Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician,[2] music producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer for film, television, and video game scores.[3] Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres,[4] with films like Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Halloween and Halloween II and the John Wick franchise. He has collaborated with directors like Zack Snyder, Rob Zombie, Gennady Tartakovsky, Neil Marshall, William Friedkin, Scott Derrickson, James Gunn, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch.[4] In addition, he is the lead guitarist of the American rock band Marilyn Manson, and produced its albums The Pale Emperor and Heaven Upside Down.[2] He is Jerry Cantrell's touring/studio member.
Tyler Bates | |
|---|---|
 Bates in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 5, 1965[1] |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Member of | Marilyn Manson |
| Formerly of | Smash Alley, Pet |
| Website | tylerbates |
Biography
editEarly life and film scoring
editBates was born on June 5, 1965,[1] in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in Chicago he played in a hair metal band by the name of Smash Alley, he returned to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in music.[1] He began his career in the 1990s scoring low-budget films like The Last Time I Committed Suicide, and Denial. In the meantime, he was a member of the alternative rock Pet alongside Lisa Papineau; the band released their eponymous debut in 1996.[1] His breakthrough into the mainstream came in the early 2000s, when he worked on higher-profile projects like Get Carter, Half Past Dead, and Baadasssss! The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead was significant, as he would maintain long-term collaborations with its director Zack Snyder, and writer James Gunn.
Bates scored four of director Rob Zombie's films, beginning with 2005's The Devil's Rejects. For Zombie's remake of Halloween and its sequel Halloween II, Bates adapted John Carpenter's original themes and motifs in order to fit the darker, grittier, and more contemporary atmosphere of the films. It was around 2007 that Bates began working regularly on big-budget, blockbuster films; including 300, Doomsday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sucker Punch, and Conan the Barbarian. He also composed scores for smaller, independent films like The Way, Killer Joe, The Sacrament, and Flight 7500.
The soundtrack for 300 was controversial due to its heavy borrowing of themes from film scores by Elliot Goldenthal, amongst others.[5][6][7] On August 3, 2007, Warner Bros. Pictures acknowledged this in a statement.[8] The matter was settled amicably with the soundtrack credits being subsequently described as adapted from material by Elliot Goldenthal.[citation needed]
Bates composed the score for Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Having worked with James Gunn in the past, Bates had a good idea on how Gunn wanted things done.[9] Before any of the cinematography started, Gunn had Bates write several themes prior to shooting so the scene could be matched to the music instead of the score being created to fit the scene. This required cooperation between Bates and Gunn in advance since these scores would be in the final piece, instead of a temporary filler acting as a placeholder. They influenced the performance on set, which required an undertaking by both Bates and his team. For 4 months, they clocked upwards of 100-hour work weeks to produce this finished product.[10] After all the work, they had a total of 29 different soundtracks giving a combined total of 64:34 of music.[11] "At least half the cues in the movie have more than 500 tracks of audio," Bates was quoted in an interview with Melinda Newman on HitFix. This was a result of there being orchestral passages that were doubled or tripled, choirs, overdubs, and other instrumentals.[citation needed]
That same year, Bates composed the score to the action film John Wick, collaborating with Joel J. Richard and Marilyn Manson. The film proved a surprise critical and financial success, and Bates returned to score its sequel John Wick: Chapter 2, and also its third and fourth installments. He and Richard also scored its 2025 spin-off Ballerina, replacing Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich. He would later collaborate again with co-director David Leitch to score a spiritual successor, the Cold War-era spy thriller Atomic Blonde.[citation needed]
Video game scoring
editBates composed the soundtrack for the PlayStation 3 games God of War: Ascension and Army of Two: The 40th Day, as well as the PlayStation 4 game Killzone: Shadow Fall. Most recently he composed for Crossfire.[citation needed]
Other projects
