Here ’s what you need to know aboutBear McCreary , the legendary - in - his - own - metre composer forBattlestar Galactica , The Walking Dead , Outlander , and so much more : there ’s a part of him that ’s bummed he ’s not playing a concert aright now . gratefully there ’s a fix for that ; as io9 can exclusively reveal , he has a raw BSG alive record album , plus the soundtrack for all four season of Ronald D. Moore and David Eick ’s serial publication have been digitally remastered and will be uncommitted on your pet streaming euphony armed service for the first time .
io9 also fuck off to talk with McCreary about how passionate he still is about the music he composed around 12 - 18 years ago — you could really hear the exuberance in his voice . While you ca n’t go to a live Battlestar Galactica concert ( for now ) , he can finally impart the concert to you . The bouncy record album is call So Say We All : Battlestar Galactica Live—13 tracks of BSG strain that were immortalize at performances in North America and Europe — and he genuinely ca n’t hold back for you to listen to it when it ’s free on June 4 . take on for the audience plus an exclusive video of McCreary and Starbuck herself — Katee Sackhoff — do the famous “ All Along the Watchtower ” rail live .
Rob Bricken , io9 : What was your impulsion for claim your Battlestar Galactica medicine on the road ?
An enigmatic stranger (Roark Critchlow) gives Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) a piano lesson.Screenshot: NBCUniversal
Bear McCreary : Well , when I started releasing albums for Battlestar Galactica , I realized that I just really have it away this music . It was n’t just a task to me . I connected to it on such a deep , personal level , it was my life ! I was in my other 20s at the clip and my wife and brother sang on the account , and a peck of my best champion and favorite musicians all played on the score . There was a societal aspect to it that I wanted to bring in to the degree .
So in time of year two , we did a little concert for the soundtrack liberation , and it outperform my arithmetic mean , to say the least — people were packed into this little club in west Los Angeles . That start a annual custom where every twelvemonth we would get together and play the score , and the concerts just got full-grown and bigger . By the closing of the run , in 2009 and 2010 , we were doing really expectant shows that palpate like giant stone concerts . fan pilot in from around the creation and we would do signings afterward and interact and babble out with mass . You ’ve got to call up , this is slightly before the era of societal media as we know it today , so the power to interact with buff straight off was something that I really valued and I did n’t really have any other way of doing it . And there really is n’t anything else like being able to playact the music live in front of an audience and get their response . It just became this part of my living that was one of my preferred things to do .
At the death of the show , to be perfectly reliable with you , I bring in that there was a version of my life move frontward where I could commence tour this around the world because there were masses everywhere who wanted to find out the medicine of Battlestar Galactica live , but it would be at the disbursement of continuing my career as a composer . I chose to focus my efforts on continuing my career as a composer for film and boob tube . As a result , the live concerts kind of go away . I always intend to refund to them and notice a way to make it possible for fans to experience those concerts again , or receive them for the first sentence . I ca n’t trust that it took me a 10 , but here we are .
Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary is extremely serious about this.Image: Dennys Ilic
io9 : I have a go at it Battlestar was a shaping moment of your vocation , and you ’re clear still passionate about the music . Being able to apportion it with a live crowd and their energy must have been incredible .
McCreary : I have to say that every venue we went to tell they had never realize a bunch like mine . What would happen is , the crowd would come in , hoi polloi would order drinks , they were exceedingly rowdy and loud , and [ the band ] goes into those mysterious tonus of my version of “ All Along the Watchtower , ” and the gang would go crazy . It was vivid . It was like a rock concert where taiko drums are slamming , and then I would commence a track like “ Roslin and Adama ” or “ Wander My Friends”—something that ’s very intimate and beautiful , or I would sit at the piano and wreak the “ Dreilide Thrace Sonata ” and the crowd would instantly become a classical music crowd . It was numb silent . The director and proprietor of the venues follow up to me , and they ’re like , “ What was that about ? I ’ve never heard a crowd go silent to heed to something that quiet before . ” I could tell everybody was on the same wavelength and everybody felt the same way about the euphony . They wanted that rowdy , energetic , adrenaline - cause excitement , and then they also wanted that emotion . They just wanted to have that communal experience and that really was awing .
io9 : What did you experience at the end of those concert ?
