tag:egoplum.com,2005:/blogs/2016-news2016 News2023-10-16T07:54:09-07:00Ego Plumfalsetag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876982016-12-09T18:55:00-08:002021-12-22T01:29:25-08:00EXCLUSIVE: Composer Ego Plum on Harvey Beaks' Special "It's Christmas, You Dorks!"<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/281085/f30f1b3009f8c2b9eb74c8ed97ee25085304e40e/original/tumblr-inline-ohxyfpxejw1sctstb-500.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><strong>December 9, 2016</strong> - A brand new interview I did with “Beyond The Cartoons” about the Christmas Special, and the future of Harvey Beaks. <a contents="Read here!" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.beyondthecartoons.com/exclusive-composer-ego-plum-on-upcoming-harvey-beaks-xmas-special" target="_blank">Read here!</a></p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876972016-12-01T18:45:00-08:002019-09-10T18:42:15-07:00The Xmas Time | The Music of Harvey Beaks<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="pFO9SNL7w0Y" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/pFO9SNL7w0Y/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pFO9SNL7w0Y?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>December 1, 2016</strong> - Writing a timeless Christmas song has always been a difficult & illusive endeavor for rock/pop artists. C.H. Greenblatt asked me to try my hand at a “classic” pop song for our Christmas Special and I was excited to take on the challenge. I had to think back on popular (and obscure) Christmas pop that has always put me in the holiday mood and narrowed my list down to: XTC’s “<em>Thanks for Christmas</em>,” SLADE’s, “<em>Merry Christmas Everybody</em>,” PAUL MCCARTNEY’s, “<em>Wonderful ChristmasTime</em>,” and the RESIDENTS’ “<em>Santa Dog</em>.” </p>
<p>Thus began the writing process. The lyrics were simple, fun, and playful. The music was composed in that 60′s melodic vernacular that I’ve always been fond of. It all came about rather quickly. After I wrote my demo,I reached out to my friend THOMAS WALSH (singer of the Irish power-pop band PUGWASH) who agreed to duet with me on the track. I consider Thomas one of the modern torch bearers of true pop music (as his collaborators Andy Partridge of XTC, Ray David of the KINKS, and Jeff Lynne of E.L.O. will surely attest!) </p>
<p>The song was finished off by the illustrious Steve Bartek who wrote & conducted a gorgeous orchestral & choir arrangement. Steve clearly went full George Martin on this and I wondered if he had recently been listening to I Am The Walrus or Strawberry Fields Forever? <strong>He also had the amazing idea of recording two string quintets set up on either side of the room playing unique simultaneous parts to create a live Left/Right stereo effect on the finished song. (?!?!?)</strong> Then he peppered a few brass & woodwinds throughout to make Sir George Martin smile from the heavens. Bless this man! </p>
<p>Needles to say, I’m very excited with how this turned out and I hope this becomes one of the most remembered songs of our little show-that-could. Long Live Harvey Beaks! - Ego </p>
<p><em>Santa Claus is checking off his list <br>and making sure that no one will be missed <br>everyone get ready for the Xmas time! </em></p>
<p><em>Candy canes for all the girls and boys <br>and dolls and trains and all your favorite toys <br>everyone is ready for the Xmas time! </em></p>
<p><em>Snow balls for the children who’re playing outside <br>Decked halls and a love that is more than implied </em></p>
<p><em>Here comes Mr. Santa Claus <br>taking up the xmas cause <br>bringing gifts for everyone <br>leaves a trial of joy and fun </em></p>
<p><em>now it’s time to say goodbye <br>until next year!</em></p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876962016-09-28T18:40:00-07:002019-09-10T18:38:45-07:00“Sum of Many Parts” | The Music of Harvey Beaks<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="lzjiD0_Ni90" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/lzjiD0_Ni90/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lzjiD0_Ni90?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>September 28, 2016</strong> - <em>Little Little Bark</em> is one of my favorite episodes from the second season of Harvey Beaks. I rate up there with <em>The Finger,</em> <em>Day of No To-Do</em>, and <em>Alone</em>. I wrote and sang this little acoustic song for the opening which in retrospect seems to be about mental illness and obsession. Half the lyrics are in reverse. </p>
<p>Musically speaking, “Sum of Many Parts” is an homage to the <strong>Andy Partridge</strong> (From the band <strong>XTC</strong>) and has subtle similarities to the mood of “Another Satellite” from 1986’s Skylarking and the lyrical phrasing of “Statue of Liberty” from 1978’s White Music. Andy Partridge is one of our greatest living songwriters and someone who has had a tremendous influence on my music. He is graceful wordsmith and the perfect architect of chords & melodic phrases that can only come from a diet of proper musical influences: He shares a musical bloodline with Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Ray/Dave Davies, Jeff Lynne and others. His musical progeny include people like Damon Albarn (Blur), Thomas Walsh (Pugwash) and many others. I consider myself a disciple of his and cannot help but model myself in his musical image, time and time again. </p>
