July 1, 2025 • 6 mins
Composer and music virtuoso Bear McCreary phoned in to chat about his upcoming Australian tour. Known for his work on epics shows and movies including The Lord of the Rings, Battlestar Galactica, Outlander and The Walking Dead, Bear has also released an epic concept album The Singularity features Slash, Rufus Wainwright and more. The guys had a tonne of questions and Bear talked about his process for scoring film, overcoming his fear of dogs to get his first gig, his mentors, working with Hozier and more. See Bear McCreary at The Astor Theatre on July 28.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have the chance to see an amazing show this month,
July twenty eight. It's a Monday at the Asta Theater.
You can see Bear McCreary on his Themes and Variations.
Tour tickets are available through ticketek. Bear is the composer
behind scores for shows like Battlestar Galactica, Outlander, The Walking Dead,
Lord of the Rings, and he's with us Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Today, Bear, thanks for time.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
How are you hello?
Speaker 4 (00:21):
How's it going good?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So the show on July twenty eight is I believe
it's going to be a mix of some of those
amazing scores and music from your rock concept album, which
is called The Singularity.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Yes, it's going to be quite an eclectic evening.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yes, absolutely well, it's quite an eclectic lineup on that album,
from Rufus Wainwright to Joe Satriani and Slash. Bet you
didn't have to ask him twice.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That was a pretty surreal experience, especially because one of
those songs called Escape from the Machines I wrote when
I was sixteen years old?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And I was imagining I was imagining Slash wang It.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I grew up listening to Slash, I was listening to
November Rain and I thought, oh, I want to capture
some of that epic orchestral rock majesty. And yet thirty
years later I asked Slash to play that exact same
part on that exact same song and he did it.
So it really was sort of like, uh, my whole
(01:23):
career coming full circle on that record.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
There's not enough pinching yourself in the world that Welcome
to the Jungle.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Exactly. It was a it was a dream, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
And then to be able to take songs like that
yeah from my rock record and combine them with music
that I've done over the last two decades scoring film,
television and video games. Yeah, it's been it's been a
blast taking all this stuff to audiences around the world.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Has this stopped by? How do you stop on getting
a foot in the door in Hollywood as a composer?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Is it just like baby steps to start with?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
You know?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
How do you start?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I think the best advice I can give to anybody
getting started is just love what you do so much that.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
People love doing it with you.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I really don't have any tangible advice other than that,
because I think if you're the kind of person that
people like being around, like making art with You're probably
gonna make it if you just hang in there long
enough and stay positive and stay creative.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, but how does it work in terms of scoring
music for a show? Do you get a completed episode
or do you get a script? Or how does it work?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Well?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I always like to say that I'll take whatever you
got right.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Sometimes, if I'm hired early enough, I'll read scripts far
in advance. I think I was brought on board a
show like Outlander, I think a year early. But other times,
when I did Lord of the Rings The Rings of Power,
I started right away. There were episodes to look at
right when I got started. But either way it really
(02:58):
doesn't matter right because what matters to me is what.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Is the story? Who are the characters.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
My mentor Elmer Bernstein, who was one of the greatest
film composers of the twentieth century, he taught me to
ask one question, you guys, one question, what do you
want the audience to feel?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
If you can answer that question, you can do the job. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, you want him to get passionate, you want him
to start crying, whatever it might be. In some way
I'm moving them.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, it's impossible. To imagine all movies without the music.
I mean, if you watch something without the music, it
would lose the effect of So imagine watching Jaws without
it would just be ridiculous. Music has the scoring of
you know, things has become just as big in video games,
true as in TV and movies. I believe your top
(03:50):
song on Apple is in fact from a video game.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We Yeah, I did a track with with Hosier. Yes,
I did a track with Hosier for God of War Ragnarok,
the God of War. Games I've done God of War
and God of War Ragnarok are are are pretty big.