editIn 2014, Bates co-wrote and produced Marilyn Manson's record The Pale Emperor. The album debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, while the single "Deep Six" went on to chart higher than any other single by Marilyn Manson on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart. Bates joined the band in 2015 as the lead guitarist for The Hell Not Hallelujah Tour. The album's song "Cupid Carries a Gun" was used as the opening title music of the TV show Salem, and Bates composed the show's score.[12] In April 2015 he left Marilyn Manson to resume film work.[citation needed]
In October 2015, during a Q&A with Marilyn Manson at the Grammy Museum, Manson announced that he and Tyler were working on new music together again. In 2015 Loudwire listed "The Mephistopheles Of Los Angeles" No. 1 best rock track and Rolling Stone included The Pale Emperor in its Top 50 list of the best albums of 2015. He returned as the lead guitarist during the tour with Slipknot in July 2016.[13] In 2017, they worked for the follow-up Heaven Upside Down with a world tour, starting July 20, in Budapest,[14] playing more than 100 shows around the world. In January 2018, Bates announced via Twitter that he left the band and returned to his studio to work exclusively on film and television.[15]
Tyler composed the song, "Monsters After Dark" for the night Halloween mode of the ride Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!.[citation needed]
In 2021, Bates co-produced and played strings, percussion and guitar on Jerry Cantrell's album Brighten.[16]
Discography
editFilm scores
edit| Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Blue Flame | Cassian Elwes | Composed with George Andrian |
| 1994 | Deep Down | John Travers | — |
| Tammy and the T-Rex | Stewart Raffill | Composed with Jack Conrad and Anthony Riparetti | |
| 1995 | Not Like Us | Dave Payne | — |
| Criminal Hearts | — | ||
| 1997 | The Last Time I Committed Suicide | Stephen T. Kay | — |
| 1998 | Suicide, the Comedy | Glen Freyer | — |
| Denial | Adam Rifkin | — | |
| 1999 | Thicker than Water | Richard Cummings Jr. | Composed with Quincy Jones III |
| 2000 | Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth | John Blanchard | — |
| Get Carter | Stephen Kay | Themes by Roy Budd | |
| 2001 | Kingdom Come | Doug McHenry | Composed with John E. Rhone |
| What's the Worst That Could Happen? | Sam Weisman | — | |
| Night at the Golden Eagle | Adam Rifkin | — | |
| 2002 | Love and a Bullet | Ben Ramsey | Composed with Wolfgang Matthes |
| Half Past Dead | Don Michael Paul | — | |
| Lone Star State of Mind | David Semel | — | |
| City of Ghosts | Matt Dillon | — | |
| 2003 | Baadasssss! | Mario Van Peebles | — |
| 2004 | You Got Served | Chris Stokes | — |
| Dawn of the Dead | Zack Snyder | 1st collaboration with Zack Snyder Nominated–IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film | |
| 2005 | The Devil's Rejects | Rob Zombie | 1st collaboration with Rob Zombie Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Score |
| 2006 | See No Evil | Gregory Dark | — |
| Slither | James Gunn | 1st collaboration with James Gunn | |
| 300 | Zack Snyder | Adapted from material by Elliot Goldenthal 2nd collaboration with Zack Snyder BMI Film Music Award Nominated–Saturn Award for Best Music | |
| 2007 | Grindhouse | Rob Zombie | 2nd collaboration with Rob Zombie Segment: "Werewolf Women of the SS" |
| Halloween | 3rd collaboration with Rob Zombie Themes by John Carpenter | ||
| 2008 | Doomsday | Neil Marshall | — |
| The Day the Earth Stood Still | Scott Derrickson | — | |
| 2009 | Watchmen | Zack Snyder | 3rd collaboration with Zack Snyder BMI Film Music Award |
| Halloween II | Rob Zombie | 4th collaboration with Rob Zombie Themes by John Carpenter | |
| The Haunted World of El Superbeasto | 5th collaboration with Rob Zombie | ||
| 2010 | Super | James Gunn | 2nd collaboration with James Gunn |
| The Way | Emilio Estevez | — | |
| 2011 | Sucker Punch | Zack Snyder | Composed with Marius de Vries 4th collaboration with Zack Snyder |
| Conan the Barbarian | Marcus Nispel | — | |
| Killer Joe | William Friedkin | — | |
| The Darkest Hour | Chris Gorak | — | |
| 2013 | Movie 43 | James Gunn | Segment: "Beezel" 3rd collaboration with James Gunn |
| The Sacrament | Ti West | 1st collaboration with Ti West | |
| 2014 | Not Safe for Work | Joe Johnston | — |
| Flight 7500 | Takashi Shimizu | — | |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | James Gunn | 4th collaboration with James Gunn Nominated–Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi Film Nominated–IndieWire Critics Poll Award for Best Original Score Soundtrack | |
| John Wick | Chad Stahelski David Leitch |
Composed with Joel J. Richard 1st collaboration with David Leitch & Chad Stahelski | |
| 2016 | The Belko Experiment | Greg McLean | — |
| 2017 | John Wick: Chapter 2 | Chad Stahelski | Composed with Joel J. Richard 2nd collaboration with Chad Stahelski BMI Film Music Award |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | James Gunn | 5th collaboration with James Gunn | |
| Atomic Blonde | David Leitch | 2nd collaboration with David Leitch | |
