DAKoftheOTA
08-19-2014, 06:01 AM
<a href="http://imgur.com/RB1qsWf">
<a href="http://imgur.com/AVKPUrW">
"Back in the early 1980s, and before VHS home video existed (CHOPPING MALL) director, Jim Wynorski and I would frequent the Culver Theatre triplex in Culver City, California. On a Friday night, we would arrive early, bribe 'Booker', the manager, with a bottle of cheap Scotch Whiskey, and have carte blanche access to three stale-smelling, sticky-floor movie theatres and six spice-laden, campy feature films which, for whatever reason, skipped first-run play.
The Culver Theatre Friday night movies were amazingly bad (and therefore hilarious) foreign and American Thriller / Horror / Sci-Fi B-Movies. It was a marvelous break from the first-run fare being released in mainstream theatres, and the Culver one was one of the only movie houses around where you could find this adorable schlock entertainment. Jim and I would drift from one crazy movie to another laughing loudly, joking, and complaining and soaking it all in. This was the dawn of our composer/director relationship.
Three years later, Jim began directing movies for Roger Corman and I began scoring them. It was as simple as that. Both of us had been collecting movie soundtrack albums for many years already, and we had similar tastes in music - so it was a perfect match. CHOPPING MALL was our first film together. Many more followed.
Originally, in the late 1980s, CHOPPING MALL was released theatrically in movie theatres. But its true popularity blossomed form the shelves of video rental stores during the golden age of VHS tapes. At the beginning of the VHS boom, major studios were still floundering when it came to getting their titles on VHS tape, so it was B-Movie fare that made it on the video store shelves first... and they stayed there for several years. Renters could visit their favorite video store, stock up on VHS tapes for the weekend, and enjoying viewing uncut, commercial-free, feature-length B-Movies from the comfort of their living rooms. Over, and over, and over again.
I scored CHOPPING MALL in the basement of Shadoe Steven's DJ recording studio. At the time, I was working for Shadoe directing the Federated Group TV commercials. So, when Jim Wynorski asked me to score CHOPPING MALL, I took three weeks off from directing and plowed forward recording robot music.
Midi was a dawning technology at the time, so I recorded on a Tascam 16 track reel-to-reel deck using a LinnDrum as my sequencer. The driving mechanical sounds came from my Yamaha DX7. I also utilized a Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000 Sampler, an Ensonic Mirage Sampler, a 260 Systems Midi Bass and a Seil DK-600 Polysynth. Guitarist Chris Culverhouse performed the main titles guitar lick".
Special thanks to:
Shadoe Stevens, Jim Wynorski and Steve Mitchell
Recorded and mixed at:
Shadoevision Worldwide Studios in West Hollywood, California
Supporting Engineer:
Chris Culverhouse
- Chuck Cirino
May, 2014
"A long time ago in a land called West Hollywood...
It was a Sunday morning, I think. Jim Wynorski -- director, and my co-writer on "Chopping Mall" -- picked me up, and we made the drive over to a studio located at the corner of Sunset and Doheny, a famous intersection where the boundaries of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood meet. We were there to hear the score for "Killbots" - the original title for "Chopping Mall" - with composer Chuck Cirino. I knew Chuck socially through Jim, and he, like us, was a film and music fan. I knew that Chuck was a wiz with technical stuff, but other than hearing a synthesizer cover of "The Omega Man", I really had no idea what Chuck was capable of as a composer / performer. I was about to find out.
Chuck ushered us into the quiet studio, where he worked on the TV spots for the long Federated department stores. He was, as usual, full of warmth and great energy. Once we were comfortable, Chuck fired up an old-fashioned tape player, and we watched our film with music for the very first time. Now, I have no Polaroids to prove this, but I'll but Jim and I were grinning from ear to ear, kind of like "Mr. Sardonicus", or maybe "The Joker", as we were just thrilled with Chuck's bouncy techno pop score. It was the 80's, and things like theme and melody were still important functions of a film score, unlike scores composed these days. Chuck's score had plenty of both to spare.
As Jim and I were tapping out feat to Chuck's infectious "robo" beat, we praised him repeatedly. "That's great!" "Fantastic, Chuck!" Stuff like that. Chuck seemed pleased with our response, and Jim and I, were thrilled that our movie now had a musical voice. It was the last piece of the creative puzzle, and we had no control over it. As filmmakers we needed the right kind of score, and as film music fans, we prayed for a great score that we could listen to over and over again.. Our prayers were answered that Sunday morning by Chuck.
As you listen to the score, the action cues and variation of the theme will stand out, but some of my favorite stuff is the quiet, emtional cues. I remember that they always made me smile.
One other thing, we had the cast and crew screening at the theatre in the old Sherman Oaks Galleria. After the screening, I asked one of my pals, who is kind of a movie grump, what he thought? He paused, then said "I loved the music." Not a great review for Jim and me, but a four star review for Chuck. I couldn't agree more.
When you play this score wear comfortable shoes, because your feet will be a tappin' to Chuck's "robo" beat. Enjoy".
- Steve Mitchell
May, 2014
They say the human ear can't hear anything beyond 20 Hertz and that somewhere in the 40k range is good, so I decided to tone it down from the usual 96kHz I rip my vinyls at. The files did come out considerably smaller, so hopefully there'll be less bitching this time around.
I have never heard of this film before I saw the LP listed on Waxwork, but it looked pretty cool and the samples sounded way too good to pass up. This is a very retro, screaming 80's techno score.
Pressed on 180-gram audophile vinyl
Flourescent Pink
Neon Yellow with Green haze (500 variants only)
Still in stock, get yours while you can!
