SHOCK talks to legendary rock guitarist and composer James Iha about scoring his first (hopefully not last!) lesbo-vamp horror movie.
The only thing stranger than a Lifetime Channel remake of a “classic” Lifetime thriller film produced by and starring actor-turned-everything James Franco, re-imagined as a lesbian vampire horror movie, is a Lifetime Channel remake of a “classic” Lifetime thriller film produced by and starring actor-turned-everything James Franco, re-imagined as a lesbian vampire horror movie…with an original score by The Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha!
And yet here is MOTHER MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER?, a bloody and certifiably nuts queer-centric horror, er, re-vamp of an earlier Tori Spelling Lifetime thriller that Franco steered to screen and, depending on who who listen to, may have had even more creatively to do with than his executive producer credit implies.
The whole thing certainly sounds like one of enfant terrible Franco’s stunts.
But no matter your take on or interest in the oddball film, the fact that influential rocker and occasional composer Iha made the aggressive, sensual score is just too cool for words.
Well, not really, as we have plenty of words spilled from the man in the interview below.
Indeed, SHOCK spoke yesterday with the talented Iha about music, lesbo-vamp TV movies and…Goblin!
SHOCK: I listened to your theme for MOTHER MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER? and I detected trace elements of the theme from Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA, by the band Goblin. Am I hallucinating, or…?
IHA: Hmmm…that’s interesting. Well, there are whispered female vocals in it, but the main thing in the Goblin track is that eerie arpeggio, thats a different thing that my theme. I wasnt thinking of that but thats a very cool track and comparison. Mine does share the same kind of vocal thing, though, yes…
SHOCK: The vocal you’re talking about…is she saying actual words or are you just using her voice as an instrument?
IHA: Shes saying “come to me, come to me now” (laughs). I dont why, but when I watched the opening scene you just see this evil girl whose dressed all bad ass…I don’t know, I just wanted to convey simply that the vampires are coming (laughs).
SHOCK: So, I mentioned Goblin and you knew what I was talking about, which is cool…
IHA: Well, just as an aside, you know when I heard that Goblin track recently? I was watching the Olympics and, I dont know how many years ago this was, but there synchronized swimmers, from Russia I think and there was a headline in the New York Times the next day and it was something like Creepy Dolls Win Swimming or something like that. And I was like, what is that? So I read it. I had heard that theme before but I remember thinking how cool that was that it showed up there!
SHOCK: I live for finding cool things in weird places. And discovering that the two James’ were collaborating on a Lifetime lesbian vampire movie was certainly weird and cool.
IHA: Yeah.
SHOCK: How exactly did this happen?
IHA: I cant speak for James Franco, but I can imagine they were looking for something different when they wanted him to re-imagine MOTHER MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER? I think I was on the list of composers that was put together. There was a link to some of my score music from DEADBEAT and other indie films I did, maybe it was my past with the Pumpkins and other bands, I don’t know. I think they just thought it would be an interesting idea to have me do it. I was surprised watching it. Theres lesbians and vampires people getting killed. It’s much different than what the Lifetime crowd goes for. I just hope my score heightens the darkness of the film.
SHOCK: When I heard you were doing the score, I presumed it might be a guitar based work, like Neil Young’s music for DEAD MAN or Howard Shore’s CRASH score. But it’s not at all. Was all the instrumentation done by you?
IHA: Yeah, it was all me, but a friend named Claire Acey did the vocals; everything else I did. Unless there’s something specialized I need, I try to do everything myself. The opening theme is big rock drums, bass guitar, no heavy metal 6-string guitar, just bass; there’s these ambient sounds, evil vocals. So that was one theme. There is another theme that is sort of softer; I used glitch drum machine beats and ’80s synth and soft vocals, ethereal vocals and guitar lines. Another theme is score based with violins and piano and more classic heavy horror instrumentation.
SHOCK: Will there be a stand alone soundtrack released?
IHA: I hope so. I think it would make a great score record if it was put together, yeah.
SHOCK: Is it more liberating to compose for film, rather than be slave to confines of composing a pop song?
IHA: I think besides the director or the studio weighing in on the direction of the music, apart from that its a blast to make music that way and not approach it from a verse-chorus, verse-chorus way. It’s music for pictures sake and that uses a different side of my brain entirely.
SHOCK: What else are you currently working on?
IHA: I’m in the studio producing a band right now called The Zipper Club, a boy/girl synth pop duo. I’ll be doing more score stuff later this year, hopefully and there may be some touring in my future and other stuff brewing
SHOCK: I hear all your kids in the background…so you’re a busy dad as well?
IHA: (laughs) No, I…uh…I actually live behind a church and there’s a school there and its their lunch hour.
SHOCK: Oh I was like, Jesus, how many kids does this guy have?
IHA: No, no. I dont have like, 10 kids (laughs).
SHOCK: Good. I was worried, actually.
MOTHER MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER? airs tomorrow night, June 18th at 8pm ET on Lifetime.