The simple yet clever album cover for Bear McCreary’s So Say We All: Battlestar Galactica Live.Image: Sparks & Shadows
McCreary : It was a kind of emotional euphoria that I ’ve never felt since . As wonderful as my composition job is , I do n’t get to get the euphony with you . Even if fan tell me online that the euphony is meaningful to them , it ’s not the same as having that communal emotional experience in the moment . To be able to take something like Battlestar Galactica and say , “ Let ’s take all our Passion of Christ and free energy and share it together in actual - time . ” At the closing of that , I matte up a sense of substance in my employment , a gumption of having achieve something that is beyond what you’re able to get from just write euphony for a picture or a television show . And that ’s part of my desire to be a instrumentalist . I ’ve been focused with a Captain Ahab - similar compulsion on my career but I realized that I really needed that worked up impulse to portion out medicine with citizenry in real - clip . It ’s not a happenstance that now that my life history is where it is , that I ’m revisiting these erstwhile concert , and I ’m cook fresh springy concert of this [ resilient album ] and other cloth . I ’ve clear how badly I need that kind of live fundamental interaction with fan in my spirit . I involve to share music in existent - clock time with masses or I ’m going to go crazy .
io9 : So we have a clip of you playing “ All Along the Watchtower ” next to what seems like an endearingly nervous Katee Sackhoff . Could you secern me a small moment more about this moment ?
McCreary : Yes ! Well , spoiler warning signal for a 10 - year - old show . In season four , Katee ’s type Kara “ Starbuck ” Thrace has a successiveness where she ’s sitting at a forte-piano with a sure character and she call for to playact this piano telephone circuit and something very important pass off . I was on band when they shot it and I was coaching Katee on how to play it . I was playing the piano during the inverse scene when you see Colonel Tigh and everyone else jump up , coaxing them out of their chairman with the pianoforte performance .
I always think it would be a blast to have Katee derive and recreate that [ vista ] in a lively execution . She was of course very queasy . She ’s not a pianist . She has n’t take aim piano lesson , but she was such a great sport , though . I state her , “ reckon , do n’t practice , do n’t be flighty . Let ’s just vivify that shot ! I will encounter this sort of figural role of this other character who sat next to you and I ’ll teach you the notes in front of everybody . And then the band will kick in and support you in the way that the score did during that scene . ” And the best thing is it ’s just like [ the setting in ] the show itself , she ’s nervous and hesitating and confused , and she starts pluck out these notes that mean more to the audience than they even mean to her at first . In fact , all the cast came out at some point or another over the row of the concert , but Katee was one of the only unity to in reality do with us . James Callis was the other . We coiffure a song of his that he blab at the shows we did a dyad of years earlier . But this one with Katee was really especial because it was vivify [ the pivotal vista from ] the show .
io9 : On every floor , it seems like .
McCreary : Yeah . It also allowed , I think , a more immersive experience for the audience because that while was the tip - up to our carrying out of “ All Along the Watchtower . ” And for fans that have seen the show , they know there ’s an excited abreaction in construe Katee walk up , play those eminence , the band kicks into the pool stick and then we eventually build into the full Song dynasty . I call back it ’s really potent and there ’s a reason I put it right toward the remainder of the show .
io9 : So what music were you listening back in your Battlestar scoring days ? And how did they regulate you ?
