In between his collaborations with Queens of the Stone Age,
UNKLE, David Bowie, etc. and arranging all 205 national anthems for the 2012
Olympic Games, Royal Academy of Music Fellow Philip Sheppard somehow finds time
to score an average four films a year. He also maintains a touring schedule as
a musician and speaker, wowing audiences with freewheeling live compositions on
electric cello, the instrument he pioneered. He's a film composer, a performing
artist and a teacher who will soon appear alongside James Cameron at this
year’s C2MTL Conference in Montreal.
YATWO: You Are The Wild Ones pokes around inside Philip
Sheppard's versatile brain for the sake of science.
You are a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. What does it
take to achieve that? Why do you feel you were selected?
Sheppard: I’ve been a professor there since my mid-twenties
and consider it my home environment, but the Academy has given me the freedom
to run off, join the circus & pursue my insane dreams & schemes. I love
them for that.
YATWO: Do you consider yourself first a film composer, a
performing artist or an inventor? Why?
Sheppard: I consider myself to be someone who manipulates
odd noises for a living. I honestly don’t see a difference between writing for
film, stage or radio. If it gives me goosebumps, I’m in…
YATWO: What made you decide to use an electric cello? Can
you take us through the creative process?
Sheppard: I commissioned my electric cello as a way of
freeing up my own preconceptions about composing for strings. The soundworlds
it opens up are always unexpected and it’s therefore a useful tool for
triggering an idea for a piece. I am
always trying to write music that is sonically ravishing and inexplicable. I
see music as a solace, an abstraction of bliss.
YATWO: You’ve been collaborating with high-caliber
musicians. What have you learned from your experiences with people like David
Bowie, UNKLE and Jarvis Cocker?
Sheppard: I always work with people who are better than me,
and who do things I can’t begin to understand. The great thing is that these
talented people always enjoy sharing their tricks and techniques, so every time
I go into a studio with another musician, I’ll always come home having learnt
something I’m desperate to try myself. Often I’m working down the phone line,
and some of my happiest collaborations have been with musicians I haven’t even
met in person (yet!).
YATWO: What were some of the easiest and most difficult
tasks about working with such artists?
Sheppard: The only difficulties arise when the artists
expect me to be a straight-laced classical musician… I don’t think I am! I
remember sitting on the floor in Olympic Studios working through the guitar
solo in Whole Lotta Love with Jimmy Page, and thinking, Iove this job…
YRTWO: Can we expect a Philip Sheppard CD sometime in the
future? Can you tell us about it?
Sheppard: I have an album mapped out which I’m premiering in
concert with UNKLE at the Royal Festival Hall, before taking it to the Cannes
Festival. Some of it is inspired by work I’ve been doing about the Voyager
missions, other tracks are quite neoclassical and there’s even going to be some
Leonard Cohen in there too…
YATWO: Can you tell me about “The Sand Storm,” and the
inspiration behind the music?
Sheppard: The Sand Storm is a film I’ve been working on with
Ai Weiwei & Jason Wishnow. The music is going to be as shocking & dark
as the film… We’ve recorded the whole score at Abbey Road Studio 2 (the Beatles
room) and I hope it’s going to sound quite different from my normal sound…
YATWO: At the C2 Montreal Conference (C2MTL) you will give a
keynote speech and performance alongside celebrities like fashion designer
Christian Louboutin and filmmaker James Cameron. How does that make you feel
and do you feel any pressure having to share the stage with such major names?
Sheppard: I’m really flattered to be asked to appear at C2,
and it’s a great situation to be in, as I’m totally unknown compared to the
likes of James Cameron. The funny thing is I get incredibly calm on stage. It’s
home for me, and there’s something perversely exciting about walking out not
being 100% sure what you’re going to play or talk about. By the way, I’m
thinking of spray-painting the soles of my trainers red as a tribute to
Louboutin…
