Composer Dabney Morris On "Sometimes I Think About Dying," "Kevin Can F Himself," Ska & More

it's the palro cast now with Daren Bel  let's get ready to listen to your favorite artist outro good afternoon or good morning to  you you're West Coast right yeah yeah yeah it's   morning so you still have the coffee and all that  still got c yeah first cup got it good day for you   so far side from having to do press uh yeah yeah  yeah yeah I mean I don't I don't mind doing press   I like talking I like talking about uh I like  talking about it well talking about it meaning   uh first there's the sometimes I think about dying  getting the vinyl and the digital release when did   you find out that it was getting the vinyl release  because that's kind of a landmark special thing   uh I found out when I decided that I was going to  pay to do it myself which may which may have been   a which may have been an ill-conceived uh thing  but um I was talking to Rachel the director about   it and you know we both agreed it's like it's  just cool to hold something in your hands you   know we work in such an uh such an art form where  you know aside from like if if you have like an   esoteric Blu-ray collection or you know a vinyl  collection or something it's very like it's not   super tangible and so having this sort of like  you know totem to hold as like a a marker of   like we we did this thing we made it so you know  it was a it was an investment to I I make the joke   that it's the most expensive piece of vinyl I own  well it's a thing that you can always give out to   people as holiday gifts if they don't fly off the  shelves so either way you prepaid a holiday gift   how's that yeah exactly yeah all all of my all of  my uh all of my relatives and Friends regardless   of if they have a record player getting one this  coming Christmas yeah well that is not your only   notable credit I mean recent work of yours that  I loved is Kevin can go f himself or Kevin can f   himself rather and you have the additional music  title but we're on Eight Episodes or so are you   allowed to say what you worked on specifically  to that show um I mean yeah yes and no I mean you   know that that scores Keegan to wit um and Keegan  often brings me on for uh you know I specialize in   um I specialize in you know uh uh orchestral  arranging working in sort of like um out of   the box like arrangement of you know organic  instruments so sort of like my forte so uh Keegan   and I are longtime collaborators I uh we you know  we're in a band called wild CB together I produced   the first Wild Cup record and played drums in the  band for a long time and um yeah we've been prins   for the better part of I want to say 15 years um  and so uh yeah he'll bring me on when he needs   like uh some extra hands on a project and TV is  always that way because the the turnaround time on   TV episodes especially for something that's like I  guess you could consider AMC like Network TV like   the turnaround times on that are like you know you  have you sit down at a spot for a spotting session   on like a Tuesday and then you got to deliver an  entire episode's worth of Music on like a Thursday   so it's you know it can be it can be a lot so  um uh but yeah I mean you know a lot of that   a lot of that you know I I did a lot of the drum  cues um I mean we collaborated you know it's not   like hey man you write this I write that it's  all Keegan score but um you know with uh a lot   of a lot of what I worked on was a lot of that um  sort of drum percussion you know kind of frenetic   uh sort of world because I'm a drummer uh that's  my background so yeah reason I asked about that   credit in in you know specifically is because it  was a without giving too much away to somebody who   hasn't seen it it's a dual sitcom Trope show and a  drama so you have the things that you would expect   coming in and out of a sitcom commercial break  and then dramatic stuff so meaning one person   shouldn't be able to write all of that music  right well it was funny so Keegan had this idea   where he um he was like that was his idea of like  going in and out of the thing being like I wanted   to um I can't remember I think that the show is  maybe called Newsroom or something the news was   like an old uh but he he was like What if we had  these sort of like Stingers that went in and out   so he came over one day and uh and I just you know  for probably about an hour and a half we just you   know I sat at the drum kit and came up with these  sort of kitchy you know like drum fills and this   other stuff and then you know he went in and  put like guitar and and bass and all this other   stuff on on it and it worked really really well  I mean that was that was great because they they   just had a library of those of those uh you know  sitcom Stingers that they could go in and out of   the episodes with it was it was fun to make yeah  sounds great to me now you mentioned before the   band background and I find that more than half of  the people who are working composers these days   in TV and film were band people that had record  deals and all that kind of thing so what was your   transition from being band guy to composer  because totally different worlds well it's   actually it's sort of the opposite for me because  I started into the band world going from composer   into band world so I studied music in college  um you know played an orchestra and studied   composition and uh also studied like production  and recording and all that and then I moved to   Nashville um out of college to you know had to  do an internship like at a record label which was everything except about the music yeah exactly  exactly but um so and then I found myself in   Nashville you know working uh working in bands  doing production touring doing all of that and   a lot of my um a lot of my background in the sort  of classical world if you want to classify it that   way kind of fell by the wayside because you know  it was a lot of pop music it was a lot of um yeah   just like touring band stuff so um you know after  at the end of my stint with wild Cub I I played   in a couple of other bands and I sort of got I  got back into a lot more producing and I started   getting Jaded by the whole thing and uh [Music]  the I I was driving around in this 99 Honda Civic   and my um my Ox I had this you know really cheap  you know stereo that I had installed in it and the   ox cable broke on it so I couldn't listen I could  only listen to the radio in that you know driving   around in Nashville Nashville's big driving City  like La so yeah um the only options available on   the radio are like a lot of like um uh a lot of  like country station a handful of Pop stations   that are you know relatively decent but it's not  really my vibe that I want to listen to and then   the classical station in Nashville which is one of  the best classical stations in the country because   they're so good at not just programming like your  sort of stand repertoire of like Beethoven and   Mozart and BR Bach and brahs and etc etc they