AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES L. VENABLE
BY CHRIS GRAVES
CHRIS GRAVES: For those who do not know, what is your background and how were you introduced to the world of View Askew and Kevin Smith?
JAMES L. VENABLE: I was sort of “strongly encouraged” to play play piano as kid by my grandparents. When I started high school I switched over to drums. I guess I thought it was probably a cooler instrument, which would get me into bands, a good way to meet girls. I was introduced to the world of View Askew and Kevin Smith through an exec at Disney, Bambi Moe (yes, her real name) who recommended me for CLERKS the Cartoon. I was told this would be a “meet and greet” with Kevin and Scott (Mosier), over the phone, (they were calling from New Jersey). I was totally thrilled when they said “well, we heard what you did on THE POWERPUFF GIRLS and we want you to do that for our show.” That was the beginning of a really great, probably the best, part of my career.
CG: What inspired you to become a television and motion picture composer? Any influences?
JV: In the eighties, I was playing in a lot of bands and kinda came to the conclusion that it would be really cool to write my own music. Most of what I was composing was instrumental (san lyrics). I started investigating the role of instrumental music in relation to films and discovered that I was really inspired by the effect of music on movies, and found that that might be a good avenue to explore. As for influences, it really depends on the project. While I can be influenced by other groups and composers stuff, I try to come up with a unique sound on each project, something that “hasn’t been done before”.
CG: Were you in any bands or groups growing up and what kind of music did you listen to in the past and now the present?
JV: Yes I’ve been in several bands. One that comes to mind, was called LIVE, not the famous one; our LIVE stood for: Living In Visual Ecstasy. We were kind of an 80’s power pop, electronic meets band type of thing, typical of that era.
As far as listening. I listen to everything from the Classical music, Dance-Electronica, and back when I was younger I got really into the BEATLES. I kind of dug any band that combines styles to make a new sound. I also listened to a lot of film scores at that time, John Williams has always been a big influence.
CG: In my opinion, the theme for CLERKS: THE ANIMATED SERIES was one of the best for a television show. Did you create alternate themes or demo music for the animated series, as well as the movies you scored for Kevin? If so, would you ever release them someday on a CD as some sort of “lost askew music collection” or something similar?
JV: Thank you for your comment about the theme! The way that happened is: When I first got on the show, my first job was to write a theme for it. I immediately got a hold of the soundtrack from the first CLERKS movie, which is mostly songs. I wrote four 30 second themes, each one sort of resembled a song from the original movie. What was interesting and sort of cool, was that Kevin immediately said “I hear these and they’re cool, but they don’t sound like you”, “I want you to write something that sounds like you…like Jim Venable.” This was hugely exciting for me, having a director encouraging me to be myself musically. So I did that, approaching the theme purely from a “try something new” perspective. When Kevin first heard it, his initial reaction was “I really dig it but I want to make sure it’s memorable, so maybe you should try another pass at it” and I was thinking that it was pretty memorable. Before I had a chance to revise it, Kevin came back and told me “never mind about making it more memorable, we all found ourselves singing the theme later on in our cars” which kind of showed him that it passed the test of being memorable, and that’s what we went with. This is sort of an illustration of why I consider Kevin to be such a great influence as well as a pleasure to work with: he pushed me to compose something new and unique and then really was appreciative of the results.
As far as releasing an alternate version CD, I don’t have any plans to do that. That would be pretty cool, I would have to kind of go through the music and see if there is enough there. There is some so called” lost music,” usually from scenes that got cut.
CG: What was the whole CLERKS: THE ANIMATED SERIES experience like for you and what did you think of the end result? Do you plan on using any of the themes or material from the series for the upcoming CLERKS: SELL OUT animated direct to DVD movie?
JV: CLERKS: THE ANIMATED SERIES will always hold an important place when I look back over my career, because it was a real shift for me. That’s when I met Kevin, someone who was open minded enough to bring me into the world of live action. So CLERKS T.A.S. was kind of an amazing vehicle that way. I really dug the series, musically, it was a lot of fun because it allowed me to explore a lot of different ideas, since those guys were kind of all over the map. There was a lot of paying homage to different pop culture references and I had a lot of fun with that. As for using any of the themes in the CLERKS: SELL OUT DVD, that would really be up to Kevin and how he wants to approach it.
