Trevor Rabin : Musician, Producer and Film Composer

Published Nov 14, 2023, 8:00 AM

Trevor Rabin is a South African musician, songwriter, and film composer known for his solo work and his work with the progressive rock group Yes.

He later became a prolific film composer and has scored over forty feature films including "Armageddon", "Enemy of the state." "Con Air" and "Jack Frost."

He has a new album out called "Rio". 

Taking a Walk.

I have to say, well, the guitar was always something even though I was a pianist and I played piano from five until forever. But guitar became the instruments of choice that I think I was eleven, closing in on twelve and it just became something which I was absolutely addicted to.

Welcome to another edition of the Taking a Walk Podcast, an exploration into music with musicians and insiders with a story to tell. On this episode, join our host Buzz Night as he speaks to Trevor Rabin. He's a musician, a songwriter, a film composer known for his work in Yes and numerous film scores like con Air, Homegrown, Armageddon, and many more with the legendary Jerry Bruckheimer. Trevor has a new project called Rio, and he joins Buzz next on Taking a Walk.

Trevor, Nice to talk to you.

Good to talk to you. How you doing.

I'm great. We talked many moons ago when I was a baby DJ in Columbus, Ohio. You were out promoting a date with Yes. Then, Oh my goodness, it was then it was shoot high, Aim Low and.

From the Big Generator record. That's correct.

Yeah, I asked you, I said, on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the ability to dance to that song? And you said zero.

I think that's about right.

Yeah, well, congratulations on the release of Rio, your first solo album of vocals in thirty four years. What do you been Have you been slacking off all this time?

You know, I wish I'd been slacking off, but unfortunately, well fortunately, I guess I should say. I got into film scoring once I left the band, and it just never stopped from the first minute I started. Until quite recently, I just been doing film off the film. But it's funny. I look back on the steady odd years from the last vocal solo album, and I think it doesn't feel that longer. I mean, one of my early movies was Armageddon, and I looked back at Armageddon and it doesn't feel that long ago. It feels like it could have been a week ago. So, you know, because of so much work was going on, it all feels kind of truncated, and you know, suddenly I look in the mirror and I'm thirty years older. But the great thing is because I was doing something else coming into doing this album, I really felt fresh because I hadn't done it for so long.

So what got you into the film scoring? Tell me about that.

Well, you know, I had an incredible teacher. When you know, I grew up in a musical family. My dad would joke I could read music before English, and I studied orchestration and arrangement and conducting and all that stuff. But this brilliant guy, Professor Waltimony. He was unbelievable teacher, inspiring teacher, and I was a terrible student, so it was clearly all his fault. But after yes, I really wanted to work with orchestra and one of the best places to do it was doing film, and I was just very lucky enough to get into it. And but then the third movie I was doing Paul Jerry Brockheimer's movies, I think at thirteen of his and I look back in fifty years fifty movies ago, and that's when I started. So here we are thirty years later. I certainly was slacking off of doing this album but not doing music.

So what was the process of the whole film scoring? How long would it typically take for your work to be completed?

You know, I would say generally a film would be between two and a half and three months full time, and I would get the film. You know, you read the script, you see if you want to work together, and then you do. I get the film just as it's finishing, it's nearing the final cut, and that's when I would get although I get earlier cuts so that I could just inspire and write themes, and you know, even if it was just a three note theme, and then I would write the full orchestra beeat piece later that Then it would there be what's called a spotting session where the very first final cut with the final cut never means the final cut, but I would sit for the director and the film editor and we would discuss where music it is literally going to fall on the movie. And you're talking about you know, tiny increments. For example, say the first a piece of music that comes into the film comes in a two hours, one minute and six frames. It means on the sixth frames where the girl shuts her eyes. So when you see the eyelid shut on eighth frame eight, that's where the music starts. And that might just be a piano piece that goes for eight seconds, and then the next piece might be a seven piece string, a seven minutes orchestral piece for a chase scene which would have the kitchen sink on it, and that will go for seven minutes, nine seconds and three frames. So it's very specific. And then you get to like sixty pieces of music and once those are all shovels, you've done.

So what fueled your brilliant curiosity as a young lad in Johannesburg.

I have to say, well, the guitar was always something even though I was a pianist and I played piano from five until forever, but guitar became the instrument of choice that I think I was eleven closing in on twelve, and it just it just became something which I was absolutely addicted to. And then I think at about seventeen eighteen I became completely obsessed with Well, I was always, you know, because of my father, who was a classic, you know, first violinist in the Chancellor Symphony Orchestra. There was classical music all the time in the family. And I became and you know, I knew all the Bees, but Beethoven, Brahms, and you know, I keep hearing that all my life. But then I came across Arnold Schoenberg and he just bleomed me away. One of the great composers of last century.

We've had on this podcast some of your past mates from Yes, Steve Howe and Johnny Anderson, and I was intrigued by their diversity of influences. So your influences are just as diverse and maybe even more diverse. How do you still keep it diverse just by listening?

I listened to a lot of music, and you know, I listened to mostly classical music or great guitar players. But my son, who's a phenomenal producer and was in a band called Group Love. I don't know if you remember them. They're still going. Actually he left the band to be a producer three years after three albums, but he keeps me up to date on what's happening in the music business. Because it's such a changed place. I don't even recognize it.

Mostly, are you still friendly with the Yes camp?

