’t think they knew how to digest it, and management sort of saw it through time, through those first years, as something unique that will allow his involvement started to blossom. Our first book at the time – Armory Wars‘ initial title was The Bag.On.Line Adventures.

It was taken from a small bag shop that I was living across the street from in Paris, France. This is 1998. Coheed and Cambria isn’t really a band, it’s just an idea. Then when 2003 comes around and it’s like, “Oh, we want to actually really start to make this happen,” our manager, Blaze, took the initiative to go to San Diego Comic-Con and look for artists that were willing to participate. Those first two issues, which got our feet wet, never went further than those first two issues until we got involved with Image. But Blaze just took the initiative, and he found an artist there that was willing to give it a shot, and that artist’s name was Wes Abbott. It just takes somebody to think outside of the box – to see it as something special, I guess.

For someone who enjoys comics and music, getting involved with Image Comics as you’re getting going has got to be a real cool feeling – you know somebody really believes in your work when you’re working with a major comic publisher, especially one with the pedigree that Image has.

Absolutely. I mean, for me, it’s funny – when I was younger, the initial idea of the DIY mentality and the idea of independent labels really started with the exodus of all of those artists that started Image Comics: McFarlane. Lee. Silvestri. All these dudes, when they did that, that was like the initial idea of “doing it yourself” that, when I started to become more involved with music, I started to realize there are these independent labels. You don’t have to necessarily be on a major label for success. That just started to equate to me like, “Oh yeah, like the guys when they left and started Image, you know?” When it was brought up as a potential idea, I was blown away because one of my favourite artists and creators of the ’90s was Todd McFarlane and his run with Spider-Man. Then, coming off of Spider-Man to create Spawn? I mean – one of my favourite characters of all time. So to be a part of Image Comics at any part of the lineage of The Armory Wars was a huge win for sure.

Are there still plans for this all to evolve into other mediums – like a mini-series or a film?

In the beginning stages, probably after the second record / third part of the story, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, I realized that it was gonna be much longer than just a three-parter. It started to become more about ensuring that it got told the right way in this medium, because I was still learning. I’m still always learning how to better the story, how to strengthen the characters, how to do this, that, and the other thing. I didn’t wanna get to a point where I felt like the cart was getting ahead of the horse, if that makes any sense. I just wanted to make what was the right artistic statement for myself, because again, The Armory Wars is so very much tied to my personality, to who I am, because essentially it is, in a strange way, the fantastic version of telling my autobiography. I understand the code in the story even though it’s pretty all over the place. So I just wanted to make sure that that was right. Through the years, we’ve had these false starts of people interested in adapting it, but it never turned out to be right. I just wanna make sure it’s done properly. I don’t want to just give the keys to the car away just for the sake of a paycheck or something. It’s not about that. To me, it’s so directly connected to everything that we’ve worked for as a band, that it just needs to be in the right hands to ever, ever happen. It isn’t until these 20 years have passed that I’ve really considered it because our audience really wants it. Whenever we have these ‘ask me anythings’ or these Q&As, it is guaranteed that somebody in the audience is going to ask the question of when it becomes a feature, when it becomes a mini-series, when it’s an anime. That question is always there, so part of me almost feels like it’s not a question of ‘if’ – it’s just really ‘when’ it will happen. We’ll see. I mean, I don’t want to get too confident. But at this moment now, it’s starting to make sense to me just because there is a desire to see it happen. But again, it’s the thing that just needs to be executed the right way.

Sandman finally happened as a series after almost 30 years. Maybe ring up Neil Gaiman and see what he had to go through to make this finally happen and turn out right!