McCreary : Well , it ’s interesting because I ’ve got to be good with you , I grew up listening to orchestral flick medicine , composers like Elmer Bernstein , Jerry Goldsmith , John Williams , Danny Elfman , Bernard Herrmann , Basil Poledouris , Ennio Morricone — these guys are my heroes and they still are . Battlestar Galactica [ took ] a very modern glide path , especially for science fable at the clip . It ’s intemperate to apprize now how bold it was not to have a self-aggrandizing orchestral motif with brass and strings in your sci - fi show . When , through serendipity and strong work , I ended up as the show ’s composer , I in reality thought at the time , “ Oh my god , none of my experience has prepared me for this . I grew up listen to the stuff they do n’t want . ”
But one of the things I learned from Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann is to always use the colors at your disposition . So I started researching Japanese taiko euphony and hear how it works — what does it do ? How does the band function ? How does the medicine modification from subdivision to section ? What do the unlike instruments mean ? Not that I would recreate all that dead , but that I would understand it , you know . And I listened to a lot of in-between Eastern ethnic music music . There ’s an Armenian and Gaelic influence that comes from my own inheritance . I ’m Scotch , Irish , and Armenian . You make love what else I was hear to blow off steam ? I [ was ] mind to ramp Against the Machine and System of a Down . A lot .
When “ All Along the Watchtower ” total down the pipeline and all I had was a counsel from the showrunner , Ronald D. Moore , to quote , “ Make it sound like Battlestar . ” And I was like , “ What ? ”
“ Make ‘ All Along the Watchtower ’ speech sound like Battlestar . ” That ’s all I had .
io9 : Wow .
McCreary : So I was play out . I had no theme what to do . I depart passion Against the Machine , organisation of a Down , with a small George Harrison with the Indian / Middle Eastern / Japanese influence that I ’d been exploring to just see what happens . That ’s where all those kinds of influences occur together . Even just creating that caterpillar track was this incredible catharsis for me . It was a liberation . Because I really , really felt , Rob , that I was make a translation that would get throw off out even as I sent it in . Like , this will be the one that I ’ll fuck existed and somebody is lead to irrigate it down — the studio , the internet producer — it ’s just too it ’s right smart too weird and bluff and brassy . And it was just like across the board , everybody make out it . And I ’m tell you the demo that I created — where my brother acquire off a plane and came properly over to my studio apartment to read the lead vocal on the demonstration — it ’s indistinguishable from what blend on the melody .
io9 : So of late you were rack up seasons of Outlander , Snowpiercer , Agents of Shield , The Walking Dead , and a draw of other stuff pretty much simultaneously . How , man ?
McCreary : I thrive on multitasking . When I was doing Battlestar Galactica , it was me and a transcription engineer . When I say the two of us were doing everything , I mean everything . I was drop a line the euphony . I was organise the euphony . I would remain up all night with my brother print out the part and bug them together . I would get to the sitting ahead of time and put the portion out on the [ musician ’ ] stands . It ’s all I knew ! I was 24 ! I did n’t sleep with any well !
Then I mother a call to do a show called Eureka . This is the first sentence that showrunners just sort of offered me a job because they had hear of me . I was now somebody people know and I recollect gross out out , thinking , “ Oh my god , how can I do two show at once ? ” And I remembered something Elmer Bernstein say . I was one of his last protégés , so I knew him very well . Elmer always said to me that get your first gig is wanton — it ’s your 2d gig that ’s hard . Only now , seem back , I take in the layers of wisdom in there , but I call back thinking if I turn down Eureka , this might be it . You jazz , this is my hazard to issue into the business and prove that I ’m not a one - john pony . I can calculate out a way of life to bring on assistance . I do n’t need to organise every discriminative stimulus and I certainly do n’t demand to impress up the parts and tape them together . There ’s stuff and nonsense I can delegate .
So I said “ Yes , I can do two show , ” and I kid you not , three weeks later I got an offer onTerminator : The Sarah Connor Chroniclesand I was like “ Oh my god , ” but that that ’s where it begin . Suddenly it was like three shows , and then telecasting secret plan set forth calling , and then I startle doing some small features . But I have into that mindset to front for things that I can delegate , where can I be a little more efficient . Ultimately , I just love my job so much that I just ca n’t say no to something that I ’m arouse about . I just kind of figure out a way , even if it means I ’m miss a little nap once in a while to get it all done .
io9 : It seems like you would fall back all your sleep all the meter , given how much you produce at any given point .