| Keep Watching | Sean Carter | — | |
| 24 Hours to Live | Brian Smrz | — | |
| 2018 | The Public | Emilio Estevez | Composed with Joanne Higginbottom |
| Deadpool 2 | David Leitch | 3rd collaboration with David Leitch Nominated–Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi Film | |
| The Spy Who Dumped Me | Susanna Fogel | — | |
| 2019 | John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum | Chad Stahelski | Composed with Joel J. Richard 3rd collaboration with Chad Stahelski |
| Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw | David Leitch | 4th collaboration with David Leitch | |
| 2020 | Books of Blood | Brannon Braga | Composed with Joel J. Richard |
| 2022 | X | Ti West | Composed with Chelsea Wolfe 2nd collaboration with Ti West |
| Day Shift | J. J. Perry | — | |
| Pearl | Ti West | Composed with Timothy Williams 3rd collaboration with Ti West | |
| 2023 | John Wick: Chapter 4 | Chad Stahelski | Composed with Joel J. Richard 4th collaboration with Chad Stahelski |
| 2024 | MaXXXine | Ti West | 4th collaboration with Ti West |
| 2025 | From the World of John Wick: Ballerina | Len Wiseman | Composed with Joel J. Richard Replaced Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich |
| TBA | Fixed | Genndy Tartakovsky | Composed with Joanne Higginbottom 1st score for an animated feature film |
| Havoc | Gareth Evans |
Television scores
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Strange Frequency | 3 episodes |
| American High | Documentary series 4 episodes | |
| 2003 | Black Sash | 8 episodes |
| 2004 | Pornucopia | 2 episodes |
| 2007–14 | Californication | 84 episodes |
| 2008–09 | James Gunn's PG Porn | 7 episodes |
| 2010–11 | Sym-Bionic Titan | 20 episodes |
| 2013 | Low Winter Sun | 10 episodes |
| 2014 | Hysteria | TV pilot |
| 2014–16 | Salem | 29 episodes |
| 2014–17 | Kingdom | 31 episodes |
| 2017 | Samurai Jack | 10 episodes Themes by James L. Venable, will.i.am and George Pajon Composed with Joanne Higginbottom and Dieter Hartmann |
| The Exorcist | 10 episodes Themes by Daniel Hart | |
| 2017–19 | The Punisher | 26 episodes |
| 2018–19 | The Purge | 20 episodes |
| 2019–20 | Stumptown | 18 episodes |
| 2019–present | Primal | 20 episodes Composed with Joanne Higginbottom |
| 2023 | Agent Elvis | 10 episodes Composed with Timothy Williams |
| 2023–present | Unicorn: Warriors Eternal | 10 episodes Composed with Joanne Higginbottom |
| 2024 | Tracker | 13 episodes |
Video game soundtracks
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Rise of the Argonauts | — |
| 2009 | Watchmen: The End Is Nigh | — |
| 2010 | Army of Two: The 40th Day | — |
| Transformers: War For Cybertron | — | |
| 2013 | God of War: Ascension | — |
| Killzone: Shadow Fall | Composed with Lorn | |
| 2019 | Far Cry New Dawn | Composed with John Swihart |
| 2022 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Season 6 |
Own work
editwith Marilyn Manson
edit- The Pale Emperor (2015)
- Heaven Upside Down (2017)
- One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1 (2024)
with Pet
edit- Pet (1996) (guitar, bass, backing vocals, production)
with Bush
edit- The Kingdom (2020) (songwriting, production)
with Jerry Cantrell
edit- Brighten (2021) (strings, percussion, guitar, production)
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Birchmeier, Jason. "Tyler Bates". AllMusic. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ a b "Tyler Bates Biography". www.tylerbates.com. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
- ^ "Famed Composer Tyler Bates to Score ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY". Leisure and Travel Week. October 31, 2009. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015 – via Highbeam.
- ^ a b "Work Credits". www.tylerbates.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
- ^ Justin Bielawa (February 27, 2007). "300". Music on Film. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
- ^ James Southall. "300". Movie Wave. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
- ^ Demetris Christodoulides. "300". Score Magazine. Archived from the original on June 17, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
- ^ "300 on DVD". August 3, 2007. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved August 3, 2007.
- ^ "Tyler Bates Discusses making the Deadpool 2 soundtrack". Film Industry Network. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
- ^ "Entertainment". UPROXX. June 30, 2023.
- ^ "'Guardians of the Galaxy' Deluxe Edition Soundtrack & Score Album Details | Film Music Reporter".
- ^ "Marilyn Manson Streams "Cupid Carries A Gun"". January 7, 2015.
- ^ Interview with Tyler Bates
- ^ "Tyler Bates Biography". tylerbates.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^ Tyler Bates [@tyler_bates] (January 16, 2018). "Dear Friends, the time has come..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "ALICE IN CHAINS' JERRY CANTRELL: More 'Brighten' Solo Album Details Revealed". Blabbermouth. July 30, 2021.