will  program a lot of new composers a lot of um 20th   century 21st century composers and so that sort of  like I was driving around just listening to pretty   much that all the time and that sort of uh sparked  uh a I don't know like a it sparked something for   me which is which is nice when you're in your you  know early 30s and you're looking for something to   inspire you musically again because feeling like  you'd already done so much of it touring around   the world and all this and so I started writing  uh I started you know I got back into writing   classical I wrote string quartet I wrote um piece  for larger Orchestra and then um that sort of led   into some some film stuff moved out to LA kind of  the condensed version but um you know my mine's a   little different than I think a lot of band folks  because you're absolutely right like a lot of band   folks and I think that it has to do with like  you know the band world has its limited shelf   life like once you get to a certain age you know  you either have to have made it huge and you can   continue on as like a you know Legacy artist  or you just have to be someone who's down to   be like a road dog and just you know just break  yourself you know touring into your you know 40s   and 50s and I think a lot of folks get wise and  they're like well I don't want to do that but   I want to keep making music and composing is you  know especially for film and TV it's one of those   Outlets yeah to to be weirdly name Chey I mean  two different members of Arcade Fire have filmed   scores right now uh Fred Corey from Cinderella is  a film composer and so pallet from arcade I mean   he he'd been doing that for forever though you  know to to be fair but yeah but everyone I mean   I just saw the third person Colin Stetson also  in the arcade fire universe so you have three   Arcade Fire people competing for the same jobs  but the guy from Passion Pit all these people   yeah we love the music of we don't necessarily  realize they're also making the music for the   film and TV shows right exactly yeah totally so  when was it exactly that you went okay done with   the touring thing I'm a composer what year was  it it was probably 2014 2015 it was at the end of   whatever the um uh the record cycle for the Wild  Cup album youth was so that was probably about 10   years ago because I think we just we were just  talking about how that album came out 10 years   ago which is sort of crazy to think about but  yeah so it was probably about 10 years ago yeah   you don't really put that band in your bio that  that intrigues me yeah you know it's funny I um   there's not any specific reason I think that it's  just like I'm I'm the type of person that you know   uh uh here's my dog by the way hey buddy he's in  the interview too we're gonna ask you questions   later pal sure I'll get the dog to sign yeah he'll  sign off um but uh it's not for any specific I I   I think I'm the type of person that I'm like oh  yeah I did that but you know now I do composing   so what I'm not gonna include you know stuff that  isn't composing but um yeah I don't know that's a   good point maybe I should put that maybe I should  put that in there some people distance themselves   they have their I'm a rocker bio then they have  their I'm a philanthropist bio or I'm a film   producer like when you see Dave girls producing a  film he doesn't go any played in the punk rock and   hardcore bands scream and this it's just more  right that so I didn't know you had you know   that's that's a good point I mean I I guess you  know I'm buddies with Ian from Passion Pit and you   know I feel like he doesn't talk about Passion Pit  as much either I think it's just you know I don't   think it's a lot of I don't necessarily think it's  distancing I think it's just folks think of like   yeah that was another lifetime I did that then I  do this now you know it's not that they don't mix   it's just like yeah I mean you're not going to I  don't I mean I guess people do hire certain folks   because they're like oh you were in you know you  were in such and such band so you know which is   maybe not a good reason to hire folks to but maybe  it is I don't know you're you're right you could   be pigeon hold if they think of you as a metal  person yet they yeah totally I mean if I was in   a if I if my if my background is I used to be in  a metal band I think I would I would that would   definitely be in my bio I'd definitely be putting  that in there well did you have a metal background   did you start off on 80s hard rock before you  became a sophisticated person oh God I wish I   was that cool no my back I I was a I was a um to  to to to the shagrin of my agent I'm sure who's   probably like maybe not something you mentioned  but I uh my I grew up I played a lot of like uh I   played Punk which was cool but like I was I was in  I was in I did a lot of SCA I was like a big big   SC what's wrong with SCA you know it's Scot it's  third wave Scot what's the joke going around about   like the the the New York Times thing about the  fourth wave and someone's like I really hope this   isn't about SCA you know but uh but yeah so that  was sort of that I I didn't really get into what   I would consider to be like you know good music  not that Scott's bad but I I didn't get into what   I would consider to be good music until probably  like college you know like that's when I got into   a lot of the more Indie stuff a lot of the more  like um I don't know people who were sort of non genre in terms of the the sca composer thing I  mean Jeff rosenstock is now composing shows and   yeah he was a ska guy so fair enough yeah I mean  I I will say the one thing it did do is it um it   I've been I've been writing charts and writing  you know stuff for horn players since I was you   know 13 14 years old so I it at the very least  it helped me you know it helped me learn the the   transposition of an Altis saxophone but the last  thing I'll ask you in the the polite senses are   we allowed to know which project is next from you  where to look for your scores next uh yeah I mean   you know the project I'm working on right now has  been announced so I can talk about it but um it's   a I'm working on currently working on a score  for a film called colorbook uh directed by David   Fortune written and directed by uh David Fortune  he just won the um AT&T untold stories Grant at   Tribeca last year and so um yeah I'm currently  working on that um I don't know anything about   release or you know timeline or any of that but  um but yeah it's it's a beautiful script it's   uh you know the what I've seen of footage  so far is is is absolutely gorgeous um and   it's uh yeah I'm really really excited about it  we're we're I think we're going to make a really   special uh special film he's he's he's a very  trusting director which is which uh is I feel   very fortunate to be able to work with somebody  like him who's like yeah man what do you what do   you think you know um so uh yeah that's what's  that's what's on the horizon as of now outro