Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinezis an American musician and composer. Early in his career, Martinez was known as a drummer notably with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer, writing music for Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Drive, Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon, Contagion, Solaris, and Traffic...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth5 February 1954
CountryUnited States of America
thinking always-trying years
I think there is quite a continuity over my 25 years of doing music, and I'm always trying to break away from it.
writing years two
Singer/songwriters spend two or three years making an album, and then it goes up for sale and everybody pirates it and you don't make any money. Whereas, writing a film score you still get presented with a paycheck.
country couple years
I got fed up with being in bands. I spent a couple of years touring the country in a smoked filled band, doing lots of drugs and being really unhealthy.
home average years
I work at home but average 15,000 to 18,000 miles per year on my Honda.
background drums gone rock roll ten work
I've often thought that my background in rock 'n' roll has gone to waste in film work. My background was that I was a rock 'n' roll drummer and I don't think I used drums in my first ten years of film scoring.
average home miles per work
I work at home but average 15,000 to 18,000 miles per year on my Honda.
created music
I think music will be created algorhythmically, all the things that we do will be boiled down to a little computer program.
alongside appears composer famous menu
You'll know if you're a famous composer if 20 years from now your name appears on a pull-down menu in Band in a Box, alongside Hans Zimmer.
believe challenged known versatile
I want to be known for having a recognizable style. I believe having your own personal identity is what makes you competitive. On the other hand, I would like to be versatile and be challenged to go in new directions.
mind directors
There's nothing worse than a director that keeps changing their mind. Because, unlike the directors I work with, I'm not decisive at all.
careers challenges welcome
I'm not in a position in my career where I turn things down. I'm very easy. So the projects often dictate the direction you will go in. I welcome things that challenge me.
challenges chameleon
I like challenges and I definitely would like to be more of a chameleon.
creative vision important
It's very important that you never depend on money to fulfill your creative vision. If you do that, you're doomed to fail.
men thinking answers
The way that I make films is that I sit down and I think, "How much money could I get with less consequences?" And that's how I start. I'd rather have less money and total autonomy than more money and start having to answer to things, because then I'm not being true and the money men are not being true.