Graeme Revell

Graeme Revell (born 23 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial/electronic group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer.[1]

Graeme Revell
Born (1955-10-23) 23 October 1955
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationMusician, composer
Awards

Some of Revell's best known film scores include The Crow (1994), Street Fighter (1994), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), The Craft (1996), The Saint (1997), The Negotiator (1998), Bride of Chucky (1998), Titan A.E. (2000), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Daredevil (2003), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), and Sin City (2005). He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director David Twohy, having scored Below (2002) and the Riddick franchise. He is an eight-time recipient of the BMI Film Music Award, including the Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award,[2] and an AACTA Award winner.[3]

Biography

Early life

Revell attended Auckland Grammar School, where he finished his final year in 7A. As an orderly in an insane asylum in Australia in the late 70's, he and one of the patients formed one of industrial music's first bands, SPK, as an outgrowth of Mr. Revell's interest in music therapy. He spent the next decade making music that ranged from extreme to beautiful to academic and earning a reputation for wild stage stunts that included accidentally setting an audience member on fire with a flamethrower.[4] Mr. Revell's break came in 1989, when he scored the Australian film "Dead Calm." A Hollywood agent, Richard Kraft, heard it and tracked Mr. Revell down. Since then, Mr. Revell has been busy in Hollywood, working with everything from 85-piece orchestras for "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," to Tuvan singers and Armenian stringed instruments for "The Crow," to brassy jazz and hip-hop rhythm loops in his current project, "Fled," with Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin.[4]

Education and training

Revell is a classically trained pianist and French horn player, but also graduated from the University of Auckland with degrees in economics and political science.[5]

Vocational pursuits

He worked as a regional planner in both Australia and Indonesia, and was also an orderly in an Australian psychiatric hospital.

Musical career

Revell was a founding member of the industrial music band SPK, playing keyboards and percussion. The SPK single, "In Flagrante Delicto", was the basis for the Dead Calm film score (his first) that won him an Australian Film Industry award in 1989.[5]

Most of Revell's subsequent projects were film scores. But in 1997, he teamed up with Roger Mason to create a non-film music album Vision II – Spirit of Rumi, released through New York based Angel Records. The two coproduced, supplied some of the instrumental accompaniment, and set to music 11 poems by renowned 13th century poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī. Vocals were provided by Noa, Lori Garson, Esther Dobong'Na Essiene a.k.a. Estha Divine, and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[6]

In 2002–03, he assisted the rock band Evanescence on their debut album, Fallen, in which he is credited for doing most of the string arrangements. He has also done string arrangements for Ludus, Stefy, Biffy Clyro and The Wombats.

Style

Revell's musical style is predominantly electronic and computer-based, yet often utilizes classical instruments or entire arrangements for certain pieces (similar to his contemporary counterparts, Hans Zimmer and Mark Isham). The orchestral scores that Revell has composed have changed throughout his career—from Bernard Herrmann-like pieces to Ennio Morricone-influenced works. "Whenever I write songs, I always have visual images in mind, and I have always changed styles dramatically. That's not good for a long-term rock career, but it's good if you want to score films."[4] "I'm trying to bring a dose of class to Hollywood," he said. "I want my music to be the real thing instead of some terrible synthesized thing thrown together in a week. I don't want to sound just like everybody else."[4]

Revell's music is often re-used from movie to movie and in more recent times he has collaborated with other artists on their albums. After the success of his soundtrack on Red Planet where he used the voice of French singer Emma Shapplin to back up and often lead his score, he collaborated with her on her own album Etterna, producing all of her songs. He has recently been interviewed for the independent documentary Finding Kraftland.

Collaborators

Revell has been assisted in sound design by Brian Williams, who creates dark ambient music under the name Lustmord.[7]

Awards and nominations

On 18 May 2005, Revell was honored at the annual BMI Film & TV Awards with the Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement.[8]

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA[9]
1994 Nominee

Saturn Award

 Best Music

Hard Target (1993)

ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards[9]
1993 Winner

ASCAP Award

 Top Box Office Films

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA)[9]
2008 Nominee

IFMCA Award

 Best Original Score for a Documentary Film

Darfur Now (2007)

World Soundtrack Awards[9]
2001 Nominee

World Soundtrack Award

 Best Original Score of the Year Not Released on an Album

Blow (2001)

Venice Film Festival[9]
1997 Winner

Golden Osella

 Best Score

Chinese Box (1997)

Online Film & Television Association[9]
2001 Winner

OFTA Television Award

 Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries

Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001)

Best New Theme Song in a Motion Picture or Miniseries

Dune (2000)

Nominee

OFTA Television Award

 Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries

Dune (2000)

Best New Theme Song in a Motion Picture or Miniseries

Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001)

Fangoria Chainsaw Awards[9]
2003 Nominee

Chainsaw Award

 Best Score

Below (2002)

1997 Nominee

Chainsaw Award

 Best Score

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

1994 Winner

Chainsaw Award

 Best Soundtrack

The Crow (1994)

BMI Film & TV Awards[9]
2009 Winner

BMI Film Music Award

 Pineapple Express (2008)

