Thank you for the Music
A few years ago, a friend and I embarked upon a project. We had both done a small “stint” on a local radio platform, and had decided to launch our own, under my friend, Leo’s existing branding. PhluidFM was born, with the sole intention of platforming Independent Music, Independent Breweries, Artists, and anyone who wanted to “get onboard” and showcase their attributes.
We interviewed lots of musicians, and together with a monthly local gig guide to promote pubs and clubs, we wrote a weekly musical column in our local newspaper, The Cornish Times. Fortunately, I knew a reporter/photographer who worked on the ‘paper. Enter Scarlett, who will also become part of our Eclectica Film Family, but not just yet.
We spoke with some amazingly talented Artists and Bands, not only locally but as far afield as Scotland. (Kate McCabe) We even stayed up late one night to get a live link with the incredible Heinous Crimes from Adelaide, Australia.
A long time has passed between that radio show, and the making of “Best Goon Brenn”, but one thing I wanted to do with the film, was to create a powerful soundtrack that not only represented the film, but also promoted independent musicians. I may not have known any actors, but, thankfully, I knew a lot of very talented artists and bands. Following on from our radio show, they had all said…”If you ever need a favour, just ask.”
As I wrote the screenplay, and saw the story from my book “come alive” in my mind, I began to hear all of these fantastic songs and knew, immediately, that nothing else would do. Even the lyrics made perfect sense within the context of the film and for the scenes in which I wanted to place them. So, I asked. Thankfully everybody said yes. We had a soundtrack. Not only that, but many of these artists gave up their time to appear in the film as well. Our collective was growing.
Music is something that is very close to my heart. I have played in bands since I was sixteen years old, and I still do. Music has the power to engage the brain’s sensory, emotional and motor networks and is able to trigger all sorts of emotions and responses. I feel blessed that all these artists said “yes” to a project of which they only had the feintest knowledge. You will find links to all these people on this website, and I urge you to check them out and discover some amazing new music.
At this point in time, then, we had a screenplay and some music to go with it. It was time to put out some feelers to see if we could find some actors who wanted to appear in the film….and who possibly may do it for free. A big ask. We needed to go on a charm offensive.
In William Congreve’s play “The Mourning Bride” there is a line that reads “Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.” I can thank our musicians for helping to bring on board our team of superb actors. I put together our soundtrack on a music platform, and at risk of jumping ahead in my “journal” when we began to find our actors, all of them said that, together with the screenplay, the soundtrack grabbed their attention and made them “want in.”
The line from the Congreve play has also been misquoted throughout history, resulting in the strangely better-known, but incorrect line: “Music soothes the savage beast.”
For the purposes of our film…we can only hope this is true.