Scrolling through social media, my eye was caught by the name ‘Wes Anderson’ and the image of a group of five men, dressed in pale blue shirts and red hats – the distinctive uniform of Team Zizzou from the film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zizzou. Reading further I was discovered it was an advert for a forthcoming gig at St James by a group called Wes Banderson performing original score music from the films of Wes Anderson.
For those unfamiliar with Wes Anderson films such as The Royal Tenebaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Phoenician Scheme, The Isle Of Dogs, and more, there is a distinctive style that runs throughout. The director’s filmmaking style is recognisable for its meticulous, storybook aesthetic to create a highly stylised, almost theatrical world, characterised by extensive use of flat space camera moves (pans, tilts, and zooms within scenes that look two-dimensional), symmetrical compositions, snap-zooms (rapid, shakey zooms onto subjects), slow-motion walking shots, a deliberately limited colour palette, handmade art direction often using miniatures and a nostalgic, whimsical tone. Although he is known primarily known for his highly stylised visual aesthetic, a core element of his work has always been music. The soundtracks are an eclectic mix of classical, folk, pop and rock songs featuring artists from Cat Stevens to Sigur Ros, The Faces to Francois Hardy, David Bowie to Jarvis Cocker (and many in between) curated and combined with compositions to perfectly suit the storytelling.
I was intrigued and had to find out more, so I contacted Greg Harrison at St James, who put me in touch with Adam Znaidi, creator and director of Wes Banderson, who very kindly answered some of my questions...
Tell me more about Wes Banderson, yourself and your band members – who are you and what instruments to you play?
Sure thing. We’re a group of multi-instrumentalists from the UK, Europe and the US. We all have our own separate projects and releases, but we all come together to perform as Wes Banderson.
The team consists of:
Adam Hutchison (Znaidi) – director, bass, keys, assorted announcements and introductions.
Oscar Lyons – violin, guitars, keys.
Rob Lamont – guitars, keys, vibraphone, glockenspiel.
Charlie McWillians – drums, percussion, keys.
Will Wood – piano, keyboards, flute, saxophone.
How did the band come about – was it inspired by the Wes Anderson film soundtracks from the off, or were you already a band that decided to concentrate on the music from the films (and therefore rename the band)?
I’ve always loved the original scores and selected music from Wes Anderson’s films, and there was one piece in particular – Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue OP by Marks Mothersbaugh from The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou – that I thought was an absolute banger. I come from a pretty prog/70s fusion-centric background and I thought it would be great to film a live session of it that stayed pretty true to the original, but also expanded into something that could work for live band – but really just as a one-off for the fun of it.
I then realised that a) there were other pieces that could be fun to play live; b) no one else is performing this music, or at least not in the way that I would want to hear them; and c) this could be something that other WA fans might also enjoy seeing live.
So with that in mind, I applied for some funding, spoke to a couple of venues who agreed to book the show, sight unseen, just based on some of the previous things I had done, and put a show together, bringing in some of the most talented musicians I know to perform it.
To those who may be unfamiliar with Wes Anderson films – and soundtracks – how would you describe them?
There’s a lot of variation, and music is always at the forefront – especially in the earlier films. The films generally centre around dysfunctional families or family units, there’s always beautiful use of colour, and really satisfying cinematography.
Alexandre Desplat and Mark Mothersbaugh are the composers most associated with the Wes Anderson films. Is there a difference between their styles, and do you have a preference?
I think they both approach their compositions for his films from a position of playfulness but their sound is totally different, and I’d say pretty reflective of their musical backgrounds. Desplat had a more traditional and formal musical education – whereas Mothersbaugh came from an experimental rock/new wave background (being a founding member of Devo). I love both their compositions for his films, but I’ve definitely got more of a preference for Mothersbaugh’s work, as I think his background gives him more of a ‘wild card’ approach to scoring, and resulted in some more unique combinations of sounds.
Favourite film and/or soundtrack? I’m assuming the Life Aquatic may feature going by the Team Zizzous uniform (the aforementioned pale blue shirts and red bobble hats) sported by the band – would any new band member get issued with a red bobble hat and Speedos?
Haha... yeah, it’s got to be Life Aquatic, with The Royal Tenenbaums score as a close second, and film-wise either Rushmore or The Darjeeling Limited.
There are some awesome soundtrack pieces in Life Aquatic (always heard during the fictional Life Aquatic films within the film) written by Sven Libeak, from a real 1973 underwater documentary film called Inner Space. I’m a huge fan on late 60s/early 70s film and production music so we definitely had to play some of that live.
And yes, new members get both of the above, and a Glock. The rest of the uniform is earned through a week-long hazing process.
And what can we expect from your upcoming concert at St James?
You can expect a lot of music from Mark Mothersbaugh and Alexandre Desplat, alongside some deep-cut needle drops from the rest of Wes’s filmography. The goal was to make sure this not only works in the context of performing these pieces, but is also satisfying as a standalone ‘gig’ – even if you were totally unfamiliar with his films. With that in mind we’ve made the arrangements as exciting to watch as possible. Amongst other things, we’ve taken the Ravel String Quartet from Tenenbaums and arranged it almost like King Crimson were playing it. There are some very loud moments, and some very delicate moments. There are instrumental solos and synth soundscapes, and a fair amount of banter between the band and audience.
We also have live projected visuals that accompany the show.
And of course – the Team Zissou outfits.
The original score music of Wes Anderson performed live by Wes Banderson is at St James on Friday 20 March, doors 7pm/music 8pm. Tickets £25/Under 18s £10 (plus booking fee) available from stjames.gg. Under 14s to be accompanied by an adult.
