Of all the questions about the movie I answer from week to week, the most challenging is - "How did you find all those incredible songs?" - and that's because it's such an unbelievably mystical part of the behind-the-scenes story of "Beautiful Noise". It's difficult to fully explain in a short burst in a media Q&A, so here's what really happened:
A typical feature film is lucky to have one great song and even a full-fledged Hollywood Musical/Drama does well to have at least three memorable show-stopping tunes from its music score. So here I am all summer long, explaining to curious onlookers how the songs for our little film came to me, all the while trying to decide which of them to release first - realizing all along that there are at least 5 songs that could become breakout hits from the Soundtrack. I've learned over the years that the timing of how and when you start to promote your project is critical to its overall success, as you never have to recover from a good start. Releasing songs from a films' Soundtrack months ahead of the release of the Movie is both a delicate and risky matter, as the actual order of songs released is as important to the promotional calendar as the listening order of the songs on the actual album. It matters what you hear and the order in which you hear it in order to obtain the desired effect of getting your potential audience into the right groove of the album...and ultimately the Movie. But I digress...
The first draft of "Beautiful Noise" was written using lyrics from relatively obscure songs of Neil Diamond as the spine of the piece. While the blockbuster hit movie "Mamma Mia" featured all of Abba's greatest hits, I went the other way and used Neil's songs that most of you would consider non-hits or 'album fodder' as kind of a guide vocal in my head to help me propel the Storyline. Being a dedicated life-long Diamondhead, that was an easy way for me to flesh out the completely fictional story I had in my mind. I knew all along that my chances were slim to none to be able to actually license any of the songs because my low budget, high-quality indie film couldn't possibly handle the cost of such an endeavor. Plus, lets face it, it's Neil Diamond! What chance is there for an indie filmmaker to get the OK from the various buffers and management layers between you and 'Brother Love'? Still, the lyrics from all those great, albeit relatively unknown Diamond songs guided and informed my writing, so I just let it flow. You see, in this movie, every song's lyrics and tempo are critically important to the Story. I did not want a single piece of music included in the film simply because it sounded good in the background. Every lyric, every ballad or uptempo rocker had to have a purpose in helping me tell the tale, or it didn't make the cut. You get the picture, right?
Okay - so fast forward to the moment in time when I approached Neil's song licensing folks at Sony. Even though it was a long-shot, I couldn't move forward without at least trying to cut a deal. I learned long ago that you don't score if you don't shoot, so I forwarded my request for the songs to Sony, along with a synopsis of the script and other pertinent details...and then waited. The answer came back a couple of weeks later. My request was respectfully denied. I thought about going back to ask for the use of just one or two Diamond tunes, but the reality had sunk in, so I quickly turned my attention to the difficult task of finding replacement songs so I could keep the project moving forward. The tough part was - I loved my screenplay as is. It was the exact Story I wanted to tell and I didn't want to change a word of it - so I figured it might take months to find all original songs to replace the hand-picked Diamond collection I had used to guide me through the writing process. Months? Hell, maybe years! And so The Search began.
Spending 25+ years in the concert business has its pluses, one of them being able to reach out to musical friends I've worked with along the way. One such artisan was Steve Moris, an incredible musician/comedian who opened most of my Beach Boys shows over the years and who is a close friend and confidante. Steve's connections are vast as he has opened for some of the giants of the music world. He'd already proofread and loved my screenplay and knew exactly what I was looking for, so he sent the word out through his Network that an indie writer/producer in Florida was looking for original songs for a great new Musical. Meanwhile, as an afterthought, I contacted my Cast as a courtesy to ask if they might have a song or two they thought would work in the film.
That's when the Magic happened.
Within ten days I was able to replace every single Diamond tune with an original song that came to me - not from the Network of established songwriters and producers Steve and I were mining - but from one musical legend, one old friend from Dayton, and primarily from 4 of the the films' co-stars: Kimber Cleveland, Chester See, Chris McCarty and Doug Frasure. Not only did the lyrics and the tempos of the songs they submitted replace Neil's wonderful tunes, (and God, it was so damn hard for me to let go of them) but they actually expanded the potential of "Beautiful Noise" with their sheer brilliance and variety - and all without me having to change one word of the screenplay! It's as if the Universe purposely used my passion for Neil's melodies and lyrics to inspire me to write the Story I had in my heart, then dashed my hopes against the rocks with the turn down to license those treasured tunes, only to be rescued and redeemed by a Cast that have as high hopes for the success of our movie as I do. And it all happened in the blink of an eye. The central theme of "Beautiful Noise" was played out right before my eyes -
"All you need to succeed is already within - and right in front of you".
And to think I almost missed it. The actor/singer-songwriters in our movie are all extraordinary people. Some just starting their careers, some still struggling to carve out a niche for themselves, some firmly established - all of them willing to go that extra mile to help me and the Crew make "Beautiful Noise" worthy of your time and interest. I have no doubt that you'll not only enjoy their on-screen performances, but that you'll also come to know and embrace, in a very personal way, songs like the Doug Frasure-penned "Lonely Hearts" - the movie's Love Theme sung so beautifully by Danielle & Jay; Chris McCarty's "Believe"; Chester See's "You're Beautiful" & "Hold On"; and Kimber Cleveland's "Maybe You'll See Me When I'm Gone", "Sorry", "Coming On Strong" and "The Story of Us", to name a few. And if that's not enough, you'll be completely blown away by Jay's vocal and King Errisson's incredible congas on our new version of Joni Mitchell's classic "Free Man In Paris" - and also by my friend and former Daytonian David Poe's hip, insightful "Joy".
So the Journey continues. We'll soon be deep into the final weeks of principal photography and we're preparing to offer up the first release from the Soundtrack - the music video and song titled "Lonely Hearts". The Force is truly with us on this project. I hope you'll pick up on the positive Vibe when we start giving you a peek at our collective effort, as I believe it will indeed be well worth your time to check out all the beautiful noise our merry band of Troubadours and Dreamers are making. It's quite a Story. The one on the screen; and the one behind-the-scenes.
Steve
