Packed with homages but still wearing its own personality proudly on its blood-soaked sleeve, SYFY's Blood Drive series takes viewers on a cross-country trek across a wicked wasteland, and like any good road trip, the show features some killer tunes courtesy of composer Michael Gatt, who is the subject of our latest Q&A feature.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Michael. When did you initially become interested in music and what did you listen to in your formative years?

Michael Gatt: It’s hard for me to remember a time when music wasn’t a part of my life. I started playing guitar at age eight, playing professionally in bar bands at age 14. That led to touring right after college and landing in Los Angeles to pursue bigger things.

When did the idea of becoming a composer on film projects first appeal to you, and how did you get into the industry?

Michael Gatt: I was playing in LA bands and wanted a change, so I sold all of my possessions and set about seeing the world with just a backpack and a small travel guitar. My planned six months turned into a five-year “walkabout” and upon my return I was given an opportunity to score TV commercials. Commercials are extremely competitive as submissions are chosen blind and often there are upwards of 50 tracks vying for the same commercial spots. Right from the start I found success both in that I was “winning” the spots but more importantly that I loved scoring for picture. Eventually, I started writing long form, and once I got my first taste of being a part of that kind of narrative storytelling, I was hooked.

Growing up, did you enjoy watching horror or sci-fi movies? Were there any horror or sci-fi film soundtracks that have stuck with you and inspired you over the years?

Michael Gatt: I loved John Carpenter movies both for the films themselves and of course the scores. His work was certainly an inspiration for some of the cues in Blood Drive. As well, The Matrix is one of my favorite films and the score is really fantastic.

I think it’s safe to say that there’s no other show on television quite like Blood Drive. How did you get involved as the composer for James Roland’s ambitious series?

Michael Gatt: This may sound very Hollywood, but I really have to thank my awesome agent! He sent me a brief about the show and with my having such a diverse background in music, we both felt I was the perfect fit. He then actually called James Roland’s cell phone, saying, “Michael Gatt IS the guy for Blood Drive!!” When we did eventually get a last-minute meeting scheduled, I was a bit stranded in Flagstaff, Arizona, visiting my parents. Due to a number of factors, planes, trains, and autos were not an option, so I ended taking a 14-hour all-night bus ride back to LA. At that point I had already read the first seven scripts of season 1 and felt really connected to the material and everything I wanted to do with it.

No two episodes of Blood Drive are the same, as we’ve seen this series pay homage to several sub-genres, all while maintaining a gleeful grindhouse vibe. How have these tonal gear shifts affected the way you approach the music for the series?

Michael Gatt: With any project and piece music, for that matter, I’m always trying to boil ideas down to their simplest form. With Blood Drive, I first started with custom synths and tones as well as recurring themes that would populate all of the music for the show and keep a cohesive texture to everything. Then I treated each episode as a standalone film. At times writing new themes that would be used only for a particular episode or layering more conventional instrumentation over the Blood Drive sound, such as trumpet and solo opera singing in the spaghetti western episode.

What types of instruments and sounds have you utilized for the Blood Drive score?

Michael Gatt: Most of the instruments are aggressive, distorted, and essentially beat up to reflect the dystopian world that Blood Drive takes place in. I kind of pictured a band at a Mayhem Party. Conversely, there are outlier elements like Grace’s surf guitar, or the live, often delicate cello that runs through many of the more emotional cues.

Looking back at the first season of Blood Drive, what is your favorite or most rewarding scene that you’ve scored?

Michael Gatt: That is like asking a parent which is their favorite child. I remember scoring the season 1 finale and thinking I couldn’t wait to finish one scene so I could move on to the next and the next… The individual scenes are an analog of the show as a whole, they cover so much ground in a single episode, often in a single scene, add to that having the opportunity to score in a new genre each week… it was just a blast!

With Blood Drive currently airing on SYFY, what projects do you have on deck that you can tease?

Michael Gatt: All I can say for now is what I’m currently scoring is very “animated.”

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.