The Beats Behind Bond

(Published in The New Indian Express, dated 14th December, 2008)

Pete Lockett has arranged and recorded all the ethnic percussion for the five Bond films Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale, Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough. City of Angels , The Insider,The Bone Collector, Snatch and Moulin Rouge are among his credits. He has worked with musicians including Björk, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Vikku Vinayakram, Ustad Zakir Hussain, The Verve, Mandolin U Shrinivas, Mandolin Rajesh, Bickram Ghosh, Vanessa-Mae, Pet Shop Boys, Hariharan, A R Rahman, the BBC concert orchestra and Sinead O'Connor. He was voted #1 BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2005 by readers of Rhythm & best live percussionist 2005 on international drum site, mikedolbear.com.

Let's start off with 'Quantum of Solace'. Did you like the film?

You know, I haven't seen it yet. Of course, I've seen the snippets I've played for. I've been on tour here for a while now. We were planning to see it in Calcutta, but no, that didn't work out, and so I've not seen it yet. But it seems to have a lot of great action, and seems quite exciting, really.

How much do you get to see of a Bond movie before you compose for it? Is it the entire film, or just the snippets you compose for? And does it make a difference?

Well, obviously the composer gets to see the whole film, but with us musicians, it depends. With a couple of the films I've worked for, I've seen them through before I start working on them. Mostly, it's just snippets, and the terminology is still what it was when they were shooting it. So you're looking at your Reel 1, and Reel 2 and Reel 3. And no, I don't think it makes any difference at all. The music compliments a scene, and most scenes tend to be self-explanatory. Whether it's an action scene, or a love scene, or a terror scene, they have their own import…and you've got to get the right approach to it, when director and composer work hand-in-hand.

The percussion in 'Quantum of Solace' was a lot more muted than in 'Casino Royale'. Any reasons you took that particular approach?

To be honest, it's in the hands of the director what goes out in the final mix. For movies like Bond, you have two teams – the sound design team, which gets your sound effects and gun shots in, and the music team. And it's the director's call which gets heard more – so sometimes, the music can completely outrun the sound effects, and sometimes the sound effects outrun the music. So when you're a musician, you play and you hope the music outruns everything else! (laughing)

In 'Casino Royale', the nine-minute chase on the construction site, where the only music is percussion, was your 'moment'. Did you have a moment in this film?

Well, this one, I worked on all through, you know, and I did a lot more on 'Quantum of Solace' than I did on 'Casino Royale'. I did stuff right across the film really, do I don't think any particular scene stands out – though, of course, the action scenes were wonderful, and you really enjoy working on those because they allow you to really explore your rhythm.

You've worked with two Bonds – Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig – and I'm sure each of their characters and what they bring to Bond alters the music you make for them…so what is Pierce Brosnan's music and what is Daniel Craig's?

I wouldn't say each of them has their own music. You tend to approach each film differently and bring a bit of your own self, your own experiences into the work. I've worked with Middle Eastern music, North Indian and South Indian music, African rhythms…all over the world, really, and I try to bring some of that into every Bond film.Q: But then again, the music for Bond movies is a decades-old framework, and everyone wants to hear the music and know it's Bond. How difficult is it to innovate within those confines?A: Well, music's music. And one has to find ways to innovate, to bring in different approaches for different scenarios. Like this album I'm doing with Bickram Ghosh, 'Kingdom of Rhythms'. You've got your sound design, and your beats and electronic rhythms, and each of us brings something into it. We've got a whole lot of songs here, where you have a basic tabla and then the mood of a song might need a melodious groove, and another one might need blindingly fast fills and licks. So when you have a framework, you work within it, look at the scenes afresh…and the mood carries you.

You've composed for films as varied as 'Snatch' and 'City of Angels'. And some of them offer a lot more to a percussionist, with thrilling chases and whatnot. So which movie would you describe as your personal Everest? The one that was most challenging and which you enjoyed the most?

Well, I don't know if I can think of one Everest. You go in with an open mind, and you try to create percussion that says a certain thing. Film percussion is rarely very complicated and it's less of a technical challenge than a creative one. You need to look at what's suitable, what's appropriate, what fits into the film. Having said that, I've worked on five Bond movies, and I think that was the most challenging part. You're constantly searching for something new, and that can get quite challenging, especially when you get to the third and the fourth! (laughs)

You spoke a while earlier about how it's the situation and not an actor who demands a certain kind of music. But you've worked on Sivaji. You've been to Chennai often enough to know how huge Rajnikanth is. So tell us about that – making music for an actor, more than a movie.

Oh, wow! That project involved working with A R Rahman, who of course, was the building block for the score. And he's so enthusiastic and so involved, he gives you that creative freedom to explore. And you know, I'm always thinking of music, whether it's driving down the motorway or on board a plane or in a train. There are all these textural layers of rhythmic sound, and you can play around with them later. I got to do that a lot for Sivaji, and it was a tremendous experience.