Right! [Laughs] Which is funny, because Neil, I think he has a house in Woodstock and I spend so much time in Woodstock cultivating the band, so he’s not too far. If he’s still up there, maybe I’ll go and see what he thinks.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA kick off the NEVERENDER: NO WORLD FOR A WAKING MIND Tour on Friday, April 28th at The NorVa in Norfolk, Virginia. Details on that tour can be found at the band’s website.

by NICK SPACEK

Though we are but three months into 2023, one can safely say without fear of looking foolish that director Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN is easily on track to become the most iconic new horror creation of the year. The plot of the killer android film is quite straightforward, but it’s the stylistic flourishes which elevate it into something very special. One such flourish is the music by composer ANTHONY WILLIS, who subverts the usual concept for a horror score by utilizing “warm strings, flourishing harps, and breathy, ethereal pop vocals, emulating the innocence of a child.” In addition – and similar to his work on Emerald Fennell’s 2020 thriller, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN – Willis gets to rework an iconic pop song. We spoke with Willis earlier this year, right around M3GAN’s release…

STARBURST: It’s been so cool to see how the movie’s taken flight in everyone’s hearts and minds. Obviously, it’s had a good response from cinematic audiences, but what attracted you to M3GAN initially?

Anthony Willis: I was approached by the director, Gerard [Johnstone], and I think he was attracted to me because he liked what I’d done for Promising Young Woman, and he was looking at ways like, “How can I make the music for M3GAN different than your typical horror movie?”

I mean, he was already sort of 10 steps ahead of me in terms of just going, “No, no, no. It doesn’t wanna be too tacky and how to bring out M3GAN as a femme fatale – she’s almost like a ’50s housewife – all these things I couldn’t immediately tell from the script. Then, when you saw the way that she’d been designed and the retro styling that she had, and then obviously the way that personality was then married into a 2022 world was just really intriguing, and the issues that come with that.

M3GAN is another affecting drama with a strong message, like Promising Young Woman. Both make for really intriguing films, because they do so in the forum of also entertaining you and making you laugh while also making you feel a little uncomfortable and the points are still made. They still resonate with you with message like, “AI could be bad news.”

Anthony Willis

Were you familiar with Gerard Johnston’s directorial debut, Housebound, at all when he approached you?

I had not seen it, but obviously I did watch it after we’d met and after he invited me to be a part of the project. It very much indicated the kind of tonal guardianship that he could handle. He has such a rich love of music and overall, he’s a very talented director.

What has it been like for you, going to work on films like M3GAN and Promising Young Woman, having come from doing so much work in things that are franchises and well-known properties over the course of your career?

I’m kind of an old soul. I mean, I first fell in love with music partly through classic animation, you know? As kids, we all got to enjoy Disney movies and I’ve always loved animation. I absolutely adored How to Train Your Dragon, the first one, right before I moved here and ultimately then got to work with John [Powell, composer] on the remaining films. And I loved The Lion King growing up, and obviously this arena is a little different in that you are subverting a lot of those associations and it’s how it can be really fun in its own way, just in terms of unleashing and writing music that makes you feel happy and soaring. It’s a different arena than that, but it comes with its own kind of fun. So yeah, it is a different, it is a different thing, but it’s also, as I said, it seems to be very popular right now. I think people seem to really enjoy those kinds of tonal tightropes.

In both M3GAN and Promising Young Woman, you’ve gotten to rework pop songs. Sia’s ‘Titanium’, for M3GAN and ‘Toxic’ for Promising Young Woman, with that version of ‘Toxic’ very prominently featured in one of the trailers. What’s that like for you, as a composer, to not just have to work around a needle drop, but to rework it within the score itself?

Oh, it’s so fun. It’s definitely a “pinch yourself” moment, and I’ve said this in interviews before, but earlier in my career, I’d work on a low-budget movie and the director would have their heart set on using a particular song and of course, it then turned out they couldn’t, so I think even when Emerald first said to me, “Ooh yeah, we’re going to use ‘Toxic,’ let’s do a version of ‘Toxic,’ I was kind of going, “Uuuuuuh – you know, it’s such a big deal to get these licenses,” but she was like, “No, no, no. I’ve been assured. This is the whole movie. This is how we have to do this,” and she was right.

Similarly with, ‘Titanium’, it’s so cool to work on a song that you know so well, and that’s just so brilliant and, and so love, but the most important thing is that narratively, it’s just a loaded treasure chest because it carries so much weight to it.

