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Tyler Bates

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Tyler Bates
Bates in 2014
Background information
Born (1965-06-05) June 5, 1965 (age 59)[1]
OriginLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Film composer
  • musician
  • producer
Instruments
  • Piano
  • keyboards
  • synthesizer
  • guitar
Years active1993–present
Member ofMarilyn Manson
Formerly ofSmash Alley, Pet
Websitetylerbates.com

Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, music producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores.[2] Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres,[3] with films like Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Halloween and Halloween II and the John Wick franchise. He has collaborated with directors like Zack Snyder, Rob Zombie, Gennady Tartakovsky, Neil Marshall, William Friedkin, Scott Derrickson, James Gunn, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch.[3] In addition, he is the lead guitarist of the American rock band Marilyn Manson, and produced its albums The Pale Emperor , Heaven Upside Down and One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1.[4] He is Jerry Cantrell's touring/studio member.

Biography

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Early life and film scoring

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Bates was born on June 5, 1965,[1] in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in Chicago he played in a hair metal band by the name of Smash Alley, he returned to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in music.[1] He began his career in the 1990s scoring low-budget films like The Last Time I Committed Suicide, and Denial. In the meantime, he was a member of the alternative rock Pet alongside Lisa Papineau; the band released their eponymous debut in 1996.[1] His breakthrough into the mainstream came in the early 2000s, when he worked on higher-profile projects like Get Carter, Half Past Dead, and Baadasssss! The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead was significant, as he would maintain long-term collaborations with its director Zack Snyder, and writer James Gunn.

Bates scored four of director Rob Zombie's films, beginning with 2005's The Devil's Rejects. For Zombie's remake of Halloween and its sequel Halloween II, Bates adapted John Carpenter's original themes and motifs in order to fit the darker, grittier, and more contemporary atmosphere of the films. It was around 2007 that Bates began working regularly on big-budget, blockbuster films; including 300, Doomsday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sucker Punch, and Conan the Barbarian. He also composed scores for smaller, independent films like The Way, Killer Joe, The Sacrament, and Flight 7500.

The soundtrack for 300 was controversial due to its heavy borrowing of themes from film scores by Elliot Goldenthal, amongst others.[5][6][7] On August 3, 2007, Warner Bros. Pictures acknowledged this in a statement.[8] The matter was settled amicably with the soundtrack credits being subsequently described as adapted from material by Elliot Goldenthal.[citation needed]

Bates composed the score for Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Having worked with James Gunn in the past, Bates had a good idea on how Gunn wanted things done.[9] Before any of the cinematography started, Gunn had Bates write several themes prior to shooting so the scene could be matched to the music instead of the score being created to fit the scene. This required cooperation between Bates and Gunn in advance since these scores would be in the final piece, instead of a temporary filler acting as a placeholder. They influenced the performance on set, which required an undertaking by both Bates and his team. For 4 months, they clocked upwards of 100-hour work weeks to produce this finished product.[10] After all the work, they had a total of 29 different soundtracks giving a combined total of 64:34 of music.[11] "At least half the cues in the movie have more than 500 tracks of audio," Bates was quoted in an interview with Melinda Newman on HitFix. This was a result of there being orchestral passages that were doubled or tripled, choirs, overdubs, and other instrumentals.[citation needed]

That same year, Bates composed the score to the action film John Wick, collaborating with Joel J. Richard and Marilyn Manson. The film proved a surprise critical and financial success, and Bates returned to score its sequel John Wick: Chapter 2, and also its third and fourth installments. He and Richard also scored its 2025 spin-off Ballerina, replacing Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich. He would later collaborate again with co-director David Leitch to score a spiritual successor, the Cold War-era spy thriller Atomic Blonde.[citation needed]

Video game scoring

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Bates composed the soundtrack for the PlayStation 3 games God of War: Ascension and Army of Two: The 40th Day, as well as the PlayStation 4 game Killzone: Shadow Fall. Most recently he composed for Crossfire.[citation needed]

Other projects

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In 2014, Bates co-wrote and produced Marilyn Manson's record The Pale Emperor. The album debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, while the single "Deep Six" went on to chart higher than any other single by Marilyn Manson on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart. Bates joined the band in 2015 as the lead guitarist for The Hell Not Hallelujah Tour. The album's song "Cupid Carries a Gun" was used as the opening title music of the TV show Salem, and Bates composed the show's score.[12] In April 2015 he left Marilyn Manson to resume film work.[citation needed]

