This is the score and soundtrack for Maddline Deering's horror comedy love story, BATHTUB SHARK ATTACK

Then score was composed by Matt Cannon
The rock/punk tracks were made by The Bored Torture

NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER:

I remember hearing about Bathtub Shark Attack not to long after my work on Maddie's last film, "Spirit Animal". I think it was the concept trailer where she took some of my cues from Spirit and threw them in. The trailer appeared on the Spirit Animal dvd. The trailer was an early depiction of what we would be getting today, an in-you-face horror comedy in need of a bigger boat. It was hilarious, rude and somewhat heart felt..I loved it.

I saw the first cut a year ago, which was the opening scene. I had some ideas that got very experimental. I had confidence it would work, but the operation I was tasking myself to do it would prove cumbersome. I wanted to record the score to VHS and run it back into the DAW. It just wasn't in the cards as when I did get the score, I was given a month to do it and with work and family life I needed a life preserver (no pun). I rethought my plan and I think this route suited me better than trying to think of the technicality. I would just have get to work.

I watched film and got talking to Maddie. We spoke about Rosemary's Baby and Amityville 2. I mentioned the score from Video Violence, since this was in shot-on-video territory. The "Main Theme" was hugely inspired by Komeda's (Rosemary's Baby) and Ovsiewit's (Video Violence) style. The rest of the film I played into making sure the creep was creepy and the shark stuff was wet.

It made sense to me to approach the sound of it in a dry manner. No effects, only the ones that the synths patches were endowed with. The Roland D50 dominated the majority of the score, I mean, its pretty obvious if you know the instrument. you also cant strip the effects from a D50, it's what gives it its character. I used the mini mood plug-in a alot to its driest. It's practically thirsting for some reverb, which I denied it. It's the anolog character of the score along side the Oberhiem plug-in which suffered the same fate.

We were swimming in B-movie territory. I remembered "Troll 2" composer Carlo Maria Cordio used a D50 religiously. Im a huge fan of digital synths and the desperate but beautiful way they attempted to recreated "real instruments" that almost came out sterile, still had a intriguing attraction. I used plug-in versions of an Oberhiem OBX, EMU II, Mini Moog and a DX7 alongside the D50

Some cue's didn't make the cut in this version you are hearing due to my tendency to use filler in certain scenes to pop the comedy a bit. Some worked, some didn't. Win some, lose some. I wouldnt want to Torture you guys throught it. It would become redundant. You don't come across this honesty often, huh?


Speaking of Torture, Punk rockers, The Bored Torture is a band from West Chester, PA. They were familiar with my work and we had mutual friends in the horror scene. Gary, a.k.a "LED MEAT, the guitarist of the group loved Spirit Animal and after me telling him about working on Bathtub. He asked if his band could lend a few songs to the film. I liked the idea and ran this by Maddie and she approved without hesitation. Their music gave the film a fun, lively touch that felt like something you may get from 80's horror films that combined score and soundtrack (i.e. Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Terrorvision and Slaughterhouse Rock). The energy they added fit great. It's going to sound selfish, but it took some extra scenes off my back.

I had a great time with this one. Like with Spirt Animal I got to strip down the palate to the bare essentials. Bathtub was an experience. Like with Spirit, I held little judgment on what I did and just kept going. The end result wasn't prefect by any means, but that is what makes it click with the film. This being shot-on-video, I had the intention of doing the score as if the filmmaker, with no prior music experience, might have picked up some synths and went to town due to budget limitations. The rawness of the score met the image on mutual grounds. Thats what i love about doing it this way. Now this comes with some strings attached. Some parts of the score, in my opinion, may have overstayed they're welcome, but regardless, I am proud of this creature and hope you guys enjoy listening

PRAISE DUKAWAKA!!

-Matt Cannon