<p>One day I’ll make a post (with examples) of all my proper influences for the music I write on Harvey Beaks. Many are rather specific! -Ego</p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876952016-06-23T18:35:00-07:002022-04-12T06:34:32-07:00STEAMPUNKS: “REJECT TOWN” | The Music of Harvey Beaks<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="UVzyrM4b3js" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/UVzyrM4b3js/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UVzyrM4b3js?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>June 23, 2016 </strong>- Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at the recording of my favorite song from the Harvey Beaks’ Steampunks Musical! Reject Town is a joyously dark anthem about the virtues of a little community built of trash and filth! This exclusive footage features members of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seattle Opera performing the music LIVE in the studio with final animation played side-by-side. This also features extra-special footage of the multi-faceted and extremely talented voice of Dade (who shall remain nameless!). </p>
<p>As far as writing something like this, I’ll usually have a few starting points in my head; musical points of reference, if you will. In this case, I wanted a cross between, “<a contents="You’re a Good Man Albert Brown" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BrIGQ4Rbps" target="_blank">You’re a Good Man Albert Brown</a>,” by THE DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR (Andy Partridge/XTC’s alter-ego) and a little bit of “<a contents="House of Fun" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ2X9SANsME" target="_blank">House of Fun</a>” from the Camden Town Ska band, MADNESS. So that becomes the palette in my head from which I then move towards orchestral arrangements and other elements that make it sound like the world of Harvey Beaks. After recording with the orchestra, I also layered some trash-can percussion, pipes, and random clinky clangy things to round out the sound. This special took close to 60 musicians to execute. Not to mention our talented team of engineers, our copyist, orchestrator, conductor, assistants, and many others! We are really lucky to be able to do at this scale in this day & age of disposable entertainment. Harvey Beaks is a gem! -Ego </p>
<p><strong>Be sure to watch STEAMPUNKS Part 1 on Thursday, June 23 at 4:30PM and Part 2 on Friday, June 24 at 4:30PM on Nickelodeon! </strong>Special thanks to my friend Aaron Cohen who edited this video together.</p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876942016-06-13T18:35:00-07:002019-09-10T18:33:13-07:00“Welcome to micHELLe” | The Music of Harvey Beaks<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="EDhpAUn-ID0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/EDhpAUn-ID0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EDhpAUn-ID0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>June 13, 2016 </strong>- We play around with many musical themes on Harvey Beaks. It’s a way to sonically expound upon each characters’ personality, their motivations, and how we want the audience to perceive them. I had met with Carl Greenblatt many months ago to discuss Harvey’s little sister and walked away with some very specific ideas about her tone. Before I knew it, we were in Seattle recording with about 60 talented musicians. It took some 40 strings, a bunch of brass (french horns, trombones, trumpets), some delicate flutes, human voices, and some guttural contrabassoons to convey want we wanted to say about Michelle. </p>
<p>Alas, programming decisions came in to play and we ended up only needing about 3 seconds of theme music for the Little Bugaboo episode, but that’s fine because we will have plenty of other opportunities to use this theme and it’s variations. Here’s a video which would exist if I were to have lost my mind and gone full EGO. I would have demanded that the episode end with 90 seconds of cold, hard Michelle stare set to my complete omen-inspired theme. At least it will live on here! </p>
