Movie & TV Music Composer Kevin Kiner Mini-Retrospect

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. Hello everyone, Sam Eckman here of Gold Derby and I am with Kevin Kiner from Ahsoka, the incredible Star Wars composer. And this is not obviously your first foray into Star Wars because you're really the first person to ever put music with Ahsoka Tano from the Clone Wars.

[00:00:29] I'm wondering, as we jump into live action here, what was kind of your greatest tool in bringing these characters from animation to the world of live action? Well, first of all, you are correct. And it's a great honor to have my themes be part of the canon of Star Wars. You know, when I started, I didn't even know what the canon was.

[00:00:51] You know, somebody told me that and I'm like, what does that mean? So, but when I found out, you know, it's just, I mean, if somebody told me when I was 25 years old, you know, getting into this, that someday, you know, my themes would be, you know, really a part of the DNA of Star Wars.

[00:01:15] I would have not believed it. The Ahsoka Tano theme was the first thing I wrote for George Lucas and Dave Filoni, maybe in 2006 or 2007, something like that.

[00:01:28] And I remember where I wrote it. I remember what the scene was. She was such a tiny little girl in her, you know, it's funny because I've been doing interviews, you know, I actually went back and looked at that scene.

[00:01:45] And, you know, it's just, wow, back in those years, so many years ago, I forgot what a little girl she was. And, and I think that kind of informs what happens with her musically.

[00:02:04] Because this is a person, I mean, I'm writing to be latched on to the character. So, and, and, you know, I'm, all of my music is in support of the picture and in support of the emotion and in support of the journey that these characters go on.

[00:02:29] And her journey is, you know, and her journey is, is a pretty harsh one because all she has known her entire life is, is fighting and war and, and battles. And, and, you know, she'd been trained by Anakin. She, you know, now she knows that Anakin, her master has, you know, become Darth Vader.

[00:02:52] And this is, this is a great insecurity that she has that if she is the paduan to Darth Vader, then is she going to become him? Just, you know, and, and that's, I think in her mind all the time. So the theme that I initially wrote was, I wrote it using a shakuhachi, which is a Japanese instrument.

[00:03:20] Funny enough, Dave Filoni really, really got us into more and more Japanese influenced soundtracks. So the, the, the, the real divergence of her theme starts in Tales of the Jedi. And it's the birth of Ahsoka and Tales of the Jedi.

[00:03:44] And myself and, and Dina and Sean, who I co-write with, who are my children. They mostly came up with this kind of samurai groove that we play at the end credits of Tales of the Jedi part one. And if you go back and listen to it, it's much faster than what winds up on the, the Ahsoka end credits in the live action.

[00:04:13] And it's, it's not nearly as dark, but it's still, it's, it's the evolution of that samurai vibe because Dave was really leaning into it. Just as George was very in leaning into the, into Kurosawa, into Japanese. And that's why we have lightsabers. That's why Darth Vader's costume, you know, looks, is, is based on a samurai costume.

[00:04:37] So, um, in the evolution to live action, um, you know, Rosario gives such gravity to Ahsoka and such maturity. And, and, and, and so we had to reflect that, you know, in the use of her theme.

[00:04:58] One of the things I think that made it easier for that was her, the theme that I wrote by its nature was a very simple melody, not elongated that much. Not really probably something John Williams ever would have written, you know?

[00:05:15] So I was able to morph that and as well as Sean and Dina, when they were using it into a darker, into more elongated, um, and mature version of what I had originally written for a little girl who was sitting alone in her bunk, you know, on a spaceship. Just personally, it is, it is everything. The live action Ahsoka would not sound the way it does.

[00:05:44] Because I would have never, first of all, come up with that samurai vibe. Now, even though I was getting the direction from Dave Filoni, you know, my kids, they grew up with anime. And so it's much more in their DNA than it is in mine. My DNA is Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, James Horner, you know, that, that kind of thing. And even in the classics like Aaron Copeland and, and, and that kind of thing, Stravinsky.

