From & Inspired BY

Nick Spacek
  • 5.0 (10)
  • TV & FILM

A bi-weekly podcast that discusses the seminal soundtracks in movie history. We speak with the individuals behind the tunes -- musicians, music supervisors, actors, and more.

  1. 08/25/2023

    Episode #144: Brendon Small (Metalocalypse)

    Writer/actor/director/musician/et al Brendon Small would be a legend if he’d stopped with the creation of his Adult Swim animated series, Home Movies, in the early ’00s. Following it up with the heavy metal fantasy comedy of Metalocalypse secured that status for all time when it debuted in 2006. Spotlighting the death metal band Dethklok, whose popularity makes them the seventh-largest economy in the world, Metalocalypse managed to skewer the music industry as effectively as Spinal Tap while also being a wild ride into interpersonal relationships, worldwide conspiracies, and a cocaine-addled clown based on David Lee Roth. The series has been absent since its last special, The Doomstar Requiem, nearly a decade ago. It returns on Tuesday, August 22, with a feature-length series finale, entitled Army of the Doomstar, accompanied by both a soundtrack and a fourth Dethklok LP, Dethalbum IV. Ahead of its release, we hopped on the phone with Brendon Small to talk about Metalocalypse and its history.

    23 min

  2. 07/12/2023

    Episode #143: Marty Isenberg

    Playing bass was love at first pluck for Marty Isenberg. His career as a jazz musician began at the age of 12, after losing his father to cancer the year prior. A skilled amateur musician, Marty’s father kept many instruments around the house that he would play for the family. After his death, Marty would pull one of these instruments off the wall and begin teaching himself how to play by reading tablature in Bass Player Magazine. The first song he ever learned was My Own Summer by The Deftones. Playing bass was love at first pluck for Mr. Isenberg. It was a cathartic healing experience, a way to stay connected to his father, and a way to creatively express himself. He went on to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he majored in Jazz Performance and minored in Jazz Composition, and received his Master of Music degree from New York University. He is now a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University where he is the teaching assistant to the jazz department chair Ray Anderson. I spoke with Marty Isenberg via Zoom about his debut recording, The Way I Feel Inside, inspired by the films of Wes Anderson, out now from Truth Revolution Recording Collective.

    18 min

  3. 02/09/2023

    Episode #142: Jon Coco

    As a boy growing up in Boston, Jon Coco immersed himself in the music of timeless bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Pink Floyd. Tapping into the music of the ‘70s with an impressive vinyl record collection, he started writing original music and dove into performances in the late ‘80s Boston music scene. Invited by an A&M recording studio head engineer to record songs for A&M, Coco gave in to the eventual lure of Los Angeles and the larger opportunities it promised. An early lesson would come when A&M Records closed their doors while his band was still recording their debut record. After two years as a staple on the Hollywood live club scene, Coco seized the opportunity to try his hand at creating music for a film trailer. This pivot provided many years of work and included his compositions in the marketing campaigns for Oscar-nominated and award-winning films such as The Departed, Batman Begins, No Country for Old Men, Room, and numerous others. Endlessly pursuing his own true north and identity, Coco relocated to Nashville in 2016 to trade the companionship of traffic and airplanes for a mini ranch with horses, donkeys, and chickens. This slower and more relaxed pace, exacerbated by the Covid lockdown, has cultivated an even more intense maturation of Coco’s signature style. There is a common element to his music that is as relatable for listeners of a major metropolitan area as for those in rural surroundings, because their source is a man who finds the essential humanity in both. I spoke with Jon Coco via Zoom about his new album, Chasing the Dream, as well as his work composing for film trailers.

    35 min

  4. 02/07/2023

    Episode #141: Peacemaker with Kevin Kiner

    The HBO Max series, Peacemaker, the spin-off from director James Gunn's The Suicide Squad has become a massive hit for the streaming service, and not a small amount of its popularity comes from its deft use of music. However, while much as been made of the series' use of under-the-radar or forgotten rock 'n' roll and hair metal, composer Kevin Kiner's work on the series, alongside Clint Mansell, helps set the tone for a show which is by turns outrageous, violent, and surprisingly introspective and thoughtful. Ahead of the Peacemaker series finale, we spoke with Kiner about his work on the series, as well as his past compositions for the Star Wars and DC universes.

    22 min

  5. 02/02/2023

    Episode #140: New York Ninja with Voyg3r

    Pronounced “Voyager 3,” Detroit’s Voyag3r feature keyboardist Steve Greene, guitarist Aaron Greene, and drummer Greg Mastin. Inspired by the soundtracks to vintage horror, action, and sci-fi films, the trio creates experimental rock that owes a debt to pioneers like John Carpenter and shares a kinship with bands such as Trans Am, Teeth of the Sea, and Zombi. Originally directed by and starring martial arts actor John Liu (The Secret Rivals, Invincible Armor) in his only American production, New York Ninja was filmed entirely on 35mm in 1984, but the project was abandoned during production resulting in all original sound materials being lost over time. 35 years later, Vinegar Syndrome acquired the original unedited camera negative and painstakingly constructed and completed the film, with the voice talents of genre favorites: Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Linnea Quigley, Michael Berryman, Ginger Lynn Allen, and Cynthia Rothrock, and a score by Voyag3r. I spoke by phone with all three members of Voyag3r about New York Ninja, the band's history, and more.

    29 min

  6. 01/31/2023

    Episode #139: Your Favorite Soundtrack with Katlyn Conroy

    Is this thing on? Sorry about the length of being gone. It's been a thing. But we're back, and this installment of Your Favorite Soundtrack sees us talking with Katlyn Conroy about the soundtrack to the 1974 Brian De Palma film, Phantom of the Paradise. Katlyn is a longtime music and movie fan, and her work in bands such as Cowboy Indian Bear, La Guerre, and her two new projects, Cheery and Dooms, means that she's well-known in the Midwest for beautiful melodies and emotionally-resonant songwriting. Therefor, it makes total sense that she'd pick a film with music by the one and only Paul Williams, a man who's no stranger to tugging at the heartstrings.

    37 min

  7. 08/23/2021

    Episode #138: Luxury's Matt Hinton & Parallel Love

    Director Matt Hinton's documentary, Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury, has a couple of very interesting wrinkles. Not only is the Georgia post-punk band an act you've likely not heard of, the reunited act now features three members who are Eastern Orthodox priests, and director Hinton is part of the band, as well. That's before you get into the fact that Luxury is an often-forgotten part of the early history of Christian label Tooth & Nail Records, or the terrible accident which almost ended the lives of the band members. It's a fascinating story, filled with music you're sure to wish you'd heard when you were in your teens, as it's so richly-layered and evocative, so it was with some excitement that I hopped on Zoom with director Hinton (who now also plays guitar for Luxury) to talk about all of this and more.

    37 min

  8. 08/09/2021

    Episode #137: Antoni Maiovvi

    A project born in Bristol in 2006 and developed in the bohemian dystopia of Berlin from 2009, Antoni Maiovvi walks the line between retro-synth and horror soundtracks for both real and imagined films. Recently, the musician -- who is one of the co-founders of Giallo Disco Records, in addition to his own endeavors -- has released Church of the Second Sun, a collaboration with prog-rockers ANTA, as well as the latest '80s synthwave album from his Jason Priest alter-ego. I spoke via Zoom with Antoni Maiovvi about horror disco, prog, composing for film, and more.

    36 min
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5
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About

A bi-weekly podcast that discusses the seminal soundtracks in movie history. We speak with the individuals behind the tunes -- musicians, music supervisors, actors, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Nick Spacek
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2023
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    From & Inspired BY