Interview: 6/4/08

JACKSON DEL REY INTERVIEW

Currently there's a healthy interest in what are generally known as "silent" movies. The number of these movies being issued on DVD is remarkable and many of them feature new soundtracks by contemporary artists. One such musician is Jackson Del Rey. We previously chatted with Jackson about his work for the film "The Battleship Potemkin". This time he was kind enough to answer a few questions about his most recent release,

a new soundtrack to F. W. Murnau's "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror".

Sepiachord: What inspired you to create a new soundtrack for "Nosferatu"?

JDR: I had originally planned to do a four DVD series of silent movies in different genres. I was first attracted to Nosferatu because it was different in scope than Battleship Potemkin. I also thought it would be interesting to work on a horror film.

SC: How was making this soundtrack different than working on "The Battleship Potemkin"? How long did it take you to complete this soundtrack?

JDR: As it's one of my favorite films, I was very familiar with Battleship when I began writing the score. I was not overly familiar with Nosferatu when I began writing the score, so Nosferatu ended up being a bit more of a write as you go affair whereas Battleship was pretty much 'written out" before I began recording. Nosferatu was completed over essentially an eight week period.

SC: Did you learn anything new while building "Nosferatu"?

Yes. I learned that silent films were much more subtle and intricate in plot lines than I had previously imagined. Nosferatu really is a love story masquerading as a horror movie.

SC: Other than the film, what influenced you on this soundtrack?

Samuel Barber was a big musical influence. I would also add Tangerine Dream, 50's era music (for its innocence) and any number of industrial artists.

SC: What other musicians worked with you on "Nosferatu"?

Jean Sudbury on violin and Max O'leary on trumpet.

SC: The film, with your soundtrack, was screened at the Lake County Film Festival. What sort of reaction did you get?

It went very well. The organizer informed me that in fact both Nosferatu and Battleship were screened and that there were about 35-40 patrons who didn't leave their seats the during the entire showing. Apparently, most of htose in attendance had never seen Battleship (they had seen Nosferatu) so I got the added bonus of introducing them to a terrific movie.

SC: So, what's next? Will you do more film scores in the future?

Just stated work on Tarzan of the Apes (1918) starring Elmo Lincoln. Stay tuned.

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Jackson Del Rey's first interview on Sepiachord.com

Jackson Del Rey
http://www.myspace.com/thesunkings