All language subtitles for 06 Interview - Wang Chung - So in Phase_track2_[eng]_DELAY 40ms

We'd never really worked on any movie
before To Live and Die in L .A. I think

were both keen to get into that world,
but we'd never done a movie score

We'd recorded an album called Points on
the Curve.

That contained our first big
international hit, Dance All Days.

And one of the tracks was a track called
Wait, which Freekin had heard.

was using as a temp track in the movie.

And I think he wanted something along
those lines with that kind of intensity,

that rhythmic kind of information and
sort of linear kind of drive.

So that's when he approached us.

The first that we heard from Friedkin
was just a phone call.

He called me. I was actually...

friend's house um like him i hadn't seen
this guy for years and i was just at

his house and the phone rang in his flat
obviously days before mobiles and all

of that stuff you know and um he picked
up the phone and an american voice said

can i speak to jack hughes you know and
it was like Yeah.

And so I had this conversation with
Freekin at this friend of mine's house,

it was quite bizarre, really, because we
hadn't met him before.

But that initial conversation was just
him talking about Wait, the track Nick

mentioned, and how he was into that, and
that he wanted us to write more music

like that, and could we go into the
studio and just, you know, just kind of

improvise the soundtrack.

And at that stage, you know, he had...

We hadn't seen the film or hadn't seen
the script even, but through talking to

him, I got a really strong sense of what
he wanted, and I chatted with Nick

about it.

We thought, let's just rent a studio and
rent some gear and just do it. So we

went ahead with just a sort of intuitive
sense of what we were supposed to be

doing. I remember Jack ringing me up
saying, I was like, what?

What did he say? What did he say?

This big Hollywood director who directed
these movies we thought were so great.

And basically, I think Jack said to me,
he just said, go into the studio and be

brilliant.

So we sort of did our best.

It was great for us, actually, because
we had got slightly bogged down in the

follow -up album to the Points on the
Curve album that I mentioned before, the

one that had our first hits on.

So we were in the studio.

doing that trying to write the next big
hit and having the usual record company

kind of We don't hear a single kind of
thing, you know and and then this thing

came up this wonderful project came up
sort of side winded out of nowhere and

was the most you know fantastic thing
for us to get involved in and really

inspired us to move into the next part
of our Pop career, I suppose

I remember being at the sound stage when
we first saw the first rough cut of the

music with the movie, you know, and
Billy had flown us over to see it, you

and I was completely blown away by that.
I think we both were, you know.

But I remember there were a couple of
sound guys at that place, you know, and

Billy went off to answer a call or
something. One of them said to me,

piece will work, right?

And I said...

He seems really nice. He's really nice
to us. And he just looked at me like...

He was incredibly nice to us. He's
always been a real gentleman.

So he's a great person to work for. And
in terms of... I mean, I haven't done

much movie stuff subsequent to that,
but...

The stuff that I have done is very
different, working with a sort of

director, producer, movie studio
structure.

With Friedkin, you work with him,
direct.

He says yes or no to what you present to
him, and it's very simple. He's very

clear about what he wants, and if he's
getting it, he's happy.

I think it's worth mentioning that he
directed our sort of promo to Live and

in L .A. as well.

So he directed the video that was for
MTV and everything, which was, again, a

bit of a vibe for us.

Actually being literally directed by
him, that was a great privilege for us.

the initial phone call that I had with
him, he gave me a... a clear sense of

what he wanted in that he was talking
about weight this track and about how he

was using that in the movie and how kind
of that was the vibe that he wanted and

nick and i were working on a track that
was a similar kind of thing you know i

guess when you listen to weight these
days it sounds like a fairly fast But in

those days, it was deliberately faster
than a real drummer could play. It was

the early days of drum machines and
computers and stuff. So it felt like we

sort of pushing the envelope a bit. And
with the soundtrack for Billy, I knew

that that's what he wanted, that real
high -energy thing.

