Plum's earliest music influences trace back to the scores for Pee-Wee's Playhouse created by Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Elfman, and The Residents. His interest in The Residents was developed further, when two years later, at the age of 13, Plum's older brothers took him to a performance of "Cube E", a three-act stage show by The Residents. Plum has frequently cites The Residents as his initial inspiration to become a performer. "I became convinced that music could be weird, subversive and meaningful", he spoke of The Residents' influence, "I knew that one day I would be doing something similar". Plum immediately began composing music on his brothers' instruments and recording home-made demos on Casio keyboards with 4-track recorders.[1] Plum is proficient on multiple instruments and yet is entirely self-taught; his biography on the Making Fiends website claims his only formal musical training was completing a tap dance class at East Los Angeles College.[2]
After making the rounds as a drummer in the Los Angeles punk scene, Plum's first break came in 1996 when he contributed several songs to the soundtrack of Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf, a no-budget independent horror film directed by Ed Wood regular Conrad Brooks. The following year, Plum self-released his debut album Anthology of Infection, Vol. 1, a compilation of instrumental pieces written and recorded between 1990 and 1997, establishing a website promoting his music and offering his composing services to amateur filmmakers. A second compilation of newer instrumental material, Anthology of Infection, Vol. 2, was released in January 2000 to positive reviews, with Razorcake calling it "simply amazing" and Style Weekly praising Plum as "truly adept at songwriting".[4]
Plum spent most of his twenties working in a cubicle at the University of California, Los Angeles, making music in his spare time as a hobby, with a wish to score cartoons. This want for scoring animation was one of the inspirations behind his first album, 'Anthology Of Infection Volume One' [3] In 1996 he composed the score for a film titled Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf, which his first credited role.[5]
Ebola Music Orchestra
In 1998, Plum began assembling the Ebola Music Orchestra, a ten-piece ensemble including a horn section, strings and accordions as the means of performing songs from Anthology of Infection in a concert setting, with Plum serving as the musical director as well as switching between guitar, keyboards, xylophone and various unique instruments. The original incarnations of the Ebola Music Orchestra featured numerous performers with physical deformities. "I am equally fascinated by people who are different but not because they are shocking or weird, but because they are beautiful", Plum explained, "I love talented people who embrace the things that make them different from the rest of the world". At one point, the orchestra was to be featured on the 2000 NBC revival of the human interest series You Asked For It, but NBC executives quickly pulled the plug on the segment out of concern it would be too controversial for prime time television (Plum speculated that it was "Gerome, the legless thalidomide-baby breakdancer" which broke the deal). Over time the group became less conceptual and more of a rock-oriented ensemble of Plum's "most talented friends performing the imaginary cartoon soundtracks I had in my head". The Ebola Music Orchestra released their debut album The Rat King in 2007. Critical response to the album was largely positive, including "highly recommended" praise from BlogCritics, which succinctly concluded their review with "[Ego Plum]'s got skillz".[6]
Television
Whilst still working at UCLA, Plum saw a screening of Amy Winfrey's 2000 short film The Bad Plant. The film made a strong impression on Plum, who sought out Winfrey to give his Anthology of Infection CD from. A year or two later, Winfrey contacted Plum to tell him she was developing a show for Nickelodeon, Making Fiends.[3]Making Fiends premiered on October 4, 2008. Ego composed original material for the show and worked with songs written by series creator Amy Winfrey. According to the show's production blog, Plum took a unique approach to scoring Making Fiends, frequently using toy instruments which were sometimes deliberately left out of tune and incorporating unusual sounds such as dripping water and goat bleats to give the score "an off-kilter, childlike quality".[7] Although Making Fiends was cancelled after one season, the series spawned an enduring cult following and Plum continued a working relationship with Nickelodeon: in 2009, he was asked to compose the theme song to Planet Sheen, a spin-off of the hit series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Plum was ultimately not selected to score the series, though has since posted his original demos online.[8]
Plum continued his work in scoring animated television with the Disney Channel original series Star vs. the Forces of Evil, composing the ending credits theme with Daron Nefcy. In late 2014, Plum announced that he had signed a contract to write songs and music for Harvey Beaks (then titled Bad Seeds), a new Nickelodeon series from C.H. Greenblatt, the creator of Cartoon Network's Chowder. Upon signing onto the show, Plum successfully negotiated the use of a 40-piece orchestra to record the series' music, making Harvey Beaks the first Nickelodeon show and one of the very few animated cable series to utilize a full orchestral score.[1][9]
Stage
Plum made his debut composing for the stage in 2009 with The Gogol Project, an original adaptation of three short stories by Nikolai Gogol created by the Rogue Artists Ensemble.[10][11]The Gogol Project opened at the Bootleg Theater in Westlake to critical acclaim, winning Plum a 2009/2010 Ovation Award for Music Composition for a Play.[12] Plum subsequently scored A Noise Within's 2012 adaptation of Charles Dickens'A Christmas Carol and partnered with the Rogues again writing original songs and music for their 2013 production of Pinocchio.[13][14]
Collaborations
Over the course of his career, Ego Plum has collaborated with many independent and high-profile musicians and composers. One of his more prolific partnerships has been with David J, bassist for the gothic rock bands Bauhaus and Love and Rockets. In 2007, J was hired to score independent filmmaker Ramzi Abed's Black Dahlia-inspired feature The Devil's Muse when Abed introduced him to Plum's demos after Plum expressed to Abed a desire to help work on the film. According to J, he was "enormously impressed" by Plum's music: "All lush film noir atmospherics, Rotaesque strings and what sounded like the fever dreams of Raymond Scott. I had a partner in crime!".[15] After working together on The Devil's Muse, Plum subsequently co-composed and performed on several musical projects with J, including the 2006 re-release and re-recording of J's album V for Vendetta and his 2011 stage play The Chanteuse and the Devil's Muse and its soundtrack accompaniment.[16]
Plum befriended artist and Marilyn Manson co-founder Gidget Gein in the early 2000s, eventually composing original music for Gein's 2004 "Gollywood" art and fashion shows for his Use Once and Destroy Couture fashion line. Following Gein's death in 2008, Plum digitally released these compositions as a soundtrack album, also featuring snippets of an in-studio jam between Plum and Gein.[17]
Plum is a fervent admirer of the music and electronic innovation of composer Raymond Scott, and in 2012, he worked with Oingo Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek in arranging a live tribute show held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall's REDCAT entitled "Machine Man: The Musical Mayhem of Raymond Scott," which was produced in cooperation with Jeff Winner of The Raymond Scott Archives.[18][19] Bartek, himself a composer and orchestrator for film and television, had previously worked with Plum providing guitar and theremin for The Gogol Project's soundtrack release and currently produces Plum's score for Harvey Beaks.