I've heard a lot of your music, and there's something uncontained about it…like something which speaks to the universe. Where does control come in? At what point does the musician in you get tamed by the composer in you?

It's not about being tamed, really, because as you play, you begin to know intuitively what's right and what's wrong. Younger players could get carried away doing all these complex rhythms, sort of really exploring, without setting themselves limits. But after a while, you tend to know when you strike a balance, find something appropriate, something musical. Sometimes it's really simple, and sometimes really complicated. Your experience tells you what fits, and that's when you rein in.

You've been working on an album with Bickram Ghosh and Mandolin Rajesh. Tell us more about that, and more about the collaborative work you've been doing.

Oh, yes, that's 'Journeys with the Master Drummers of India'. Mahesh Vinayakram is in on it too. I've been really sort of looking at music from all over the world, and this is an attempt to fuse South Indian ideas and North Indian music, and bring it into a different arena, a much more modern climate, but the integrity of the music has to stay intact. So you bring in all the elements of traditional music, and look at it in a different way. All of our musician friends love how it's come out. And this new independent label, India Beat, is coming out with 'Kingdom of Rhythm', a collaboration with Bickram Ghosh. That should be out in January. That's going to be a Tour de France of music with tribal chants and all of that. We've also brought in Kai Eckhard, who used to play bass with Jon McLoughlin. And there's 'Made in Chennai', with Umashankar Vinayakram and Vinayaka.

You've been working in combinations of two percussionists and another instrumentalist…mandolin, bass…that's quite unique. How did you make that decision?

Well, it seemed a natural combination to me. You know, in Indian classical, you have the vocal component and then you play around so much with the instrumental component. What I wanted to do here was to make a journey where you have Indian classical music, and then you play that with electronics and drums, orchestra and drums. Of course, we were a bit nervous about how it would come out, but it's been fantastic, and it sounds great!

Your book – 'Indian rhythms on the drum set' – was published recently. It's a pretty complex subject. How long did it take you to write it?

Oh, that was a big write! It was about three years' work. Of course, I wasn't writing everyday, but it comprises a journey of that long or more. It's the first book of its kind, which looks at Indian rhythms specifically on percussion. It's primarily South Indian, Carnatic, music, but there are also components of North Indian music, and both Carnatic and Hindustani are so complex and developed a Westerner can't even get a foot in the door, you know, unless you've come here and studied it extensively. Now that I've made that journey, I want more people around the world to understand this music…I wanted to put down a solid, jargon-free introduction to Indian music, orchestrated on Indian rhythms.

You've got so many types of music within India – there's Carnatic, there's Hindustani and then you have Rabindra Sangeet. And then, you have Indian performers of Western instruments like the piano and saxophone and guitar. But while these systems were separate entities until recently, we see an increasing number of collaborations these days…

Exactly! I think we're moving in that direction, where music is not bifurcated into North and South Indian rhythms. Music breaks barriers within society and religions and people. You know, we musicians are all like brothers together, we make music together and we respect each other. It's a model platform, that it would be nice if politicians followed! (laughs)

Your website www.petelockett.com, has lessons put up regularly, and you don't charge for them. What is the philosophy behind that, at a time when artistes all over the world are struggling with internet piracy?

I see it as my way of giving back. I suppose I could charge five bucks a lesson, but I don't need to, because I make enough doing the work I do. Some people tend to retain everything, but then it dies out if you do. Some people make it very difficult for other people to learn from them, but I want to see more people getting out there and making good music. It was very hard for me when I started out, in the pre-Google, pre-YouTube days. Hard to source information and get what you need. Now it's much easier, and I want to make a contribution. I want to see people playing bongos the right way. You know, you walk into a club sometimes, and you see this guy or girl sort of going at a bongo in a casual way, accompanying the DJ, and you think they could do so much more if they knew how to play it, instead of just mucking around…and you wish you could hear that.

You play so many instruments, and I'm sure you have a special touch with each of them. And to know them, you need to practise often, keep in touch. So where do you find the time, how do you play all of them regularly?

Oh, that's quite hard, especially when you're away. I've been here in India for the best part of two weeks now. And after getting back, I'm going to be doing a tour of Europe. So, yeah, it's pretty difficult. I've got one or two specific routines, where you just limber up with your instruments. And you'd be surprised at how much that puts you back in touch. And sometimes, you know, playing one instrument can get you in touch with all of them. For example, the kanjira, it's not that different from playing the tabla, because you're touching those notes on the scale, you're articulating. So playing one instrument, it's like playing all of them, in a bizarre and unlikely way!