Jeremy asked Gary to compose for him what I believe is called ring entrance music. Gary invited me to contribute, and it became the first of two Bubblebrain recording projects of 2010.
Is a what? Oh, it happens at boxing matches. Jeremy was in boxing training for a fund-raiser event. The idea fired our imaginations. This was a short time before the idea of the Gilbert O’Sullivan piece came about. The strategy of making music for an event, heightening drama and subverting expectations, began with this theme and informed the work that followed.
We had to make something that sounded dominant, aggressive, and full of dread consciousness. Our job was to conjure what you would most wish to not see in someone intending to do damage.
If you wanna live
Treat me good
If you wanna live, live
I beg you treat me good
Peter Tosh – Steppin’ Razor
Also in the mix are the funky riffs from David Bowie’s Fame. Carlos Alomar probably deserves the larger credit. We put Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger in there too, enjoying the obviousness of it. I discovered how great the production is on that record. We used some of the layered, picked guitars and, of course, the great slabs of guitar and synth melody that famously signify the ring entrance of Rocky Balboa. I love that epic pop rock sound of the 80s. The expensive sound of an album with millions of dollars lavished on orchestras and stoned musicians spending every day for three months in the studio slightly changing how a kick drum sounds. That sound is the basis for the best dance music – decadent, obsessively grand and culturally imperialist death disco.
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