<p>PS- An honorable mention should go to our genius orchestrator, <strong>Steve Bartek</strong>, for bringing this music to life in a way I could never have done on my own. Steve’s experience in orchestrating all of <strong>Danny Elfman’</strong>s film scores makes itself clear in pieces like this. <em>(I still have to pinch myself when I think about a tremendous talent such as Steve working on our sweet little Harvey Beaks show!)</em></p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876932016-06-02T18:30:00-07:002023-12-10T08:32:19-08:00“All Alone” | The Music of Harvey Beaks<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="m4lphJJ85mc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/m4lphJJ85mc/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m4lphJJ85mc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>June 2, 2016</strong> - I wrote this a few days after the passing of<strong> David Bowie</strong>. I had been really down that week; I didn’t realize how bad I would be affected by his passing. My friend <strong>David J</strong> (<em>Bauhaus</em>) wrote a song about Bowie that very next day and sent it to me and I realized how many of us were sharing in the exact same collective sorrow. I didn’t seek to write about Bowie (it was quite literally about Harvey and used outer space as a metaphor for solitude) but Bowie’s death happened to coincide with the post-production schedule for the episode “Alone.” After I finished it, I first shared it with a friend who said that it felt like a eulogy and that’s when I realized that’s exactly what it was. It was for David, but it was for me as well. It was cathartic. </p>
<p>I knew from the moment I saw the storyboards for Alone that this was going to be a special episode, along the lines of “<em>A Day of No To-Do</em>.” <strong>Carl Greenblatt</strong> was able to touch on something really special and I hope everyone appreciates the beauty of this little cartoon. -E </p>
<p><em>All alone <br>Far from home <br>The winds take the last leaves every blown <br>When all you sought <br>Was all for naught <br>Float on brave and lonesome cosmonaut <br>Clouds spray and break the day <br>with thoroughgoing grace <br>hold still, oh daffodil <br>You’re floating into space <br>No planet circling <br>No sun to set or rise <br>Rise</em></p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876732016-06-02T18:30:00-07:002019-09-10T18:28:39-07:00THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF HARVEY BEAKS!<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="zNfKKpmNPgM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/zNfKKpmNPgM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zNfKKpmNPgM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>June 2, 2016</strong> - Harvey Beaks is returning in a very BIG way this month. Starting Monday, June 6th, we will be premiering BRAND NEW EPISODES every weekday at 5:30 PM FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. This includes the final episodes of season one AND the premiere of season 2! There’s the STEAMPUNKS hour-long special and it’s a musical! A MUSICAL!!! Also, the birth of Harvey’s little sister! Oh, there’s an episode called ALONE which I consider one of my favorites of the entire series. It’s a very exciting time for Harvey Beaks and I intend to make many updates throughout the month with behind-the-scenes videos, music, and more! </p>
<p>While Harvey was away the last few months, I discovered some amazing work by the talented musical fans of our show and listened to many cool mashups, remixes, and the occasional re-envisioning of my Harvey Beaks theme on YouTube. I LOVE THIS STUFF and would like to encourage more of this type of behavior. In fact, this inspired me so much that <strong>I DECIDED TO MAKE MY OWN MASHUP OF THE HARVEY BEAKS THEME</strong>. (It will probably get deleted by the powers-that-be so enjoy it while it’s here) </p>
<p>I was originally planning to mashup my theme with the pioneering industrial/noise of <em>Throbbing Gristle</em>, or <em>Einstürzende Neubauten</em>, but I completely sold out and decided to use a <em>Katy Perry</em> song instead. After all, the only way to be subversive nowadays is to ride in a pop culture Trojan horse. <em>One must subvert from within! </em></p>
<p>Behold: <strong>Harvey Beaks Theme vs Firework by Katy Perry! </strong></p>
<p>Ego Plum </p>
<p>PS - I want to thank all the people that have been loyal to Harvey Beaks. This is ‘the little show that could’ and I’m grateful for everyone that has stuck by it. The best is yet to come!</p>Ego Plumtag:egoplum.com,2005:Post/58876722016-02-23T18:15:00-08:002019-09-10T18:15:49-07:00“Drink Buttah” | The Music of Harvey Beaks<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="kw8Br7a1GpQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/kw8Br7a1GpQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kw8Br7a1GpQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>February 23, 2016</strong> - It’s always fun to write music for Technobear- one of the most charmingly inappropriate characters on Harvey Beaks. (Why is this teenage bear in a speedo hanging out with all these little kids, anyway?) Writing for him is an exercise in writing really bad techno/rave music. So here’s the latest track from Technobear’s secret mix tape entitled, <em>Drink Buttah</em>,which was quickly featured in the background of last week’s episode, “Terrybear.” </p>
<p>I imagine this song coming from the same “french duo” that wrote, “Roddy Bock Bock” back in 2015.</p>Ego Plum