[00:06:12] So I never would have come up with that, that, that vibe, that, that, that kind of, uh, groove. That is our samurai Ahsoka groove. Um, also, I've been doing this for 41 years. And I've been working on Star Wars, like I said, since 2006.

[00:06:37] So, you know, emotionally it's, it would be pretty easy to burn out. Um, and that's where everything, it means everything to have my kids working with me because they take the load off. You know, when you're a composer, you're sitting alone in your room and we get, you know, we get some really horrible deadlines sometimes.

[00:07:02] And, uh, we have to be really creative and, and really good in a very short amount of time. And, and that, you know, when I start off a show, I'm looking at a mountain I have to climb. We missed. We loaded. We edited.

[00:07:28] Sometimes we get so deep into conversation that we have separate segments worthy of their own place in the sun. Here is a reshuffled mini episode. Okay. Welcome back to the show, everyone.

[00:07:55] So, got another beloved TV composer, Kevin Kiner. Once again, just works for various film, TV, and video game compositions. And got in a bunch of primetime and daytime Emmy Awards. Even Annie Awards since he does some animated stuff. But the BMIs know them as well.

[00:08:17] So, for those who don't know, the M-I stand for Broadcast Music Incorporated. So, there you go. And just another guy from California. And what info you can find on him, he was inspired by bands like the Eagles, Pink Floyd, and yes, decided to just, instead of being a pre-med student, he just decided, I'm going to do music instead. But, yeah.

[00:08:46] So, he's done all kinds of stuff. The animated 90s version of Johnny Quest. Starts out with some lowbrow stuff like Walker, Texas Ranger. Then gets into incredible stuff like Stargate SG-1. The animation spinoff of Stuart Little. Later seasons of Star Trek Enterprise. Pretty much most of CSI Miami. There you go. That has a lot of just moody instrumentals.

[00:09:16] And then Star Wars The Bone Wars. Still scoring. Then it's spinoffs, Star Wars Rebels. Did the AMC Western, Hell on Wheels. The campy CW show, Jane the Virgin. And then the spinoffs, Transformers, Robots, and Skies. What the hell was Single Parents? Oh, yeah. That was that one. Short-lived, turnkillum, bidenmeister, Brad Garrett starring sitcom.

[00:09:45] But, yeah. Now he's scoring Titans for DC Universe. I had no idea. He was also working on Narcos Mexico, Doom Patrol, and the Showtime crime show, City on a Hill. So, that is pretty cool. His music was even used on Miss Farrah, which is an Arabian remake of Jane the Virgin. So, they're using his score. But, yeah.

[00:10:12] He's currently scoring the spinoff Star Wars The Bad Batch for Disney Plus. And as well as Peacemaker, another DC comic show. So, again. A lot of genre stuff. Even some occasional movies. Like the Showtime film Safe House with Patrick Stewart. His score with David Arnold for the video game adaptation Wing Commander is worth a listen.

[00:10:39] And then just some other just less talked about material. He did some additional music for the Ghost in the Shell live action movie. As well as the documentary What We Left Behind for Star Trek Deep Space Nine. And just constantly just working on a few other things. And he's doing the Stallone movie Samaritan. So, that's cool. Any lowbrow stuff he's done like Leprechaun or Trimmers Free.

[00:11:09] I can't say that he funded on those. But, yeah. He's even done with a more recent somewhat infamous James Bond video game. But, hey. It's cool to just know that someone can do a pretty banged up tribute to Bond. So, there it is. Keep an eye out. Anytime you're a fan of any of these shows. Just listen to them next time. Hell, even one of BMI for Walker Textor Pictures. What does that tell you?

[00:11:40] So, listen to his scores. Just check them out. And next time you're listening to any of those shows. If you're a fan of them. And they'll stick with you. They really will. So, thank you all for listening. And to all a good day.

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