DAVID RUSSELL: Since I started playing guitar at age 15, I liked to create little pieces.  During my second year studying Classical Guitar at Virginia Commonwealth University, I decided that I really wanted to write music.  I wanted to be the person who created it.  At that point the idea was to finish my degree in Guitar(while taking many writing classes) and then go to graduate school for composition.  Originally I wanted to write orchestral concert music, but after I saw and heard BATMAN, I realized that the marriage of film and music was way too powerful to resist.  After graduating, I went to the University of Miami to study for a masters.  After Miami, I worked at a studio in Richmond, Virginia where I wrote music for commercials.  In 1995, I made the move to L.A..  After working for several composers and doing some small projects, I finally landed a big job, BLACK SCORPION: THE SERIES, for Roger Corman's company, Concorde-New Horizons.

 

E.S.: What was it like doing music transcription on THE SIEGE?  Sounds fun!

 

D.R.: My job on THE SIEGE was to take the computer sequences of the music, clean them up, and create "sketch" scores for the orchestrators.  The job was pretty fun.  The music was interesting and the people I was working with were really great.

 

E.S.: Who are some of the composers who are your inspirations?

 

D.R.: I think the top two are Bernard Hermann and Danny Elfman.  Both have a nice sense of darkness that I really like.  And I often find Danny's quirkiness very charming.  I'd also say that John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith are always inspirational.

 

E.S.: If you were to go into one-on-one battle with THE PHANTOM EYE, what weapons would you choose?

 

D.R.: Visine, pepper spray, and an ice pick.

 

E.S.: What's your latest projects?

 

D.R.: I have several irons in the fire.  Many of them still in production.  In the next few weeks, I will be scoring a short called "The Flock", a "sixties teen spy thriller".  After that I have an independent feature called WICKED SPRING, which takes place during the Civil War.