Episode 40 of our podcast sees a very special interview with former Ramones bassist CJ Ramone!

CJ chats to Foundation collections manager Connor Heaney about his love of Ray Harryhausen's films, and shares memories of his favourite Harryhausen creatures. He also discusses his friendship with actress and Foundation advisor Caroline Munro, to whom he dedicated the track 'Girlfriend in a Graveyard' on his 2017 album 'American Beauty'.

Also, hear more about the Ray Harryhausen Awards, as we approach our new deadline of April 30th.

We'd like to thank CJ for taking the time to talk with us, and for his enthusiasm for Ray Harryhausen's movies and creations! Find CJ Ramone's solo albums on the Fat Wreck Chords label: https://fatwreck.com/collections/cj-ramone

Episode 40: Interview With CJ Ramone

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration: The high-water mark for me in terms of Castlevania soundtracks are, in no particular order:

Simon's Quest
Symphony of the Night
Castlevania 64

I draw inspiration often from each of these; Symphony for its lush, multi-dimensional works, Simon's Quest for its mournful, dark and catchy pieces, and 64, for its brooding, romantic, lush score. For this piece, I imagined the night levels of Simon's quest, traversing the darkened forests and countryside of Transylvania, passing graveyards and such, imagining the histories of those that died before our character. Here, in the peaceful, yet ominous night, the shadows seem to speak...telling their own stories.

Castlevania - The Shadows Speak

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration:
One of my favorite games of all time, and my personal favorite Castlevania, is Symphony of the Night. I love all of the personalization that Alucard can utilize in the game—especially the different cloaks. One of my favorites is the Royal Cloak. Alucard looks pretty regal in it, and combined with his gorgeous sprite animation, (in my opinion the best realized 2-D sprite of all time) he looks awesome dashing through the halls of Castlevania. The song title just popped into my head thinking of the great feeling it gives me to have him wear this particular cloak—(I am big on aesthetics, color palette, mood, tone and overall character design and how these different things relate to one another/inform the character)and I liked it, so there it is.

Hope you all enjoy.

Castlevania - Royal Blue Aesthetic

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration: I love the new Castlevania anime—Nocturne, and am a huge, huge Richter Belmont fan...so this piece has special meaning. I wanted to write something about Richter's sea voyage after his mother's death. I imagined something noble, driving, sad and seafaring. All of the feelings Richter would have about loss, despair, rage, legacy, and revenge I tried to put in here to some extent—along with the usual classical/spooky/epic tropes that Castlevania is known for. Hope you enjoy-

10-21-23

Castlevania - Crossing the Danube

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration: General Kael of course. One of the greatest screen villains of all time—sure, he doesn't have a ton of screen time, but Pat Roach is incredible in the role and extremely intimidating. The Mongolian inspired armor is insane too. Can't say enough. I wanted to write something rhythmically that basically screams "Kael is coming, and he's going to fuck your shit up massively." Something militant, dark and masculine. Hope you like it-

Lyrics: 
(War-chant) "Ghast Aelt Draykos" (Kael is Coming!)
Low-Urlusk-Western Regions.

Kael is Coming!

Kael is Coming! (Chant Version)

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration: General Kael of course. One of the greatest screen villains of all time—sure, he doesn't have a ton of screen time, but Pat Roach is incredible in the role and extremely intimidating. The Mongolian inspired armor is insane too. Can't say enough. I wanted to write something rhythmically that basically screams "Kael is coming, and he's going to fuck your shit up massively." Something militant, dark and masculine. Hope you like it-

NOTE: This is the "chant free" version of the theme.

Kael is Coming! (Regular Version)

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration: The 1995 film was and still is a huge deal to me. At the time, it was quite a big deal, because it was the first and only video game adaptation that truly tried to reproduce what was so great about the game—the hard-hitting combat, the fantastical inspired characters, and the killer tone and atmosphere. 

When I saw it, I literally walked right back inside and bought a ticket to the next showing. I have a martial arts background, and that was certainly part of it, but what the team behind that film did in 1995 with music, SPFX, fight choreography, practical effects and digital matte paintings, etc, was really something special. I still adore it to this day.

I wrote this to evoke the in-your-face feeling of the first soundtrack and also the style of music of the time period.

11-12-2023

Mortal Kombat Main Titles - FIGHT! (Spec.)

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023
Spec. Theme

Inspiration: When I was a young man, Killer Instinct came out in arcades, and I can still remember sitting there with my jaw on the floor, not able to believe what I was seeing. There were crowds around the game for hours and hours every day. From the insane graphics, to the hard-hitting sound effects and killer soundtrack, it was a really big deal at the time. Needless to say, I became a KI freak and still am. I used to love playing as Jago, Tj Combo and Chief Thunder—even learning the offscreen air juggle ultra of Tj's which I only saw one other person do.

The sequel took some getting used to at first, because I thought the graphics took a step back in some ways, but I quickly grew to love it.

KI has a very clear vibe and feeling, and I wanted to capture that with this music—retro, exotic, melodic, and high energy.

Hope you enjoy-

Tiger Spirit

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration:
As a fan of the landmark anime AKIRA, I wanted to write something that captured the retro-futurism of the film, as well as the 80s neon-synth sort of mood that inhabits aspects of it. I wanted something fast paced and arpeggiated, and also something that was melodic and captured the tragic nature of Tetsuo and Kaneda's friendship.

Hope you enjoy it,
RI/FF

12-12-23

E.S.P.E.R.

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Copyright 2023

Inspiration: After seeing Asteroid City, which is fantastic by the way, I wrote this—inspired by Wes Anderson's brilliant direction, production design, and visual language. I especially drew vibes from the UFO sequence.

Enjoy!

12-17-23

Martinis in Space

Written, Performed, Mixed, and Mastered by: BD Isaac
Spec. theme copyright 2023

Inspiration:
Again, as I have said here before, I am a huge old school Mortal Kombat fan. Goro was such a standout in the original game, and was realized quite brilliantly in the first film. The stop-motion choice for him was great, and tied him in to the classic Harryhausen vibe.

Goro, if considered literally, is absolutely terrifying. Primal, immensely powerful, and yet even a bit regal, he would be the last thing you would ever want to get in a ring with. This piece represents his power and scale.

12-27-2023

SMASHER/BREAKER - Goro's Theme

God first—Castlevania freak, Harryhausen, Star Wars fanatic, Lord of the Rings, Burton, Elfman, Stan Lee, Mozart, Bach, '80s/'90s Synth-Guitar/Video Game Atmospheres. 

Turning pain into music.

Music Only Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqP4d0rEMsjB4hUVibt6LUw

Influences: Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, Basil Poledouris, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Alexandre Desplat, Michiru Yamane, Koji Kondo, Brian Tyler.

Credits: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
               My Immortal Enemy: Akuma
               Castlevania: Prelude to War

SMASHER/BREAKER - Goro's Theme

RedisForFire

Related tracks