In October 2015, during a Q&A with Marilyn Manson at the Grammy Museum, Manson announced that he and Tyler were working on new music together again. In 2015 Loudwire listed "The Mephistopheles Of Los Angeles" No. 1 best rock track and Rolling Stone included The Pale Emperor in its Top 50 list of the best albums of 2015. He returned as the lead guitarist during the tour with Slipknot in July 2016.[13] In 2017, they worked for the follow-up Heaven Upside Down with a world tour, starting July 20, in Budapest,[14] playing more than 100 shows around the world. In January 2018, Bates announced via Twitter that he left the band and returned to his studio to work exclusively on film and television.[15]

Tyler composed the song, "Monsters After Dark" for the night Halloween mode of the ride Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout![citation needed]

In 2021, Bates co-produced and played strings, percussion and guitar on Jerry Cantrell's album Brighten.[16]

Discography

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Film scores

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Year Title Director(s) Notes
1993 Blue Flame Cassian Elwes Composed with George Andrian
1994 Deep Down John Travers
Tammy and the T-Rex Stewart Raffill Composed with Jack Conrad and Anthony Riparetti
1995 Not Like Us Dave Payne
Criminal Hearts
1997 The Last Time I Committed Suicide Stephen T. Kay
1998 Suicide, the Comedy Glen Freyer
Denial Adam Rifkin
1999 Thicker than Water Richard Cummings Jr. Composed with Quincy Jones III
2000 Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth John Blanchard
Get Carter Stephen Kay Themes by Roy Budd
2001 Kingdom Come Doug McHenry Composed with John E. Rhone
What's the Worst That Could Happen? Sam Weisman
Night at the Golden Eagle Adam Rifkin
2002 Love and a Bullet Ben Ramsey Composed with Wolfgang Matthes
Half Past Dead Don Michael Paul
Lone Star State of Mind David Semel
City of Ghosts Matt Dillon
2003 Baadasssss! Mario Van Peebles
2004 You Got Served Chris Stokes
Dawn of the Dead Zack Snyder 1st collaboration with Zack Snyder
Nominated–IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film
2005 The Devil's Rejects Rob Zombie 1st collaboration with Rob Zombie
Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Score
2006 See No Evil Gregory Dark
Slither James Gunn 1st collaboration with James Gunn
300 Zack Snyder Adapted from material by Elliot Goldenthal
2nd collaboration with Zack Snyder
BMI Film Music Award
Nominated–Saturn Award for Best Music
2007 Grindhouse Rob Zombie 2nd collaboration with Rob Zombie
Segment: "Werewolf Women of the SS"
Halloween 3rd collaboration with Rob Zombie
Themes by John Carpenter
2008 Doomsday Neil Marshall
The Day the Earth Stood Still Scott Derrickson
2009 Watchmen Zack Snyder 3rd collaboration with Zack Snyder
BMI Film Music Award
Halloween II Rob Zombie 4th collaboration with Rob Zombie
Themes by John Carpenter
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto 5th collaboration with Rob Zombie
2010 Super James Gunn 2nd collaboration with James Gunn
The Way Emilio Estevez
2011 Sucker Punch Zack Snyder Composed with Marius de Vries
4th collaboration with Zack Snyder
Conan the Barbarian Marcus Nispel
Killer Joe William Friedkin
The Darkest Hour Chris Gorak
2013 Movie 43 James Gunn Segment: "Beezel"
3rd collaboration with James Gunn
The Sacrament Ti West 1st collaboration with Ti West
2014 Not Safe for Work Joe Johnston
Flight 7500 Takashi Shimizu
Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn 4th collaboration with James Gunn
Nominated–Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi Film
Nominated–IndieWire Critics Poll Award for Best Original Score Soundtrack
John Wick Chad Stahelski
David Leitch
Composed with Joel J. Richard
1st collaboration with David Leitch & Chad Stahelski
2016 The Belko Experiment Greg McLean
2017 John Wick: Chapter 2 Chad Stahelski Composed with Joel J. Richard
2nd collaboration with Chad Stahelski
BMI Film Music Award
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 James Gunn 5th collaboration with James Gunn
Atomic Blonde David Leitch 2nd collaboration with David Leitch
Keep Watching Sean Carter
24 Hours to Live Brian Smrz
2018 The Public Emilio Estevez Composed with Joanne Higginbottom
Deadpool 2 David Leitch 3rd collaboration with David Leitch
Nominated–Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi Film
The Spy Who Dumped Me Susanna Fogel
2019 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum Chad Stahelski Composed with Joel J. Richard
3rd collaboration with Chad Stahelski
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw David Leitch 4th collaboration with David Leitch
2020 Books of Blood Brannon Braga Composed with Joel J. Richard
2022 X Ti West Composed with Chelsea Wolfe
2nd collaboration with Ti West
Day Shift J. J. Perry
Pearl Ti West Composed with Timothy Williams
3rd collaboration with Ti West
2023 John Wick: Chapter 4 Chad Stahelski Composed with Joel J. Richard
4th collaboration with Chad Stahelski
2024 MaXXXine Ti West 4th collaboration with Ti West
2025 Havoc Gareth Evans
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina Len Wiseman Composed with Joel J. Richard
Replaced Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich
TBA Fixed Genndy Tartakovsky Composed with Joanne Higginbottom
1st score for an animated feature film