They have a pretty big audience. And I was just
so incredibly fortunate to get to write a song with
(04:14):
one of my favorite artists. Yeah, I mean, Hosier is
such an amazing lyricist and singer, and he had this
beautiful perspective on this very emotional story.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So that was really exciting, and.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
You know, I got to play it live with him
once and it was incredible at the Game Awards and
we're replicating that experience to a degree. We're performing Blood
upon the Snow in my set, and I got to say,
like being able to play I play the hurdy gurdy,
this really weird instrument on that song.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
To being able to play the hurdy gurdy doing God
of War music exactly, it's like a dream come through
you guys. It's so fun.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's good.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Actually, you mentioned Hosey. I mean Hosey, there's a soft
spot for that man here at our city of Perth
and Western Astralia. Put it Heusier gig on and he
sells two or three gigs. He's quite a telling amazing yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah, and he's just the sweetest guy.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah apparently. Yeah, you mentioned Elma Bernstein is being an
inspiration and a friend other composers around or is Elma
the one that's you know, been somebody really looked up
to and got great advice from.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I mean, Elmer was one of my heroes growing up,
and he took me under his wing. I worked with
him for nearly a decade. I met him when I
was in high school, when I was sixteen years old,
and he was my first job in the business.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
You know. He let me orchestrate a.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Film, although really he needed someone to house sit his
dogs when he was gone all summer, and he was like, look,
if you give the dogs their medicine, you can orchestrate
this film, right. And the funny thing is I was,
I think I was nineteen at the time.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I had a.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Deathly phobia of dogs from when I was a kid.
And I go, sure, I mean, he'll be fine, it'll
be fine. What kind of dogs do you have? And
he goes, I have two German shepherd and I was like,
oh god, those are like sixty pounds. And then he
goes and I have an Irish woolffound.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Oh okay, I twenty pound dog. And he said, look,
it's really easy. You just open up its mouth and
damn the medicine in there. And he goes, if you
come house, sit my dogs, I'll let you orchestrate a movie.
And I've I'm and I and he said, you know,
can you do it? And I thought, sure, no problem.
And of course the dogs were the sweetest animals ever,
and I got over my phobia pretty fast.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, music sues the Savage based is nice.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
You should have played them somewhat. That's something that you'd
written Wallne.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Indeed, we look forward to having you in town July
twenty eighth at the ASTA. Tickets are available through TEK.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Ben, great to Benjamin, thanks so much.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Cheers, see you guys soon.
We have the chance to see an amazing show this month,
July twenty eight. It's a Monday at the Asta Theater.
You can see Bear McCreary on his Themes and Variations.
Tour tickets are available through ticketek. Bear is the composer
behind scores for shows like Battlestar Galactica, Outlander, The Walking Dead,
Lord of the Rings, and he's with us Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Today, Bear, thanks for time.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
How are you hello?
Speaker 4 (00:21):
How's it going good?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So the show on July twenty eight is I believe
it's going to be a mix of some of those
amazing scores and music from your rock concept album, which
is called The Singularity.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Yes, it's going to be quite an eclectic evening.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yes, absolutely well, it's quite an eclectic lineup on that album,
from Rufus Wainwright to Joe Satriani and Slash. Bet you
didn't have to ask him twice.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That was a pretty surreal experience, especially because one of
those songs called Escape from the Machines I wrote when
I was sixteen years old?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And I was imagining I was imagining Slash wang It.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I grew up listening to Slash, I was listening to
November Rain and I thought, oh, I want to capture
some of that epic orchestral rock majesty. And yet thirty
years later I asked Slash to play that exact same
part on that exact same song and he did it.
