Interview With Music Producer Jason LaRocca
When we last spoke with LaRocca, he had just come off of 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “Child’s Play” and “Ma” (www.thehypemagazine.com/2019/05/rocker-turned-film-score-producer-jason-larocca-talks-godzilla-ma-and-fortnite). In this feature, we talk with him about the long-awaited “Bad Boys for Life” with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (in theaters today) and this month’s horror film “The Turning.” And looking deeper into the year, LaRocca will bring his musical mastery to the scores of “Bill & Ted Face the Music” starring Keanu Reeves (www.today.com/popculture/bill-ted-are-set-third-excellent-adventure-2020-release-date-t150697) and “Morbius” starting OSCAR winner Jared Leto (https://ew.com/movies/2019/03/05/morbius-jared-leto-photo/).
“Bad Boys for Life” is set to be in theaters everywhere on Friday, January 17th and you mixed the score for the film. Can you share with us a little about the project and collaboration?
Getting to work on the third installment of this franchise was a lot of fun, and of course an honor. Lorne Balfe did an amazing job writing a killer score for the film – marrying the world of modern synthesizers and unique drum sounds with rich, driving orchestra elements, along with a live gospel choir and live percussion featuring Shiela E! Getting to mix all of these elements together to help push the score to “11” was a fun challenge, and I think we achieved what we were going for with it.
I know you worked on the music for the upcoming film “The Turning” as well. Can you tell us more about that?
The composer Nathan Barr is very hands-on with the creation of unique sounds for his music scores. He played many of the strange sounds that you hear in the score in his studio with various custom instruments that he had built for him – much of the sound design textures are organically derived from these acoustic instruments. Then I took the recorded material and mangled up the textures even further with various plugins and techniques to make a truly “immersive” and haunting musical experience throughout the film.
Over the course of your career, you’ve had the opportunity to work on such films as “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “Ma,” and “Fortnite.” What has been your favorite and why?
“Fortnite” was really fun because none of us really had any idea about the success it was about to enjoy – that it would go on to be a cultural phenomenon. We just had fun making the music for it. And when it became the smash success that it became, it was a very cool feeling to know I was a part of it. Also, getting to co-produce the “Godzilla” song with composer Bear McCreary for the film was another really amazing experience for me. Having Searj Tankian from System of a Down singing on the song was unreal. I am such a fan of both Bear and Serj, so it was really special for me to get to work them both.
You will also be working on music for the film “Morbius” starring Jared Leto. Do you feel pressure when there are decorated names such as Oscar winner Jared Leto attached to projects?
Certainly! This is going to be a very special project. Musically what we hope to create for this film will be something very unique, like nothing I have ever helped to create before. Jon Ekstrand is an amazing composer and a dear friend, so I am very excited to start on that one.
What other projects do you have on the horizon for 2020?
“Bill and Ted Face the Music,” “Cyberpunk 2077,” and a few other secret goodies.
Originally posted on The Hype Magazine.
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