CG: You were once attached to the now aborted Kevin Smith film version of the GREEN HORNET. People can even listen to a movie theme you created for this dead project on your website’s blog. Did you have distinct direction from Kevin on where to go with the musical flavors and tones? Could this theme or another version of it, be used for Kevin’s upcoming sci-fi comic book film, RANGER DANGER AND THE DANGER RANGERS? And were there any other projects you created music for that never went beyond the planning stages?
JV: Actually that was a really neat time when Kevin was initially going to direct that, he sent me this great email basically saying “I’m doing GREEN HORNET, this is gonna be a fun opportunity for us, to do the big action movie”. We were very excited about that. I actually wrote some music for him to have around while he was writing the script. As you mentioned, that music is actually available on my blog:
http://web.mac.com/jameslvenable/iWeb/Jim’s Place/Jim V. Podcast/6AFBABAE-E7F8-4246-BE54-9B45914A1F8C.html
Kevin really wanted to use the original GREEN HORNET theme, which is Flight Of The Bumblebee, but he said to “pimp it out, Venable-style”. I just ran with it and had a ball. As far as RANGER DANGER goes, that will probably command a brand new really bitchin theme, completely different from GREEN HORNET.
CG: Before becoming a composer, you used to be a club DJ. Do you ever plan on taking your film and television scores on the road for a club tour?
JV: Actually that’s a great question. For my first record, I did a set of local appearances, where I did a combination of DJing my record along with VJing my own images along with the music. I even did an event in one of the Mac stores where I combined that show with showing stuff from the films and doing a Q&A, so I may do something like that with my next record. I’d love to do a tour of Mac stores.
CG: Tell me about your album HOLDING SPACE? Do you have more side projects in the works?
JV: HOLDING SPACE was my first record and I had a blast doing it. My goals for the record were 1: FINISH IT, because the idea of doing a record had been bouncing around for so long, it was becoming that elusive project that was never gonna happen. 2. My goal was for the listener to share in the experience I had making it. I figure if they have as much fun listening to the record as I did making the record, then I will have accomplished that. I do have some other side projects in the works, I plan on doing a second album sometime in the near future. I am working with an amazing storyteller/animator named Lauren Faust on a project called MILKY WAY AND THE GALAXY GIRLS. We are in the early stages of incorporating music with her characters.
CG: Can you describe your relationship with The Cartoon Network?
JV: My relationship with Cartoon Network has been a really long, great relationship. I really feel fortunate to have worked with the various artists at CN. I learned a lot in the early stages of my career, working on POWERPUFF GIRLS, and continue to enjoy the different artistic directions I get to explore in shows on CN like SAMURAI JACK, and currently FOSTER’S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS.
CG: What is your favorite View Askew / Kevin Smith film (JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, JERSEY GIRL, and CLERKS 2 excluded)?
JV: Of the ones I didn’t work on, I really dug CLERKS because I felt it was such a groundbreaking film and opened so many doors as far as the whole movement of bringing filmmaking into the hands of the people, so to speak. Plus, I really dug the roller-coaster ride it takes you on, all from on location through great emphasis on dialogue driven storytelling. I really liked MALLRATS and CHASING AMY as well.
CG: Do you have any new projects coming up?
JV: I just finished the music for a video game called SPIDER-MAN: FRIEND OR FOE.
I am also working on a really cool short called BARK OR BITE for a friend at UCLA named Suzy Bohannon.
I’m going to be teaching a class through UCLA Extension this summer. It will be on film scoring using today’s technology. The class is called: Electronic Composition for Film and Television (enrollments open!)
In the long form genre, I’m scoring an animated movie called TUROK: SON OF STONE, based on the comic book. Should be some fun action music.
CG: And finally, have you been asked to score the next three (RED STATE, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, RANGER DANGER) planned Kevin Smith films?
JV: I could tell you …but then I’d have to kill you.
Ooooh, sneaky Jim, sneaky! Jim and his wife have both been great friends and readers of News Askew for many years now — Be sure and support him by picking up a copy of HOLDING SPACE on CD (and other neat swag) via his official site. Thanks of course to James and Chris for another fascinating sit-down.
