5 minutes with Benson Taylor
Bensor Taylor is one of the composers of Fired Earth Music’s new album, Spirited.
Spirited can be described as a positive family adventure album. You will find playful songs, hymn-like tunes and thrilling, adventurous melodies.
So, this is your first trailer music album. Can you tell us a little bit about the project brief and the direction you took?
The direction on my Spirited album was really clear, a detailed brief specifying uplifting, family adventure cues! The summer was just starting to creep in when I started writing too, so it was the perfect time of year for it.
I really had to get in the ‘Pixar’ zone. It was different to that usual trailer project of big horn lines and Hitchcock style strings. It had to be memorable. It had to stand up.
If you could name three movies, past or present that your Spirited cues could advertise, what would they be?
I guess I would go for Pete Docter’s Up!, The Toy Story franchise and I’m gonna say it… The Goonies!
What was it like being ‘on tour’ in Budapest with the Fired Earth Music guys, Ed, Hannah & Sara?
There’s a lot I can’t remember from Hungary, and the bits I can remember, I wish I could forget. Only kidding! Budapest was incredible, the orchestra players and conductor were on top form, as were the production team. The days were spent cramming in some serious hard work. Then the evenings came, but what happens on tour, stays on tour, right?
Ed, Hannah, and Sara at Fired Earth Music are an amazing team to work with. They really know their stuff and the process is just seamless with them, hence some incredible music coming out of the other end. And they’re all really good looking…especially Ed.
We see you have over 17,000 followers on Twitter! Where do your loyal followers come from?
Ahhh, the inevitable Twitter question. I’ve written the music for the Superbowl broadcast over the past few years and we’ve done a lot of press around it, so I guess a lot of my followers will probably be hardcore football fans. I tell a few jokes on there and we have a laugh. I try not to sell my followers something as soon as they wake up, and hardly mention work, which seems to keep them sticking around.
What other projects were you working on last year?
2011 was busy, but exciting. I worked on a few other production music projects, lots of TV, and several advertising projects, including one with Cee Lo Green, which was pretty cool. I also had a score debut in a West End play, and wrote some songs to impress Simon Cowell, so it was pretty varied. My second son was born in the summer too, which kept me on my toes. Better get that in there, just in case the wife is reading.
Spirited is available to the public for purchase through iTunes and Amazon. For licensing information, contact Fired Earth Music.
