My name is Elliott Wheeler, I’m a composer and producer based in Sydney. I work out of a great complex in Surry Hills, Turning Studios, which is in the old BJB studios, with a great team of people. In the last year we’ve finished work on the The Great Gatsby soundtrack, worked with George Miller on Mad Max – Fury Road, and composed for the opening titles for Rob Conolly’s adaption of the the Tim Winton novel, The Turning, on a stunning animation by Marieka Walsh. I also put out my debut album, The Long Time. At the moment we’re working again with Baz Lurhmann on Strictly Ballroom the Musical, which is premiering in April next year.
Give us a quick run down of your debut album, The Long Time. What are its themes and inspirations?
Each song on the album was inspired by a scene from my favourite films of the ’60s and ’70s. I’d take a look, a mood, a line of dialogue, a character, and use that as a starting point for the song. I found it gave me some useful parameters to write within.
The album includes quite a few collaborations with singers. Did you scout for such talent or was it a case of brining in your talented friends for the ride?
A bit of both. But nearly all of the vocalists I worked with on the album were friends or colleagues that I’d worked with on various projects for the screen. I find it much easier to write a melody when I can hear someone I know singing it, so I often had a very specific voice in mind when I was writing each song. They were such an amazing group of vocalists, each one added so much to the song they were performing on. I was very lucky.
Obviously you’ve collaborated with many musicians in the past. Other than bringing in vocalists how much of this album came about through collaboration?
A huge amount. I’ve been very lucky to work with a lot of different talented musicians during my work for screen, and nearly everyone I used on the album are part of the regular group of musicians I use in my film work. It was wonderful to be able to draw those influences into that other part of musical life. The great thing about being able to work with a core group is that there’s no nervousness trying out ideas. I trust that the players will tell if an idea’s not working, or if there’s a better of way of doing something. And they always do.
The album has been six years in the making. That’s long by most musicians standards but a little less surprising given you’re quite a prolific producer and composer. Did the years involved pass by because you were busy working on other projects or was it more because you wanted to take your time?
Both. Not so much that I wanted to take my time, but there was noone telling me to stop. I eventually had to give myself deadlines. But also, yes, I would stop work on the album in order to work on other projects. Which I think was a great influence on the album. I’d interact with different artists, different stories, and different creative approaches, and hopefully all of that would feed back into the album.
This year alone you’ve been working on the music for films such as The Great Gatsby, The Turning and on the new Mad Max film. How has your work on film soundtracks impacted on the album?
As above, I think you’re always feeding external influences into your own work. You access new technologies and new scales of working as well, all of which is incredibly valuable. But I think it also probably increased if anything my reliance on strong narrative in my music. You get aligned with a certain mode of story telling, and that obviously bleeds into other areas of your work.
Do you find it easier or harder to work on film soundtracks in comparison to an album?
There are different challenges. The external pressures of working on a film, deadlines, budgets, other people’s visions, are very present and a huge part of the job, and you need to learn to deal with that. And they provide a recognisable framework to work within. But the flip side of that is true for your own work. You need to be much more disciplined, and assume a lot of the roles in the production yourself. You decide when it’s right, you come up with the story, it’s all your baby. You have to make all the broad brush strokes yourself, which can be incredibly liberating, but also quite daunting.
With a film score there are visuals and a storyline you have to keep in mind. Was not having that storyline to cater for while working on A Long Time liberating in a sense? Did it challenge you to be more creative?
I think in the end I cheated and just created my own story lines, created a kind of score that I was writing to. It definitely made me focus on a particular aesthetic and work out in my own mind what it was that made me excited sonically, so in that regard it was extremely challenging and rewarding. It’s also funny how much you come back to that type of exploration when you’re then working on score work again. It’s a wonderful thing to have that time to explore sonically and get to know yourself.
While your debut may have been in six years in the making would a follow-up be on the cards? And do you think next time around it’ll take as long to finish?!
I really hope not. And yes, there is a follow up on the cards, it’s already in the works. It’s quite a different approach, and I really hope it doesn’t take six years. All my friends will kill me, out of sheer boredom of hearing me yack on about it.
What other projects will be keeping you busy for the rest of 2013?
The rest of the year is going to be taken up working with Global Creatures and Baz on Strictly Ballroom the Musical. It’s fantastic. Can’t wait for people to see it. Such a great story.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
I’m locked away now until the launch of Strictly Ballroom, which premiers in April, so no gigs planned until after then. You can find my music on itunes, or directly here: elliottwheeler.bandcamp.com
The Long Time is available digitally and in store via MGM Distribution.
Watch the video for ‘Baker Man’