The Radioactive Chicken Heads
Plum has worked on several projects with the Orange County comedy punk band The Radioactive Chicken Heads, receiving credits on their albums Growing Mold and Music for Mutants for additional guitar tracks and songwriting. He also helped produce, arrange and record the debut album from the Chicken Heads garage pop side project the Purple Mums and in March 2015, Plum wrote and directed a three-act absurdist stage play entitled The Radioactive Chicken Heads Tanksgiving Special which premiered at The Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles, featuring the band performing live music to a comedic narrative featuring guest appearances from actor Dukey Flyswatter, Mike Odd of Rosemary's Billygoat and Hunter Jackson of GWAR.[20]
Danny Elfman
In 2012, film director and Oingo Boingo co-founder Richard Elfman announced plans to film a sequel to his 1980 cult musical Forbidden Zone, revealing that Plum would be contributing music and songs in conjunction with original composer Danny Elfman, whose commitments in Hollywood prevented him from dedicating himself to the project full-time. Plum, a lifelong Oingo Boingo fan, called the opportunity "something out of a dream".[21] Although little is known about the current status of production following a successful IndieGoGo campaign in May 2014, preliminary music by Plum and Elfman has been used in several promotional videos.[22]
Daniel Robert Elfman is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the years previous. Their highest-charting song, "Weird Science", reached No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo was an American surrealist street theatre troupe, formed by performer and director Richard Elfman in 1972. The group was led by Richard until 1976, when his brother Danny Elfman took over. The group evolved into an experimental musical theatre group, performing songs from the 1930s-40s and original material.
Only a Lad is the debut studio album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1981, following their self-titled EP.
Warren Fitzgerald is an American punk rock guitarist, songwriter, and record label owner. He is best known for being the guitarist of The Vandals and Oingo Boingo. He is also co-founder of Kung Fu Records, along with his Vandals band-mate Joe Escalante.
Dead Man's Party is the fifth album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1985. The album contains the only two singles by the band to chart on the Billboard Hot 100: "Weird Science" at number 45, and "Just Another Day" at number 85.
Dark at the End of the Tunnel is the seventh studio album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1990.
Richard Elfman is an American actor, musician, director, producer, screenwriter, journalist, author and magazine publisher.
Forbidden Zone (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to Forbidden Zone, the 1982 cult film directed by Richard Elfman, with music by his brother Danny Elfman and performed by The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
"Weird Science" is a song by American new wave band Oingo Boingo. Written by frontman Danny Elfman, it is the theme song to the Weird Science film and television series. It was released on the film's soundtrack, as well as Oingo Boingo's fifth studio album, Dead Man's Party (1985), in a longer mix. The song reached No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 21 on the US Dance Club Charts, and No. 81 in Canada. It is Oingo Boingo's most successful single.
Steve Bartek is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the band Oingo Boingo and for his orchestration work with composer Danny Elfman.
Making Fiends is an American animated television miniseries based on the web series of the same name. The series ran from October 4 to November 1, 2008, on Nicktoons Network. The series is Nickelodeon Animation Studio’s first animated series to be based on a web series, and follows the evil gross-loving tomboy Vendetta and the new happy but dim-witted girly-girl, Charlotte, at school in the gloomy town of Clamburg. Charlotte unintentionally irritates and annoys Vendetta. As a result, Vendetta attempts to kill her with fiends, but she always fails due to Charlotte's luck.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is the fifteenth soundtrack album by American composer Danny Elfman. It was released on October 12, 1993, by Walt Disney Records to promote the 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Composed by Danny Elfman, the soundtrack was nominated for the 1993 Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The album peaked at #64 on the US Billboard 200.
Batman: Original Motion Picture Score is the score album for the 1989 film Batman by Danny Elfman. According to the Batman DVD Special Edition, Elfman said that producer Jon Peters was not sure about him as a composer until Tim Burton made him play the main titles. Elfman admitted he was stunned when Peters announced that the score would be released on its own album. The score was widely acclaimed by the press and in many contemporary reviews is cited as the highlight of the film.
Select commercially released recordings of Danny Elfman's music for film, television, stage and the concert hall. For a full list of Elfman's compositions, see List of compositions by Danny Elfman. For Elfman's recordings as lead singer/songwriter for Oingo Boingo, see the Oingo Boingo discography page.
Sam "Sluggo" Phipps is an American saxophone player, best known for being a member of the new wave band Oingo Boingo.
"Little Girls" is a song by American new wave band Oingo Boingo and the opening track of their debut studio album Only a Lad.
Big Mess is the second solo studio album by American singer, musician, and composer Danny Elfman. It was released by Anti- and Epitaph Records on June 11, 2021.
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