Works

1980s
Year Title Director Notes
1989 Dead Calm Phillip Noyce N/A

1990s
Year Title Director Notes
1990 Spontaneous Combustion Tobe Hooper N/A
1990 Child's Play 2 John Lafia N/A
1990 Till There Was You John Seale N/A
1991 Deadly Esben Storm N/A
1991 The People Under the Stairs Wes Craven N/A
1991 Until the End of the World Wim Wenders N/A
1992 The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Curtis Hanson N/A
1992 Love Crimes Lizzie Borden N/A
1992 Traces of Red Andy Wolk N/A
1992 Body of Evidence Uli Edel N/A
1993 Boxing Helena Jennifer Lynch N/A
1993 Hear No Evil Robert Greenwald N/A
1993 The Crush Alan Shapiro N/A
1993 Faraway, So Close! Wim Wenders N/A
1993 Hard Target John Woo Composed with Tim Simonec
1993 Ghost in the Machine Rachel Talalay N/A
1994 No Escape Martin Campbell Composed with Tim Simonec
1994 The Crow Alex Proyas N/A
1994 S.F.W. Jefery Levy N/A
1994 Street Fighter Steven E. de Souza N/A
1995 Tank Girl Rachel Talalay N/A
1995 The Basketball Diaries Scott Kalvert N/A
1995 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie Bryan Spicer N/A
1995 Killer: A Journal of Murder Tim Metcalfe N/A
1995 The Tie That Binds Wesley Strick N/A
1995 Strange Days Kathryn Bigelow N/A
1996 From Dusk till Dawn Robert Rodriguez N/A
1996 Race the Sun Charles T. Kanganis N/A
1996 The Craft Andrew Fleming N/A
1996 Fled Kevin Hooks N/A
1996 The Crow: City of Angels Tim Pope N/A
1997 The Saint Phillip Noyce N/A
1997 Spawn Mark A.Z. Dippé N/A
1997 Chinese Box Wayne Wang N/A
1997 Suicide Kings Peter O'Fallon N/A
1998 The Big Hit Kirk Wong N/A
1998 Phoenix Danny Cannon N/A
1998 All I Wanna Do Sarah Kernochan N/A
1998 The Negotiator F. Gary Gray N/A
1998 Lulu on the Bridge Paul Auster N/A
1998 Bride of Chucky Ronny Yu N/A
1998 The Siege Edward Zwick N/A
1999 Idle Hands Rodman Flender N/A
1999 Buddy Boy Mark Hanlon Composed with Michael Brook and Brian Eno
1999 Three to Tango Damon Santostefano N/A
1999 Bats Louis Morneau N/A

2000s
Year Title Director Notes
2000 Pitch Black David Twohy N/A
2000 Gossip Davis Guggenheim N/A
2000 Titan A.E. Don Bluth
Gary Goldman		 N/A
2000 Calle 54 Fernando Trueba N/A
2000 Attraction Russell DeGrazier N/A
2000 Red Planet Antony Hoffman N/A
2001 Double Take George Gallo N/A
2001 Blow Ted Demme N/A
2001 Human Nature Michel Gondry N/A
2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Simon West N/A
2002 Collateral Damage Andrew Davis N/A
2002 High Crimes Carl Franklin N/A
2002 Below David Twohy N/A
2003 Daredevil Mark Steven Johnson N/A
2003 Freddy vs. Jason Ronny Yu N/A
2003 Out of Time Carl Franklin N/A
2003 Open Water Chris Kentis N/A
2004 Walking Tall Kevin Bray N/A
2004 The Chronicles of Riddick David Twohy N/A
2005 Assault on Precinct 13 Jean-François Richet N/A
2005 Sin City Robert Rodriguez
Frank Miller		 N/A
2005 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D Robert Rodriguez N/A
2005 Goal! Danny Cannon N/A
2005 Harsh Times David Ayer N/A
2005 The Fog Rupert Wainwright N/A
2005 Æon Flux Karyn Kusama N/A
2006 Bordertown Gregory Nava N/A
2006 Man of the Year Barry Levinson N/A
2007 Marigold Willard Carroll N/A
2007 Planet Terror Robert Rodriguez N/A
2007 The Condemned Scott Wiper N/A
2007 Darfur Now Ted Braun N/A
2007 Awake Joby Harold N/A
2008 The Ruins Carter Smith N/A
2008 Street Kings David Ayer N/A
2008 Pineapple Express David Gordon Green N/A
2008 Days of Wrath Celia Fox N/A

2010s
Year Title Director Notes
2010 Unthinkable Gregor Jordan N/A
2010 The Experiment Paul T. Scheuring N/A
2010 Kites: The Remix Anurag Basu N/A
2011 Shark Night David R. Ellis N/A
2013 Riddick David Twohy N/A

Television film
Year Title Director Notes
1990 Psycho IV: The Beginning Mick Garris N/A
1995 Down Came a Blackbird Jonathan Sanger N/A
1998 Dennis the Menace Strikes Again Charles T. Kanganis N/A

Television series
Year Title Notes
1988 Bangkok Hilton N/A
2000 Frank Herbert's Dune N/A
2001 Anne Frank: The Whole Story N/A
2002–2003 CSI: Miami N/A
2008–2009 Eleventh Hour N/A
2009–2010 The Forgotten N/A
2009–2010 Dark Blue N/A
2012 The River N/A
2014–2015 Gotham N/A

Video games
Year Title Notes
2005 Call of Duty 2 N/A
2005 Call of Duty 2: Big Red One N/A

References
  1. "Graeme Revell". The New York Times. 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. "Graeme Revell to Receive Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement at BMI Film/TV Dinner". Bmi.com. 11 April 2005. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  3. "Past Awards | AACTA". Aacta.org. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  4. Strauss, Neil (4 July 1996). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. "Graeme Revell". IMDb. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  6. Carol Wright (18 March 1997). "Vision 2: Spirit of Rumi - Graeme Revell | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  7. John Bush. "Lustmord | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  8. "BMI Honors Composers of Top Movies, TV Shows and Cable Programs at 2005 Film/TV Awards". Bmi.com. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  9. "Graeme Revell". IMDb. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
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