I started working on the score to JODOROWSKY’S DUNE in 2011. Frank Pavich and I have known each other for many years–we grew up in the same part of Queens.
As a kid, he bought a demo tape of my hardcore band at a local record store. Years later, he called me out of the blue with this wild tale.
I’m a huge fan of Jodorowsky, but I’d never heard the backstory on Dune. Frank told me about the documentary and described the kind of soundtrack he was after.
It wasn’t even a question… It was a slow process because, at one point, the entire film was reimagined, and they went in a different direction.
I already had a lot of library music from many years of strange experiments.
When Frank started to ask for certain ideas, I’d pull something from the library to use as a placeholder, and sometimes that would become the keeper:
“Let’s use that; it really has the feel.” Listening to Jodo’s narration–his voice is actually the main musical instrument on the soundtrack–
was almost like hypnosis, like going to the guru every night. I was able to express a lot just by putting little nuances underneath his words and channeling
whatever music I felt like doing, and Frank’s team edited it and got it to fit. It was a lucky and genuine collaboration, very heartfelt and easy.