So it was kind of like working in that
realm, but rather than condensing this

tune that we were working on, which
became City of the Angels, rather than

trying to turn it into our next pop hit.

we were able to expand it into this much
bigger piece.

So in a sense, it was a... I think,
freaking differently contacted the right

people, given that what he wanted was
weight, and we were kind of like almost

% into this track anyway.

I think that's sort of why it worked,
really. It was just like us coming

together. We were already in that
direction, so it just sort of worked out

So he was very clear about what he
wanted.

and it was very sort of for us to be in
the studio breaking out of this you know

write a pop song format he didn't want
any songs at all so we could work long

form and do something without all those
commercial record company pressures and

it was i think that was just inspiring
just on its own you know and uh yeah

exactly it's so great so to go into a
studio be spontaneous it's up to a point

and to really explore areas that we
maybe hadn't been allowed to explore

and to actually be encouraged to do
that, I think was really exciting.

In that initial phone conversation with
Bill, one of the things he said to

clarify what he wanted was, what I don't
want is a song called To Live and Die

in LA.

So we obeyed that instruction to begin
with. But when we saw the movie, and we

went to LA to see the movie, because in
those days there was no internet to kind

of just ping things around. So we
benefited from that. So we saw the movie

the soundstage at Todd AO.

And we were both blown away by it, I
think.

For me, it was one of the high points of
my career, if that's what you call it.

And when we got back to the UK, this
song

just kind of came out.

I just couldn't help it, really. I
played it to Nick, and he was like,

this is really good. And we just did a
little demo of it, didn't we, together

your house.

And I sent it to Billy, expecting him to
be like...

It was great, but not what I want. And
he was like, this is amazing. I'm going

to refute the whole opening of the
movie.

So he more than went out of his way to
accommodate what we were doing, which

amazing. In a way, the dam broke a
little bit because then we wrote some

tunes for the movie.

Tracks like Wake Up, Stop Dreaming and
Lullaby.

And he co -opted those into the film.

And then we were able to turn our...

what was, you know, it became our next
sort of mainstream album as well. The To

Live and Die in L .A.

original soundtrack was sort of Wang
Chung's proper next album.

So we sort of, it really sorted all
sorts of things out for us as well as

Freekin, you know what I mean? So, like,
on the album, half, the second half of

the album is songs, first half is all
instrumental stuff.

So, yeah.

Morning. Go.

You

got

balls coming here.

How you making it?

Like every other swinging dick in this
place makes it.

Day by motherfucking day.

I want to know when you're going to get
me out.

I want you to be patient a little
longer, Carl.

I think seeing it at the screening was
one of the most amazing points

in our career, on our curve.

It was really impressive.

And I think hearing the sound and the
visuals in really... pristine quality as

well straight off of the whatever it is
that you're watching doing it was

impressive but I did go and see it in
the cinema as well and it was again it's

really powerful film I think and it has
unexpected things in it you know and

it's uncompromising and it's you know an
impressive movie and I remember being

in New York actually the day that it
that it came out and it was yeah it felt

like a yeah like I'd We'd done something
important, you know.

I remember we were all sitting in one of
the editing rooms at Todd AO, I think

it was, and Friedkin was there, and he
was giving one of his anecdotes. He's a

great raconteur and storyteller. It was
this long anecdote about something.

William Defoe, I think, had visited him.
He was there too.

and anyway he's telling us this great
story about i forget what it was now and

then about halfway through it he got
this call from someone very important

clearly i think it was the head of
technicolor or someone like that and

had this huge argument with him about
something he was clearly he's really

bawling him out and we were like oh my
god you're sitting there slightly

frightened about the whole thing and
then he sort of put the phone down And

turned back to us, his whole mood
instantly changed right back to how it

been before and carried on with his
anecdote in exactly the spot that the

call had interrupted and just carried on
seamlessly and finished it. And it was

like, wow, how does he do that? That's
pretty impressive.