Enjoy :)
Choppy Chuckie (https://mega.nz/#!HhVimQwQ!H2DiWW1CrGhg33K3u3v7GZqYTM1Cp_zfPibgXYK6D1E)
<a href="http://imgur.com/AVKPUrW">
"Back in the early 1980s, and before VHS home video existed (CHOPPING MALL) director, Jim Wynorski and I would frequent the Culver Theatre triplex in Culver City, California. On a Friday night, we would arrive early, bribe 'Booker', the manager, with a bottle of cheap Scotch Whiskey, and have carte blanche access to three stale-smelling, sticky-floor movie theatres and six spice-laden, campy feature films which, for whatever reason, skipped first-run play.
The Culver Theatre Friday night movies were amazingly bad (and therefore hilarious) foreign and American Thriller / Horror / Sci-Fi B-Movies. It was a marvelous break from the first-run fare being released in mainstream theatres, and the Culver one was one of the only movie houses around where you could find this adorable schlock entertainment. Jim and I would drift from one crazy movie to another laughing loudly, joking, and complaining and soaking it all in. This was the dawn of our composer/director relationship.
Three years later, Jim began directing movies for Roger Corman and I began scoring them. It was as simple as that. Both of us had been collecting movie soundtrack albums for many years already, and we had similar tastes in music - so it was a perfect match. CHOPPING MALL was our first film together. Many more followed.
Originally, in the late 1980s, CHOPPING MALL was released theatrically in movie theatres. But its true popularity blossomed form the shelves of video rental stores during the golden age of VHS tapes. At the beginning of the VHS boom, major studios were still floundering when it came to getting their titles on VHS tape, so it was B-Movie fare that made it on the video store shelves first... and they stayed there for several years. Renters could visit their favorite video store, stock up on VHS tapes for the weekend, and enjoying viewing uncut, commercial-free, feature-length B-Movies from the comfort of their living rooms. Over, and over, and over again.
I scored CHOPPING MALL in the basement of Shadoe Steven's DJ recording studio. At the time, I was working for Shadoe directing the Federated Group TV commercials. So, when Jim Wynorski asked me to score CHOPPING MALL, I took three weeks off from directing and plowed forward recording robot music.
Midi was a dawning technology at the time, so I recorded on a Tascam 16 track reel-to-reel deck using a LinnDrum as my sequencer. The driving mechanical sounds came from my Yamaha DX7. I also utilized a Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000 Sampler, an Ensonic Mirage Sampler, a 260 Systems Midi Bass and a Seil DK-600 Polysynth. Guitarist Chris Culverhouse performed the main titles guitar lick".
Special thanks to:
Shadoe Stevens, Jim Wynorski and Steve Mitchell
Recorded and mixed at:
Shadoevision Worldwide Studios in West Hollywood, California
Supporting Engineer:
Chris Culverhouse
- Chuck Cirino
May, 2014
"A long time ago in a land called West Hollywood...
It was a Sunday morning, I think. Jim Wynorski -- director, and my co-writer on "Chopping Mall" -- picked me up, and we made the drive over to a studio located at the corner of Sunset and Doheny, a famous intersection where the boundaries of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood meet. We were there to hear the score for "Killbots" - the original title for "Chopping Mall" - with composer Chuck Cirino. I knew Chuck socially through Jim, and he, like us, was a film and music fan. I knew that Chuck was a wiz with technical stuff, but other than hearing a synthesizer cover of "The Omega Man", I really had no idea what Chuck was capable of as a composer / performer. I was about to find out.
Chuck ushered us into the quiet studio, where he worked on the TV spots for the long Federated department stores. He was, as usual, full of warmth and great energy. Once we were comfortable, Chuck fired up an old-fashioned tape player, and we watched our film with music for the very first time. Now, I have no Polaroids to prove this, but I'll but Jim and I were grinning from ear to ear, kind of like "Mr. Sardonicus", or maybe "The Joker", as we were just thrilled with Chuck's bouncy techno pop score. It was the 80's, and things like theme and melody were still important functions of a film score, unlike scores composed these days. Chuck's score had plenty of both to spare.
As Jim and I were tapping out feat to Chuck's infectious "robo" beat, we praised him repeatedly. "That's great!" "Fantastic, Chuck!" Stuff like that. Chuck seemed pleased with our response, and Jim and I, were thrilled that our movie now had a musical voice. It was the last piece of the creative puzzle, and we had no control over it. As filmmakers we needed the right kind of score, and as film music fans, we prayed for a great score that we could listen to over and over again.. Our prayers were answered that Sunday morning by Chuck.
As you listen to the score, the action cues and variation of the theme will stand out, but some of my favorite stuff is the quiet, emtional cues. I remember that they always made me smile.
One other thing, we had the cast and crew screening at the theatre in the old Sherman Oaks Galleria. After the screening, I asked one of my pals, who is kind of a movie grump, what he thought? He paused, then said "I loved the music." Not a great review for Jim and me, but a four star review for Chuck. I couldn't agree more.
When you play this score wear comfortable shoes, because your feet will be a tappin' to Chuck's "robo" beat. Enjoy".
- Steve Mitchell
May, 2014
They say the human ear can't hear anything beyond 20 Hertz and that somewhere in the 40k range is good, so I decided to tone it down from the usual 96kHz I rip my vinyls at. The files did come out considerably smaller, so hopefully there'll be less bitching this time around.
I have never heard of this film before I saw the LP listed on Waxwork, but it looked pretty cool and the samples sounded way too good to pass up. This is a very retro, screaming 80's techno score.
Pressed on 180-gram audophile vinyl
Flourescent Pink
Neon Yellow with Green haze (500 variants only)
Still in stock, get yours while you can!
Enjoy :)
Choppy Chuckie (https://mega.nz/#!HhVimQwQ!H2DiWW1CrGhg33K3u3v7GZqYTM1Cp_zfPibgXYK6D1E)