IN: Unpleasant. After Saturday Night Fever, someone noticed that a movie was an incredible vehicle to sell records with. Now, films aimed at teenagers have become long-form music videos. A tune will be put in every few seconds so it can trumpeted as a “hit song.” There are places in films I’ve composed that could have really benefited from some good, intelligent scoring — and instead a song was shoved in. Tunes don’t have any emotional ups or downs. They only work in sequences with one dramatic level, like a love scene or a montage, not parts where there are a lot of emotional changes. But because Kevin Smith is a real director, his first concern was to make Mall Rats work as a film before he put the songs into it.

DS: In spite of that problem, you’ve done a good job of matching your score to Mall Rats’ metal and alternative songs.

IN: I can play anything from the Bach to the blues, yet few people know what I can do. When I was a studio arranger and guitar player, there were people who would only hire me for the classical guitar. They wouldn’t let me near an electric one. At the same time, there were people who would only hire me to play rhythm and blues. They never dreamt I could handle an acoustic guitar. That shows how much anybody can ever know about your talents. Hollywood sees what it wants to. All they know is that I’m a good comedic composer, and that’s it. I can’t get a dramatic film because they fear that audiences will start cracking up the minute they hear my music.