NEWS
THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC
The music for Afro Samurai was conceived by the title's composer on a much higher level than most gaming scores, serving as the foundation for the immersive experience that is distinctly "Afro Samurai."
Howard Drossin is a player and composer with a habit of scoring feature films, television shows, commercials and video games. If something needs a tune to get feet tapping, fists shaking, blood pumping, mouths rapping, brains tripping or booties moving, he’s on it. Howard is best known as a Grammy Award-winning arranger, a Super Bowl commercial music writer, an orchestral composer and for his scores on myriad films. In our house, though, he will always be respected as the high-energy video game junky with mad guitar skills.
Howard got his start in music in the ‘80s as a long-haired guitar maestro and songwriter in local Hollywood hard rock bands, and his commitment to the art of head-banging culminated in a two-record deal with a major label at the close of the decade. With music clearly topping his list of career choices, he went on to formal training at the Southern California Conservatory of Music and he studied film scoring at UCLA.
Out of school, when he wasn’t paying his dues on-stage and in-studio,Howard started earning his bread as a composer in the video game world, creating soundtracks for titles at SEGA, Activision and Interplay, and racking-up an impressive list of distinctions, including lauds for the score to Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal.
“I finished-up some one-off jobs with Lee Ritenour and did some stuff for Walt Disney Software, but my first big full-time gig was at SEGA Technical Institute. A friend of mine was working there, and I passed-along a sample of my music and asked that it get in the hands of
the powers-that-be. I got a call from Roger Hector, who was heading-up SEGA development, asking me if I would like to be the music director. I was thinking, 'you’re going to pay me a yearly salary, give me benefits and buy me a brand new studio, just for music? Where do I sign?!' I was a musician living in the world of feast or famine. It was a great opportunity for me to hone my craft. I took the job with a big smile on my face.”
In 1999, Howard began scoring films with the Sundance Film Festival's surreal horror film, The Item. In 2002, he started working with Terence Blanchard, orchestrating and arranging music for film scores and albums with the renowned jazz trumpeter and Golden Globe-nominated composer.
“I started helping Terrance out with some technical issues he was having. (Knowing who he was in the world of music, I passed along some work of mine. I thought it was a great opportunity.) He was working on Barber Shop, and one day he called me up and asked me to help him out. He’s been a great mentor and I’ve learned a lot from him.
If you look in the dictionary under the word “cool,” it has his picture there. He’s a great guy and nothing ever gets him flustered, even in the most incredibly challenging situations. He is always cool. He is also a bad-ass, an avid boxer who trains regularly. He could probably punch a hole right through me.”
In 2004, Howard began collaborating with hip-hop A-lister RZA, co-composing scores for commercials and films, including The Protector and Blade: Trinity.“The music supervisor on Blade: Trinity, George Drakoulias, is a friend of mine, and he recommended me to Bobby (aka RZA). We collaborated on some amazing tracks for the film. I wasn’t there to see if th ey were jumping up-and-down or whatever, but I guess they liked the music because “Thirsty” was featured over the end credits In hindsight, that was one of the most complicated working experiences I have ever participated in. There were so many moving parts and so many personalities in the process. I reminds me of why I love work ing on Spike Lee films so much. It’s small crews, Spike makes decisions quickly, everybody’s responsive to him, and he’s a
really good guy. We talk about sports—basketball mostly. He’s a deeper dude than you’d gather from the TV snippets.”
In 2006, the music Howard wrote for Joseph Kahn's commercial, Hail:Return of the Sun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFJc4xuFPcc),earned a Clio Award for Music & Sound. In 2008, Howard’s work with Blanchard won a Grammy in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Al bum category for “A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina).”
Howard was swimming with the big fish now, and the flurry of high- profile acknowledgments put him on a whole new plane of professional existence. Success can lend to some ironic twists and, not strangely, his newfound stature allowed him the financial fortitude to do what he always dreamed of doing... video games, again!
“If you said, 'I do video games,' through the '90s, especially with film people, it was like a dirty word. People still thought it was all 'blips and bleeps'. They didn't understand how cutting-edge all our work was.
“I made a conscious decision to move away from the (video games) business in the early 2000’s to concentrate on films, but I missed the people, the excitement and the freedom of video game work. If you have the right vibe, the room for creativity is limitless. You couldn’t do the stuff I do in games with a film gig. You simply don’t have the time. This recent epiphany, plus the incredible way that having kids really puts you in touch with reality, changed my mindset on life and business. So while I'm still hammering-out movie scores and albums, here I am, going back to the beginning in some sense. I really love this gaming stuff!” With Roger Hector in the saddle running Product Development
for NAMCO BANDAI Games, Howard's return to video game scoring for the Company is a literal homecoming. His Afro Samurai work spans every stylized moment, mind-bending and smooth, and fits to the action like an Isatoner glove.
Switching gears and knocking the dust off his head-banging chops, Howard is currently up to his neck in body parts, composing the score to Splatterhouse. Get ready to rock...and dismember netherworld monsters.