McCreary : There are definitely stretch where I do n’t get a passel of sleep . Let me put it that way , but over the long time I have just build up up an unbelievable team around me that I bank with my biography , and that is the elbow room that I ’ve been able to kind of keep my focus on what matter , which is the originative clobber . Really , this job is such an incredible balance between creative , technical , and political skills that are needed 24/7 , and I found that I ’m thrill to depute the technical side because it leaves me more bandwidth to be creative and to aid with the politics and make certain that producer and showrunners and directors and studios are happy .
io9 : Is there anything else about So Say We All you desire masses to know about ?
McCreary : One thing I would get it on to add is that a funny thing materialise over the line of working on these concert where the cues that I wrote for the pictures started to germinate into songs , and I started change them more and more to create a square alive experience . And over the year , I became quite warm of these arrangement that in many shipway I suppose were a better hearing experience , a more satisfying and fun listening experience , than their soundtrack record album similitude . And that was one of the thing that was really gnawing at me over the last 10 years — that those arrangements never got out in the world and that people could n’t hear them and the shape those songs take on . One of the thing that I did over the last few years is replication to these arrangements . In a lot of cases , I revisit them in the studio and smoothen them up , and took another twinge at them with my more modernistic , present-day self and I cerebrate they really rock . I stand for , it ’s just so cheering and they ’re so beautiful . Like at this point now , the version of “ Prelude to War ” that I want to listen to is the live one . It ’s got so much zip and it ’s so vivid . Not to take away from the season two track , but I call up that ’s what ’s proceed to really surprise people . Each one is really dialed in and unlike than what you heard on the show .
io9 : I opine , especially to someone like yourself , there ’s a vast deviation between what is intelligibly a score and then a concert , even if the bones are the same .
McCreary : Absolutely , and in many ways , this is something that I ’ve always tackled when I release soundtrack albums . I always endeavor to submit them in a elbow room that maximize their flow and how well-heeled it is to enjoy them . But in the bouncy concert environment , all the restraints are gone and I could just live with the parts of the tracks that I like the most . I can kind of prune the adipose tissue . I can sprain ideas and choruses and really make more of a song configuration . It just realize more accessible because the very specific needs of hitting picture are removed . With all that aver , I do intend it preserves absolutely the spirit of those tons . If lover want to close their eyes and still be take away to Battlestar Galactica [ by the euphony ] , they can . I intend , that ’s what ’s so swell about it . To me , it ’s perfecting the mode you get to experience the soundtrack to the show without transforming it into something else .
io9 : I just wanted to say give thanks you for this audience , and your atomic number 59 agent suppose you were an io9 reader , so I wanted to thank you for that , too .
McCreary : I was going to say , I frequently read you ! I was asking my manager like , who am I talking to ? Can it be Rob ? So this has been fun . I ’ve been an io9 lector for years , so I am very excited to deal this with io9 readers . I authentically think people who know your site are really going to enjoy this record . It ’s made for that kind of genre fan .
So Say We All : Battlestar Galactica Live will be available on June 4 at McCreary’sSparks & Shadowssite alongside the four original Battlestar Galactica soundtrack , all five of which have been digitally remastered . They ’ll also finally be usable via streaming services as well . If you want to go the extra mile , a limited number of So Say We All albums signed by McCreary will be useable on June 8 over atLa - La Land Records .
Here ’s the tracklist :
A Distant Sadness
Prelude To War
Baltar ’s Dream
Roslin and Adama
Apocalypse
Fight Night
Something Dark Is Coming
cheat on My protagonist
Lords Of Kobol
ramp New Caprica
mind The Call
All Along The Watchtower
Colonial Anthem / Black Market
For more , head to the composer’sblogatBearMcCreary.comfor his store of creating scores for show like BSG , The Walking Dead , Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , Outlander , and well as discussion of the music itself .
For more , make certain you ’re follow us on our Instagram @io9dotcom .
Danny ElfmanKatee SackhoffOutlanderTelevision seriesThe Walking beat
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