I could have written a thousand things for the ‘Titanium’ moment. I mean, I did do the original song for ‘Tell Me Your Dreams’, which is a bit more sincere, but you are never gonna tap into that incredible resource, and obviously, that’s what ‘Toxic’ did, as well. In the movie, it’s a very different tool than score, but it’s a really fun one to do. I’m working on a follow-up movie at the moment with Emerald, and it’s got some amazing music songs as well. It’s amazing to get to work with these really incredible songs.

‘Tell Me Your Dreams’ is a song that – because it is featured in the movie – it’s something you had to write, having not seen any footage. You’re having to write this so that they can sync it up and have it in the film itself. What’s it like getting to do something like that, where you’re working both as the film is being made, but also beforehand?

That was really fun. When I was asked to do the film, it was part of the scope of the brief of the work, and I was really excited about that. But I think literally no sooner had I said, “Yeah, I’d love to do it,” that I realized that this song was, I think, gonna be had to be filmed in about two and a half days and in New Zealand, which really means about one and a half days, so I talked to Gerard about it, and then I wrote the tune, and then he added some brilliant lyrics to it, and it just came together like that.

The blueprint of the song came together really, really quickly. Then, he had to give it to the programmers who had programmed M3GAN’s voice to speak and to sync it so that the movements of her voice moving would, would sync. It was incredibly difficult and complicated. Not hard for me, safely in my studio in L.A., but then we went into the studio with Jenna Davis, who was absolutely brilliant and not only brought incredible characterization to M3GAN with her vocal work throughout the film, but also carried that into her performance of M3GAN singing – including ‘Titanium’, of course.

We recorded that, but for a while, ‘Tell Me Your Dreams’ was basically a piano map. I wasn’t sure at that point. It was early days: was the score gonna be very tech-based? Was it gonna be a kind of mashup of all these different kinds of music that M3GAN puts together?

I’d written the tune in such a way that it was a lullaby but also quite robotic – the sort of thing that I imagine an AI program could probably come up with, so it was sort of simple, and then, later on, as it develops, it gets a little more sonorous. But then, right as we were starting to develop the score, Gerard said to me, “I think we should just make this like a Disney song, rather than it have lots of complicated layers to it.” That would, in theory, communicate that M3GAN is able to do this bizarre AI kind of composition – “Let’s make it legit, like she’s really managed to just write a Disney song.”

Luckily, I think the tune itself I’d written and the harmony already lent itself to that. Gerard had referenced ‘Somewhere Out There’ from An American Tail, which is such a beautiful, beautiful song James Horner wrote for the film. I didn’t think he’d go there in his head, but it just so happened that the tune did kind of have that in its essence, so I orchestrated it, did an arrangement, brought it to life that way, and then he was like, “Yeah, that’s it.”

It all made sense. We didn’t have to rerecord it with Jenna. Her performance already totally worked for that. It’s been really fun to hear how people, especially in the cinema, collectively are like, “Oh my God, she’s just started singing – this is ridiculous!” That laid a plan for ‘Titanium’ to then be the second time she sings. And then of course that, in itself, laid a platform for M3GAN to then do that amazing dance and walk and then, finally, her last “theatrical performance” is playing ‘Toy Soldiers’ on the piano

I think the musicality of M3GAN also really attracted me to the film overall, and that obviously then gets to echo into the way that her score works.

When we started this conversation, you referenced M3GAN being somewhat of a femme fatale and given these noir elements to certain parts of your score, the vocal songs work because many noir films feature your femme fatale spotlit on a stage singing her vamp song or a sad song that tells you her inner emotions. It all ties together so well.

It was definitely ambitious that we threaded so much music together. At first, I was a little hesitant to make the score as diverse in scope as it as it is. Gerard really pushed for, and certainly, one of the big things that I set out to do was Gerard wanted the score to be largely organic, at least when it’s innocent, and so I began to think, “How can you know; how can instruments that are organic do things that in their essence are slightly tacky and modular?”

It was only when we finished the film that I went, “Oh, this totally makes sense. M3GAN is essentially in disguise for a lot of the film, and it’s only really when she becomes violent that she basically lets the cat out of the bag and she’s like, “Yeah, I’m a seriously crazy, powerful robot and have no limits on my physical strength and what I can do”, so the fact that that music was incredibly industrial and intense, it makes sense ’cause M3GAN could hold back.

