Summary
- “Twisted Metal” captures the chaotic essence of the game series with its over-the-top fight sequences and silly-yet-violent tone, making it Peacock’s most-binged comedy series.
- Composers Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg bring a unique and cinematic sound to the show’s soundtrack, using instruments and genres not typically found in film scores.
- The show’s score incorporates different musical elements for each character and faction, creating a fleshed-out universe with its own distinct sound, while also paying homage to the game’s original soundtrack.
Warning: SPOILERS for Twisted Metal ahead.The filmmakers behind Peacock’s Twisted Metal were faced with the daunting task of adapting a vehicular combat video game into live-action while injecting enough heart to keep viewers unfamiliar with the game franchise invested. Thankfully, showrunner Michal Jonathan Smith, producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and the rest of the creative team were up for the challenge and their efforts made Twisted Metal Peacock’s most-binged comedy series. The show captures the mayhem and madness of the game series wonderfully, from its over-the-top fight sequences to its silly-yet-violent tone.
Part of what makes Twisted Metal shine is its fantastic soundtrack and score which, despite lacking Rob Zombie and iconic game song “Dragula”, is a highlight of the series. It’s another home run for composers Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg, who have previously worked together on Cobra Kai and were nominated for an Emmy for their score to Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Robinson & Birenberg (Birenberg & Robinson?) have made a name for themselves as composers who pull emotion out of instruments and genres not typical of film scores and have done so yet again in Twisted Metal.
Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg recently sat down with FilmmakerFocus to discuss their work on the show “Wheels on the Bus” and more. It’s important to note that this interview took place during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the show would not exist without the contributions of writers and actors from both unions.
Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg on Twisted Metal
FilmmakerFocus: The first thing I was going to ask was if you two had a history with the game.
Leo Birenberg: Oh yeah, we both played it. It was an early PlayStation staple.
Zach Robinson: Yeah. It’s possible it was a launch game. It’s been around forever; I think it’s been, like, 20 years.
I interviewed you both about the Weird Al movie, and Leo, I remember you called Zach the guitar rock guy and said you were a jazz band guy. How did you handle the vibe of this?
Zach Robinson: Leo doesn’t give himself credit. Leo can shred. He pulled out the shredding techniques.
Leo Birenberg: I’m terrible at playing guitar, but I can write for guitar just fine.
Zach Robinson: And a lot of the scenes are very cinematic. They have elements of nu metal, shoegaze, post-rock and things like that which are very guitar-oriented, but it is a cinematic show, and the showrunner wanted it to have that elevated sense. That’s what we do best, I think: we can take elements that you don’t normally hear in film music and then apply them [to scores]. We come from a quasi-traditional school of film music, so to speak, so we
I was going to ask about that. You went from Cobra Kai to the Weird Al movie to Twisted Metal; it seems like you’re able to take genres that you might not think would work that well on a film score and make it perfect. Do you feel like that’s something you’ve had to figure out just because of the kinds of gigs that you’ve gotten?
Leo Birenberg: I think we get off on finding a concept, wrestling with the concept, and figuring out how to turn it into a film score. We have another show we just wrapped on that we’ll probably talk to you about when it whenever it comes out; it is literally the same concept. We also took a very specific concept and made it the most cinematic that concept has ever been. That’s just our thing now.
There are a lot of shows out there, and there’s a lot of music out there, and a lot of it just sounds the same. You could swap a score from any show into another score and most people wouldn’t notice. We always want to make sure that whatever we do for our shows feels like it’s got our signature on it as artists. That, for us, usually involves this game of finding a genre and reinterpreting it.
Zach Robinson: It makes it more fun for us. It really makes the whole process more enjoyable, too.
In watching the show and listening to the soundtrack, I heard theremin in one of the cues, there’s weird celeste stuff for Sweet Tooth, and it sounds like there are traditional instruments used in “A Trucker Viking’s Funeral.” Were there instruments in this score that you were working with for the first time, or excited to bring in?
Leo Birenberg: I think you’ve brushed on an awesome topic that’s central to the scoring of the show and the vibe of the show. The showrunner, MJ, really wanted this universe to be totally fleshed out. From the very first meeting, he was talking about, “Well, we’re going to meet all these different tribes and cults along the way, and they all need their own sound. We need
Are you ready to dive into the twisted world of Twisted Metal? Get ready for a wild ride because this show is like nothing you’ve seen before. From the Astro burger cultists committing mass suicide in the freezer to the Viking-inspired hard rock metal vibe, every character and mini-world within the universe has its own colorful attention to detail. We wanted to make it as insane as possible, because that’s the assignment.
When it came to the music, we wanted to push boundaries and create something unique. We teamed up with bass player Jacob Umansky, known for his heavy metal bass sampling plugin, UmanskyBass. But instead of just using his plugin, we decided to have him play on the show. Working with a technical and talented bassist like him was a blast.
