Interview with Deadly Avenger

Published on: December 7, 2012May 31, 2014Author: Clothilde LebrunComment: 0

Damon Baxter, also known as Deadly Avenger, is a composer who specializes in music to picture and sound design for broadcast, advertising and new media. His style is mainly hybrid/orchestral and his credits include trailers and TV spots for movies such as Men In Black 3, Lockout, 127 Hours, Johnny English Reborn…

TMN: Can you talk a bit about yourself ? Why the name “Deadly Avenger”?

Damon Baxter: I get asked this quite a lot! My first ever record deal was with the London based label Vinyl Solution, which was run by J. Saul Kane – a Kung-Fu obsessed hip-hop musician with a massive collection of films! When I started out with Vinyl Solution I was making Detroit style Electro records but started to create some very cinematic music that reflected a lot more of my personality – so we decided that we needed a name to tie in with the sounds I was making. There were a few different ideas being floated and we decided that “avenger” needed to be included and after seeing the 1978 cult Kung-Fu film 5 Deadly Venoms… Deadly Avenger was spawned!

There are actually two “Deadly Avenger” films; one of which stars Jan-Michael Vincent (Stringfellow from Airwolf!) and Erik Estrada (Ponch in CHiPS!) involving a killer priest and the other (which was re-titled Lovely, But Deadly in the US) features a Kung-Fu fighting cheerleader who avenges her brother’s drug related death by going after the pushers! So my name is synonymous with classic B-Movie action!

TMN: How did you get into composing music, and more particularly cinematic music?

DB: Through my love of hip-hop. Like many kids, I was influenced by early electro records and through record hunting and DJing I was soon listening to an eclectic range of music. It was while I was crate digging for rare breaks and records that I really got into movie soundtrack albums and the obvious master of this genre is the amazing Lalo Schifrin. The arrangements of his music totally captured my imagination and inspired me. I love the way that his score music moves from the tiniest solo piano sound into epic string pieces and also sometimes includes some truly weird vocals and the trademark drums!

Musically speaking I am self-taught, but my grandfather was a cellist, so perhaps my addiction to arranging strings is genetic! I built my own studio and really focused on learning how to use the equipment I had to create my own music as well as collaborating with other artists. I’ve had quite a few record deals in the past, with labels like Depth Charge and Illicit Records and was also involved in remixing songs from bands like Manic Street Preachers, Travis, Stereophonics and Elbow.

I developed a certain sound: epic, melancholic strings with drum-breaks, which I loved…and it has stuck with me ever since!

TMN: What is your favorite placement so far?

DB: Over the last year I’ve been working closely with fellow composer Lex Shellard on a number of collaborative projects – which have included the new artist album by Deadly Avenger and also some music specifically created for use in the film trailer world.

I’ve had quite a few placements this year but I think that my personal favourite to date was the use one of the tracks that Lex and I produced in a trailer for the film Men In Black 3. It is always satisfying to see and hear your music being used in a big production like this and was equally satisfying to get the placement with a brand new track – it certainly acted as springboard for bringing the Fractured project together.

Men In Black 3 trailer #2 – Deadly Avenger’s music starts at 01:51.

TMN: Fractured is your second trailer music album, featuring epic, dramatic and cinematic tracks. Can you talk about it?

DB: I produced my first trailer music album, Destroy All Planets, on my own but the more I worked with Lex, the more I realised that we could create something really special – steering clear of some of the obvious symphonic clichés used in a lot of trailer music and write pieces of music that, while still using well known musical techniques to grab a listener/viewer’s attention and build tension, also had more of a ballsy attitude to them! Basically macho movie music!

For example, in our track “Hunted”, we have used hip-hop and dubstep syncopations combined with an aggressive rock element that have been married up with some big ‘Act III’ strings. There are more ‘traditional’ sounds on the album too on tracks like “Soublade”, “Outpost” and “Hyperion” next to some very contemporary sound-design pieces like “Nostromo”. I think that the combination of these musical styles and genres really sum up Fractured as an album. Essentially it is the sound of us combining our love for all kinds of music; from Rock to Hip-Hop and back again, into a format that will work for TV, trailers or film scores.

TMN: Do you have particular plans for the future?

DB: LOADS! It has been a busy year for Deadly Avenger with the Fractured project but the third proper artist album is very close to being finished. We’re currently developing some artwork ideas that will complement the dramatic and cinematic sounds on the album. It is an album that I am very happy with – it is quite dark, epic and moody…just how I like it! We’ll be releasing it ourselves, so keep an eye on the Deadly Avenger Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DeadlyAvenger) for more news on the release.

Neither Lex nor I are ones to rest on our laurels, and have started working on a follow up to Fractured. We’re taking everything that we learned while making the first album and have stepped it up another gear in both musical ideas and production values. We’ve also started working on a series of production music albums which will explore different sounds which could tie in with specific film genres. The first one is about half way done and is inspired by B-movies, Blaxploitation films and the zombie infested Grindhouse oeuvre – it really is Deadly Avenger going back to his roots!

TMN: Would you ever want to produce an original score for a new film?

DB: I think this has always been my goal really. Films and their scores/soundtracks have always had a huge influence on my work and it would be incredibly exciting to work on an original film. I’ve had some experience of working with producers and directors – I created a bespoke piece of music for an online film Beyond The Rave which was made by the iconic British studio Hammer Horror and have also edited/re-worked my own tracks for use in TV shows like CSI. Although a lot shorter than a feature film, I recently created a new piece of music for an Acer viral campaign starring Keifer Sutherland in a role similar to Jack Bauer… but obsessed with making cupcakes! It would be an amazing opportunity to take it to the next level and work on an entire score!

TMN: Thank you!

Discover “We Took Hollywood” – an epic, action-packed cue that will keep you in suspense until the end. Track available for free download (click the download button on the right).