So it really was sort of like, uh, my whole
(01:23):
career coming full circle on that record.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
There's not enough pinching yourself in the world that Welcome
to the Jungle.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Exactly. It was a it was a dream, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
And then to be able to take songs like that
yeah from my rock record and combine them with music
that I've done over the last two decades scoring film,
television and video games. Yeah, it's been it's been a
blast taking all this stuff to audiences around the world.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Has this stopped by? How do you stop on getting
a foot in the door in Hollywood as a composer?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Is it just like baby steps to start with?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
You know?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
How do you start?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I think the best advice I can give to anybody
getting started is just love what you do so much that.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
People love doing it with you.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I really don't have any tangible advice other than that,
because I think if you're the kind of person that
people like being around, like making art with You're probably
gonna make it if you just hang in there long
enough and stay positive and stay creative.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, but how does it work in terms of scoring
music for a show? Do you get a completed episode
or do you get a script? Or how does it work?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Well?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I always like to say that I'll take whatever you
got right.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Sometimes, if I'm hired early enough, I'll read scripts far
in advance. I think I was brought on board a
show like Outlander, I think a year early. But other times,
when I did Lord of the Rings The Rings of Power,
I started right away. There were episodes to look at
right when I got started. But either way it really
(02:58):
doesn't matter right because what matters to me is what.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Is the story? Who are the characters.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
My mentor Elmer Bernstein, who was one of the greatest
film composers of the twentieth century, he taught me to
ask one question, you guys, one question, what do you
want the audience to feel?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
If you can answer that question, you can do the job. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, you want him to get passionate, you want him
to start crying, whatever it might be. In some way
I'm moving them.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, it's impossible. To imagine all movies without the music.
I mean, if you watch something without the music, it
would lose the effect of So imagine watching Jaws without
it would just be ridiculous. Music has the scoring of
you know, things has become just as big in video games,
true as in TV and movies. I believe your top
(03:50):
song on Apple is in fact from a video game.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We Yeah, I did a track with with Hosier. Yes,
I did a track with Hosier for God of War Ragnarok,
the God of War. Games I've done God of War
and God of War Ragnarok are are are pretty big.
They have a pretty big audience. And I was just
so incredibly fortunate to get to write a song with
(04:14):
one of my favorite artists. Yeah, I mean, Hosier is
such an amazing lyricist and singer, and he had this
beautiful perspective on this very emotional story.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So that was really exciting, and.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
You know, I got to play it live with him
once and it was incredible at the Game Awards and
we're replicating that experience to a degree. We're performing Blood
upon the Snow in my set, and I got to say,
like being able to play I play the hurdy gurdy,
this really weird instrument on that song.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
To being able to play the hurdy gurdy doing God
of War music exactly, it's like a dream come through
you guys. It's so fun.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's good.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Actually, you mentioned Hosey. I mean Hosey, there's a soft
spot for that man here at our city of Perth
and Western Astralia. Put it Heusier gig on and he
sells two or three gigs. He's quite a telling amazing yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah, and he's just the sweetest guy.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah apparently. Yeah, you mentioned Elma Bernstein is being an
inspiration and a friend other composers around or is Elma
the one that's you know, been somebody really looked up
to and got great advice from.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I mean, Elmer was one of my heroes growing up,
and he took me under his wing. I worked with
him for nearly a decade. I met him when I
was in high school, when I was sixteen years old,
and he was my first job in the business.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
You know. He let me orchestrate a.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Film, although really he needed someone to house sit his
dogs when he was gone all summer, and he was like, look,
if you give the dogs their medicine, you can orchestrate
this film, right. And the funny thing is I was,
I think I was nineteen at the time.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I had a.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Deathly phobia of dogs from when I was a kid.
And I go, sure, I mean, he'll be fine, it'll
be fine. What kind of dogs do you have? And
he goes, I have two German shepherd and I was like,
oh god, those are like sixty pounds. And then he
goes and I have an Irish woolffound.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Oh okay, I twenty pound dog. And he said, look,
it's really easy. You just open up its mouth and
damn the medicine in there. And he goes, if you
come house, sit my dogs, I'll let you orchestrate a movie.
And I've I'm and I and he said, you know,
can you do it? And I thought, sure, no problem.
And of course the dogs were the sweetest animals ever,
and I got over my phobia pretty fast.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well, music sues the Savage based is nice.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
You should have played them somewhat. That's something that you'd
written Wallne.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Indeed, we look forward to having you in town July
twenty eighth at the ASTA. Tickets are available through TEK.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Ben, great to Benjamin, thanks so much.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Cheers, see you guys soon.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.