Our goal was to create a soundtrack that hasn’t been heard before in scores. We drew inspiration from the nu metal era of 2002, giving the show a frozen-in-time feel. We also incorporated elements of post-rock and even discovered a genre called shoegaze, which combines cloudy, post-punky rock ambient music with country western. The result is an awesome, cinematic, Americana score that perfectly complements the twisted world of Twisted Metal.
And of course, we can’t forget about Rob Zombie. While you won’t hear “Dragula” in the show just yet, it’s definitely on our radar. Maybe in the next season, if there is one. So buckle up and get ready for a mind-bending, head-banging experience with Twisted Metal.
Yeah. I had also written down to ask you where the bass tone came from because it’s perfect. It’s so good.
Leo Birenberg: Wow, I’m glad that that comes across.
Zach Robinson: I don’t know if it’ll make it in season 2, because apparently… wasn’t it really hard to dub around?
Leo Birenberg: It wasn’t the bass—I don’t know. This show is obviously really loud. There are cars, there are explosions, and there’s action music the whole time. So, there were some discussions when they finally got on stage about where certain instruments needed to be re-panned to so that they would not, basically, get exploded.
Zach Robinson: There were a lot of instruments that apparently sounded like car noises.
Speaking of those, were you orchestrating all the drum parts yourself, too, with all the crazy double bass, or did you bring in a drummer?
Leo Birenberg: Well, it’s all played live, but we wrote the parts.
Zach Robinson: We had, like, four drummers on this show.
Leo Birenberg: Some special guest drummers.
Zach Robinson: Yeah. Some drummers. We had Jake Reed and Sam Kaufman-Skloff—Sam KS–who play on Cobra Kai. And we had a special guest, Gee Anazalone–he was the drummer of DragonForce who also played on a Cobra Kai episode. He did all the did all the really technical metal stuff–and then we had this guy Dan Mayo, who was an awesome drummer we just found on Instagram, who’s Israeli and does a lot of found percussion. He, like, takes a car rim or a plate and bells and whatever and bangs them and runs it through effects pedals, and he’s got a really cool sound. It’s a very percussive score, for sure.
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And there’s a bonus track on the soundtrack which is “Wheels on the Bus”.
Zach Robinson: Okay, so the reason that that is on the album and not on the show is because we did a version of the big finale fight in episode 10—the track is called “Car-pocalypes Now” on the album–and we did something where the first version of that was a lot more fun than what it ended up being. Our first pass at that whole thing was a lot of music that did not make it, but which had a more fun tilt to it, and that part was when Sweet Tooth kind takes over and jumps on Stone’s car.
At the end of that “Wheels on the Bus” that’s on the album, there’s where he gets run over. We just loved it so much that we had to put it on the album, because it was so fun. I saw on the Spotify stats that it’s, like, the number three track that’s played the most on the whole album. So, maybe we’ll use it next season–if there is a next season.
Do you have a character or faction that was your favorite to write for this season, and/or that you want to get into for next season? There’s that tease of Axel.
Leo Birenberg: People are excited for Axel.
Zach Robinson: Because how are they going to do it? I can’t even imagine.
Leo Birenberg: Who knows? It’s going to be insane. It’s going to be ridiculous.
Zach Robinson: Doing the Holy Men music was fun. The Preacher music was fun. MJ loved the Preacher music. His prompt for the Preacher music was just, like, “Undertaker”, so we were like, “Okay, we’re going to give you that,” and we did. And I liked the Trucker Vikings too.
Leo Birenberg. I think Granny’s funeral is the best cue of the season. It was originally a needle drop; that cue didn’t even exist until the version two of it, because it ended and then a song came in, and then they were like, “Your cue is pretty good. What if you just kept going?” At first we were like, “Aw, really? We”I only had to write two more minutes of music?” and then those two minutes turned out to be the best. Zach, if you were a resident of Twisted Metal, which faction would you choose?
Zach Robinson: Maybe the Holy Men because I secretly wish I was goth. Do you have a clan that you’re fond of?
Leo Birenberg: I like rules. I’d probably be part of those crazy people in Orange County who cut off your ear.
Zach Robinson: You’d definitely be New San Francisco.
Leo Birenberg: Oh, absolutely. Living my utopian life in pure bliss. Making someone drive across the entire country just for ice cream.
About Twisted Metal
John Doe is a fast-talking outsider with no memories of his past but hopes for a better future. When an opportunity presents itself in the form of a new mission, delivering a mystery package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland, he’ll face off against countless dangers to complete his task.
Don’t miss our other Twisted Metal interviews:
- Stephanie Beatriz
- Thomas Haden Church
- Samoa Joe (aka Joe Seanoa)
- Anthony Mackie
- Costume designer Liz Vastola
Twisted Metal is now available for streaming on Peacock.