Not every film can. It’s tricky, and obviously, composers are always trying to create a unified language that binds everything together so that it justifies itself. It’s quite fatiguing to be given too much music but finding that slippery slope where she starts off innocent and then gradually the palette becomes more industrial and electronic – it was a tricky balance, but really fun to do.

Anthony Willis’ score for M3GAN is now streaming digitally, as well as available to pre-order on vinyl from Waxwork Records.

by Ed Fortune

Josie Campbell is a Los Angeles-based television writer and producer who has written for shows such hits as She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. She’s also the writer behind the latest DC Animated feature, Legion of Super-Heroes. We caught up with her to find out more…

STARBURST: You’ve written for absolutely some absolutely fantastic shows. How did? How did this project come about?

Josie Campbell: When I was at Warner Brothers, I actually worked with Jim Craig, who’s one of the producers, and I have worked with Alan Burnett. Jim had known me for a while. So he gave me a call and said that they were interested in doing some sort of DVD with Legion and Super Girl, and they didn’t really have any details. They just knew that they wanted to do something with Legion. And maybe Supergirl could be involved. I’m a huge super-family fan and a huge Legion fan.

What’s the pitch for this movie?

It’s a story about a young girl who tried to find her place and ended up in a crazy sort of fantastical sci-fi world where she’s getting to prove herself. And the people around her are getting to prove themselves and save the world despite the fact that a lot of people doubt that they can do it.

What is it about Supergirl that we want to put her through the wringer so much?

You know, I think if you kind of put your finger on it, which is a super girl has worse luck than almost everybody else. Clark definitely has his ups and downs. But ultimately, he was raised by a very loving family, he’s basically a Midwestern boy, and people really like him. But Kara, her life on Krypton just ended, and now she’s starting over from square one. So I think just that conflict inherent in her is so fascinating to play with. It’s so interesting to write! I also think she’s got a lot of resilience and a lot of grit and a lot of humour – you don’t bounce back from literal world-shattering events without sort of being able to sort of take a step back and look at yourself.

Why this particular line-up of the Legion of Super-Heroes?

Honestly, some of it is that I’m a fan. So I was getting to put in a lot of my favourites. I did a deep dive into every era I could, and was trying to pull out the generic feel from almost every era I could. I love Brainiac Five. It just felt natural to sort of have all of those characters – like Timberwolf and Shadow Lad, Bouncing Boy, and Triple Kick Girl, there’s something very useful and fun about that. I thought we fit really well with the sort of story I was telling.

Arms Fall-Off Boy? Really?

[Laughs] I love Arms Fall-Off Boy! That’s his power, but I love it. He’s always been a delightful soft favourite of mine.

What’s next? If you could grab a project and write for a particular character, what would it be?

You know, I’ve gotten very lucky in my career because I’ve been able to write a lot of my favourite characters.  I’m writing The New Champion of Shazam! comic, which has Mary Shazam in it. So I mean, it’s really hard because in some ways I’ve gotten thrown a lot of my dreams and my heroes. I think if there’s a character that I’d love to write next, I’d love to write some Batman I’d love to write some Damian Wayne and some Catwoman. They’re fantastic. Outside of that, I’d love to write Spider-Man!

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is out now to rent/buy digitally, and is also available on DVD/Blu-ray!

 

by Ed Fortune

Robbie Daymond is an American voice actor who has played iconic roles such as Peter Parker, Crow in Persona 5 Royal, and Glithunder in The Seven Deadly Sins. He is perhaps best known as the actor behind Dorian Storm, the errant bard from hit streaming show, Critical Role. In the latest DC Animated super-hero movie, Legion of Super-Heroes, he portrays both Brainiac and Timber Wolf. We caught up with Robbie to find out more…

STARBURST: How would you describe the movie Legion of Super-Heroes to an elderly but beloved relative?