You know, it's so sad. Ellen White and Chris as you know, recently died and I missed them so much. They were really really close friends. And then obviously I've loved going on the road with John and Rick and Reck and I've always been close and him and I want to do when time allows him, and I want to do an album just with piano and acoustic guitar. So we're still in touch.

And had you always been involved with like the banjo and dobro and instruments like that, because I know that's part of rio.

Yeah, it's a funny thing you know about, because when I was pretty much a teenager going into my twenties in South Africa, I as a session musician, working you know, flat out kind of and the sessions would change from a movie session with a big orchestra, to a heavy rock session or to a country session. And country music is huge in South Africa, so very often I'd be playing a banjo or mandolin or even pedal steel on some sessions, but essentially playing a telecaster with a b bender, which is you know, pretty much a country picking thing. It was a big love of mine and always has been.

So if you could play with a dream session with individuals either living or deceased, who would that session be with?

Probably a Union Station?

Tell me about that.

God, what's the name of Union Station is? With the country singer Allison Kraus, Alison Cross and Union Station. I mean, just such great players in there and that you know, Doughbor Douglas is just phenomenal.

Oh is that Jerry Douglas.

Jerry Douglas.

Yes, Wow, that's that's incredible, and isn't it real? Need how mister Plant has evolved into his present his present work.

I love Robert, I've not you know, I've known Robert for probably forty years and we've we've always been friends. I remember going to his show years ago and waiting backstage because the city was changing, and record company guy went in and said, Robert fresh, and he said, I'll bring the bloody South African in. Here's a funny old talk.

So I want to ask you. Everybody talks about artificial intelligence now and I'd like to get your perspective on it in terms of things you love about it relating to your music, and things you fear of it.

Well, what I feel? You know, I'm I'm seventy and three months, so I've I've kind of got through the business in the probably one of the golden eras of music business. But the new music business I think s beares me mostly for young musicians. I mean, you know, young film composers don't get treated as well as they used to. They don't get you know, I mean a lot of I've seen a lot of film composers doing movies for no money and just saying you're going to get it on your BEERMI check. Something's got to happen so that you know. Listen, there's been the writer strike, and there's been the actors strike. I think the musicians need to be looked after as well, especially the young ones coming up.

Who are some of the producers that have influenced you?

I think you mean for record producers, Yes, yes, I think a guy there was a guy who just died in South Africa, a phenomenal producer called Julian Laxton, a phenomenal producer. And then I'd say, along with that would be mud Lang. I think he's absolutely brilliant.

So let's talk about Rio and then also talk about Oklahoma as well, which is striking. Tell me about how proud you are of this work.

You know, I'm very, very proud of it. And Oklahoma goes back a long time. You know, I had become I'd worked really hard to become an American citizen and went through all this absolutely all the legal ramifications and procedures to do so. And when I became Actually we played in LA that night with yes Rick drape me and an American flag, and it was just such an exciting moment. And you know, a go a couple of years forward and in ninety five, you know, the Federal Building gets blown up in Oklahoma, and I had this kind of sick feeling in my stomach and it just led me. I want to write a song about it, but I clearly didn't want to release it or do anything right then and there. It would have been pretty crass and you know, exploitive. And so you know, now thirty years later, I can look at it and just look at it as a commentary and a tributary.

Really, that's that's that's amazing and something for you, your work to be certainly very very proud of. So looking forward here, how do you how do you just stay so energized around your work?

You know, I have to say when when when film is happening, there's an inherent discipline that you have to have. Every day you faced with a blank page and you have to fill it. Luckily, you're watching pictures, so it's the ready made video. And it's funny. The better the actor, the easier it is to write music to him, like the rhythm of Denzil Washington or Anthony Hopkins makes writing music to dialogue much more fluid. But I think, as far as you know, being inspired all the time, there are moments where I go through a month and I'll be practicing and playing the guitar, but I'm not writing anything, and I think, oh man, I've got to get into it, and procrastination sets in. And if I'm off a movie for a month on holiday or something, once the movie starts, I have no choice. But doing an album like this takes a lot more energy because there's you know, the whole concept has revolved around the record. There's no movie or dialogue or anything. The dialogue is you. So that's something which takes a lot of energy. And luckily I had it on for this album because I hadn't done one for so long. But what it's also led to is I can't wait to do another one. I really enjoyed it.

So I want to close with this. We produced this other podcast called Music Saved Me, which is about the power of music, the healing power, and what it means to musicians. Do you believe that music is therapeutic and has healing power.

I absolutely believe it does. And in fact, one strange thing is that one point many years ago I wanted to get into meditation, but my brain can't keep still, so I could, you know, slow down to meditate. And then early, quite early, maybe twenty years ago, I realized that, you know what my zn moment, my meditation is when I'm in the studio. Very often my wife will come to me and on on Rio she came to me and she said, no, it's nine thirty in the morning. Have you been here. When did you get into the studio? And I realized, oh, I haven't gone to bedget I forgot, And she'll say, well, you must if you want some breakfast. Oh my god, I'm starving. But I don't think about it because that's then kind of feeling, that meditational feeling is that's what the music does for me when i'm and even when I'm on stage, the same thing happens. So I absolutely feel that music is one of the medicinal necessities of Earth.

Well, thank you for the medicinal nescess ease that you've given me and the world, and I'm so grateful to reconnect with you again. Trevor Well great talking to you. Thank you, congrats on everything.

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