Back in 2007, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino created “Grindhouse,” a film demonstrating their passion for classic 1970’s cinema. Though each director’s individual segments were great, the fake coming attractions between them received serious buzz.
One trailer introduced “Machete,” a character who took his name from his weapon of choice. That simple little trailer has now become a full-fledged franchise complete with Danny Trejo in the lead role and musical contributions from composer Carl Thiel.
When reached by phone, Thiel talked about the film and his musical choices for the soundtrack.
Were you involved with the music for the original “Machete” when it was just a fake trailer accompanying “Grindhouse”?
I wasn’t involved with the “Machete” section of [“Grindhouse.”] I did work on “Planet Terror” with Robert {Rodriguez]. The “Machete” trailer itself was kind of an afterthought that Robert put together really quick with Danny Trejo. They put it together almost as a joke, just to have it in there. But it became so popular that Danny kept begging Robert: “We’ve got to make this movie.” We ended up doing the movie a few years ago.
Because this movie is a throwback to the grindhouse films of the 1970s, for the music did you have to get yourself in that mindset as well?
Not so much for “Machete Kills,” but when we worked on the first “Machete,” they worked a lot to get the right tone for that movie. When we worked on “Planet Terror,” Robert wanted to get a retro, John Carpenter-type of sound for the soundtrack. We used a lot of old, vintage-type synthesizers and those kinds of things to create that environment.
When we first started throwing ideas on the wall for “Machete,” we tried a couple of those sounds, but they weren’t feeling right for that character. We experimented with a lot of different types of guitars; we wanted him to have an edgy, guitar-driven sound.
At one point, Tito Larriva came by and he showed me this baritone guitar that he had, an electric baritone guitar. I tried that, and we actually turned down the baritone even more. When we started playing it, Robert said “Yeah! That’s it-that’s the sound!”
And for “Machete Kills”?
The second movie has so much more happening to it: there are a lot of different characters and they go on a kind of adventure that puts them in a duck-out-of-water, fish-out-of-water environment. It puts them in the jungles of deepest Mexico and then the super-futuristic world of Luther Voz [played by Mel Gibson].
I tried to make the music follow that journey with them and create a different soundscape for each character. Of course, when it ends up in the world of Luther Voz, I wanted to go for a retro, sci-fi kind of soundtrack.
I love the music, the whole feel of the project. It seems like it was a lot of fun to put together.
It was: anytime I work with Robert, it is a lot of fun. He loves what he does and he projects that love for his craft. And he does so many different things so well; he’s a great composer as well. That makes it much more fun, and it’s easy to communicate with him because we can talk in musical terms.