Hi Fred , welcome to VENTS ! How have you been ? Hello , and thank you ! I ’ ve been well , thanks .
So when someone reads your bio it ' s clear that music has been an essential part of your life and rock has also been there - what made you want to get into scoring though ? It seemed to be a natural progression . Way back when , a friend of mine was composing music for promos on CBS . He asked if I ’ d like to write with him . A few weeks later , I was doing the promos on my own , and he just let me roll with it . I started getting all of the calls for custom promos for them and I loved it . The next natural move was to start scoring to picture .
Was it a natural and logical decision ? Did your work as a parttime actor had anything to do with your interest on becoming an a music composer or it was actually much prior to that ? No , the acting didn ’ t lead me to it , really . I do enjoy acting , though . Music and acting have both always interested me . I ’ ve been a performer my whole life , so the move from performing live to being in front of the camera was a natural one . The move from musician to composer was similar , in that , I ’ ve been playing and writing music my entire life and making a move to scoring for television felt like a natural evolution .
How was the transition from sports composing to TV scoring ? The first assignment I was given was to replace a Zimmer score in one of the long game opens . Talk about pressure !. That was literally the first thing that I had to do when I started . As we worked more and more together , the direction was more detailed and pointed . There were twists and turns in certain places , and the timings are very precise . I learned how the business worked at a very basic stage . From there , I scored to picture on the commercials and the opens and that was really the turning point for TV scoring . It was at a Kings advisory board meeting where I met fellow board member Gabe Sachs , and everything changed . After one meeting he said , “ our show is green lit and you ’ re the composer ”. And that was that .
‘ The Night Shift ’ is a quite intense show in many ways , was it for this particular reason you choose to go with a mostly hard rock score for the series or did you actually brainstorm other ideas during the writing and recording process ? We did brainstorm a lot of ideas . The show itself is different in many ways than other medical dramas . Everything from the darker colors of the hospital , to the Rock-n-Roll attitude of TC . He ’ s a Harley riding , ex-military superstar surgeon that truly personifies controlled chaos . I mean , the first scene of the first episode shows him waking up in a jail cell with long hair after a night of drinking and fighting . If that ’ s not Rock-n-Roll , I don ’ t know what is ! We wanted a more weighted score . The music gets quite aggressive at times .
For the score , do you base the music on the situation the characters are going through or rather what ' s happening in their surrounding at the moment ?
Both . It depends on what the scene needs -- whether I need to help , drive , support or lead it .
How does the approach for your other show , ‘ The Wall ’, differs from this other medical series ? ‘ The Wall ’ is a game show . Like other game or reality shows , it is mainly library music , meaning , we write based on what the creator / producer of the show wants and we give them a library of music to use . They may want dramatic , anticipation cues or joyous cues or energetic cues . You just have to write a ton of music with their wants and needs in mind . For ‘ The Wall ’, I have the opening theme and ancillary cues scattered throughout . For the LA Kings ’ ‘ Black & White ’, I score to picture .
What ' s like to work along with Michael Lord ? Michael is a good friend . We didn ’ t do much together on ‘ The Wall ’. I already had the opening theme and he already had the main theme . We did our own cues throughout the show .
As a member of a band , does working along with someone else tends to be much easier than writing and working on your music alone or rather the opposite ? Well , we as composers are never really “ writing ” on our own . We are and we ’ re not . We are , in the sense that we are sitting alone in a room writing the cues that we conjure up , but we are being of service to the show and the show runners and the network and the studio . There are a lot of people involved but they all can ’ t fit in the studio !. Being in a band and working along side the other band members has made it very easy for me to collaborate with others ’ needs and wants . As far as literally co-writing cues with someone , I haven ’ t done much of that .
Talk with us about the work you do writing themes for sports teams . How did you become interested in this ? I ’ ve always been a fan of sports . I ’ d often notice the music being played and the reaction that it would get . I also noticed that a lot of teams were using the same music as each other . I though it would be cool if they had their own song and sound . I wrote a piece with the LA Kings in mind , and I pictured a hockey highlight reel on the screen . That cue is still being used today in a highlight video at Staples Center .
Are you limiting yourself to sports team or are you hoping to expand yourself as the company grows ? I will continue to expand as the company grows .
What else is happening next in Fred Coury ' s world ? I heard your show ‘ Black & White ’ was recently nominated for an Emmy award ? Yes , thank you . It was very exciting to hear about the Emmy nomination for ‘ Black & White ’. With regard to other projects , I ’ m expanding the sports team roster and will be tackling some films very soon . I love to keep busy and am so grateful that I get to wake up and do this every day .