Robbie Daymond: [Laughs] Let’s see… I would say “hey, great-grandmother, you remember who Superman is?” And if she says “yes”, “okay, good, good, good. He’s got a cousin who’s a nice young lady. And she’s got all these powers and all of this potential ahead of her. And she’s given the opportunity to become as great a superhero as her older cousin. But she’s got a long way to go to find that path. And she might just have to travel to the future to do it…” And hopefully that would give Grandma a spoiler-free idea of what she’s getting into!

How did you get cast as Timber Wolf for this project?

It was just a regular audition. So I gave it a few takes. We get some limited information – obviously, a lot of it is, is hidden, so there are no leaks or anything like that. I sent in my best three tapes. And they must have liked one of them. So they brought me in!

How familiar were you with Brainiac and Timber Wolf for this role? 

Really I wasn’t. I’m actually pretty familiar with the DC universe, but some of my knowledge is going to be dated. I’m not quite as avid a reader as I used to be,  so I had to go back and look up what this was. And then I got into it. I read some of the backstory stuff about the character and then asked questions – like when in the timeline this transpired? Is this an Elseworld? What’s actually happening here? I read enough to familiarise myself but didn’t go deep enough to where I wasn’t able to take direction once I found out how the film would interpret that.

How different is playing a character like Timber Wolf in Legion of Super-Heroes from a more improv-heavy role such as Dorian Storm in Critical Role? Which one do you feel closest to?

Oh, I don’t think there could be more disparate sort of characters. Dorian is very insecure and uncertain, or at least that’s where he started. I feel like he’s grown a bit from then. Timber Wolf is a grizzled veteran who’s very comfortable and capable of being in charge of people. You know, it’s funny, I don’t think I’m like either. I think if I were like personalising it, which I don’t tend to do with characters, I think more of a Timber Wolf guy because I’m really good in emergency situations. I’m a dad. I enjoy being in charge of things. And that’s the reason why I chose to play Dorian – I wanted to explore what it felt like to be insecure and uncertain and he can still be charismatic while having stage fright. Yeah, very different characters, but equally enjoyable for different reasons.

If you got to do more DC roles, what sort of characters – hero or villain – would you like to play?

I’m not built to play one of my favourite DC villains, which is Doomsday. I know the guys that are built like that. I know what voice that requires. I don’t know, give me like a teenage Doomsday, maybe [laughs]. But seriously, I really love the gallery of villains in the DC universe. That’d be a tough one. As far as heroes go, I really want to play Animal Man. Do you know this character?

Yes, we’re big fans of Animal Man over at STARBURST Towers, especially Grant Morrison’s Coyote Gospel story and Jamie Delano’s classic Flesh & Blood.

Well, my idea for it would be I would love to play like the first few episodes with that sort of cheesy Booster Gold-like fun cop. And I just remember one of the covers is like Buddy and a chimpanzee in the buddy cop pose. It’s so ridiculous! And then have a turn after the first few episodes and do the stuff from the 2011 run with all the really dark body horror stuff. I think that would just be a really intriguing sort of mature audience version of that character. That could be really cool.

What’s the next big thing that you’re excited about? That you’re allowed to talk to us about, at least…

You know, voice actors are a couple of years behind everything. I’ve got a lot of stuff coming out. Video games. Animation, obviously. I’m excited about the Legion of Super-Heroes. I’m a huge fan, so I can’t wait to have it in my collection. And then I’ve got a pretty good run on One Piece. I’ve always wanted to do One Piece. It’s obviously iconic. I’ve got a couple of AAA video games that’ll drop sometime over the summer. And then other more secret stuff that I’m working on… the cheeky answer is that I’m gonna strap on a mocap suit in about a month’s time, so watch out for that!

What’s the worst bit of video game work? Is it the yelling? The repeating of the lines?

I really enjoy it all! The team is good, and 99% of the time, I really enjoy video game work because the repeating of the line part of it is actually really fun for me because you only have to get it right once. And I love how capable of creating magic you are, especially in heavily narrative beats video games. The hardest part is the yelling, though, yes. Absolutely. Say a prayer for my vocal cords!

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is out now to rent/buy digitally, and is also available on DVD/Blu-ray!