Television scores

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Year Title Notes
2001 Strange Frequency 3 episodes
American High Documentary series
4 episodes
2003 Black Sash 8 episodes
2004 Pornucopia 2 episodes
2007–14 Californication 84 episodes
2008–09 James Gunn's PG Porn 7 episodes
2010–11 Sym-Bionic Titan 20 episodes
2013 Low Winter Sun 10 episodes
2014 Hysteria TV pilot
2014–16 Salem 29 episodes
2014–17 Kingdom 31 episodes
2017 Samurai Jack 10 episodes
Themes by James L. Venable, will.i.am and George Pajon
Composed with Joanne Higginbottom and Dieter Hartmann
The Exorcist 10 episodes
Themes by Daniel Hart
2017–19 The Punisher 26 episodes
2018–19 The Purge 20 episodes
2019–20 Stumptown 18 episodes
2019–present Primal 20 episodes
Composed with Joanne Higginbottom
2023 Agent Elvis 10 episodes
Composed with Timothy Williams
2023–present Unicorn: Warriors Eternal 10 episodes
Composed with Joanne Higginbottom
2024 Tracker 13 episodes

Video game soundtracks

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Year Title Notes
2008 Rise of the Argonauts
2009 Watchmen: The End Is Nigh
2010 Army of Two: The 40th Day
Transformers: War For Cybertron
2013 God of War: Ascension
Killzone: Shadow Fall Composed with Lorn
2019 Far Cry New Dawn Composed with John Swihart
2022 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Season 6

Own work

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with Marilyn Manson

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with Pet

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  • Pet (1996) (guitar, bass, backing vocals, production)

with Bush

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with Jerry Cantrell

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  • Brighten (2021) (strings, percussion, guitar, production)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Birchmeier, Jason. "Tyler Bates". AllMusic. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "Famed Composer Tyler Bates to Score ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY". Leisure and Travel Week. October 31, 2009. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015 – via Highbeam.
  3. ^ a b "Work Credits". www.tylerbates.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  4. ^ "Tyler Bates Biography". www.tylerbates.com. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  5. ^ Justin Bielawa (February 27, 2007). "300". Music on Film. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
  6. ^ James Southall. "300". Movie Wave. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
  7. ^ Demetris Christodoulides. "300". Score Magazine. Archived from the original on June 17, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
  8. ^ "300 on DVD". August 3, 2007. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved August 3, 2007.
  9. ^ "Tyler Bates Discusses making the Deadpool 2 soundtrack". Film Industry Network. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  10. ^ "Entertainment". UPROXX. June 30, 2023.
  11. ^ "'Guardians of the Galaxy' Deluxe Edition Soundtrack & Score Album Details | Film Music Reporter".
  12. ^ "Marilyn Manson Streams "Cupid Carries A Gun"". January 7, 2015.
  13. ^ Interview with Tyler Bates
  14. ^ "Tyler Bates Biography". tylerbates.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  15. ^ Tyler Bates [@tyler_bates] (January 16, 2018). "Dear Friends, the time has come..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "ALICE IN CHAINS' JERRY CANTRELL: More 'Brighten' Solo Album Details Revealed". Blabbermouth. July 30, 2021.
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