Graeme Revell

Drawing upon his early years in the industrial band <a href="spotify:artist:7zfZAtYvNGgUP8qBppnFGV">SPK</a>, composer Graeme Revell has championed a sophisticated and stylistically eclectic approach to film scoring. Revell first came into the public eye with his brooding score for the acclaimed 1989 Australian film Dead Calm and has distinguish himself with soundtracks for films like 1993's The Crow, 2005's Sin City, and 2013's Riddick; the latter of which marked his fourth collaboration with director David Twohy. Along with scoring films for such well-known directors as John Woo, Wim Wenders, <a href="spotify:artist:49VlDIG7Dw8raSByeCKXF6">Robert Rodriguez</a>, Ted Demme, and <a href="spotify:artist:7AypNU6l8yt6eA4mG6vVL2">Michael Mann</a>, Revell has scored for TV shows like CSI Miami, The Forgotten, and Fox's Gotham and supplied arrangements for artists like <a href="spotify:artist:5nGIFgo0shDenQYSE0Sn7c">Evanescence</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2nvXsWaHgwu3v3wsVJAEcI">Emma Shapplin</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1km0R7wy712AzLkA1WjKET">Biffy Clyro</a>.

Born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1955, Revell studied classical piano and French horn in his youth. Although music was a passion, he graduated from the University of Auckland with degrees in economics and politics. It was while working as a nurse in a psychiatric ward of a hospital in Sydney that he formed the industrial noise rock band <a href="spotify:artist:7zfZAtYvNGgUP8qBppnFGV">SPK</a> with fellow nurse Neil Hill. Named after the radical German Marxist group Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv (or Socialist Patient's Collective), <a href="spotify:artist:7zfZAtYvNGgUP8qBppnFGV">SPK</a> drew upon the avant-garde and Krautrock sound of <a href="spotify:artist:0dmPX6ovclgOy8WWJaFEUU">Kraftwerk</a>, Can, <a href="spotify:artist:2CqEOngQOOMstJupNn6Hmf">Neu!</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1Z3fF5lZdCM0ZHugkGoH8s">John Cage</a>, crafting their own brand of dissonant, highly theatrical post-punk. In a move that foreshadowed Revell's film work, <a href="spotify:artist:7zfZAtYvNGgUP8qBppnFGV">SPK</a> often augmented their performances with films and slides of surgery, as well as flamethrowers and oil drums.

Although the band eventually dissolved in the late '80s, Revell transitioned into film work, even utilizing the group's recording "In Flagrante Delicto" in his score for director Phillip Noyce's breakthrough 1989 thriller Dead Calm starring <a href="spotify:artist:0ExYzTb7raTAfsXPtiI5vq">Nicole Kidman</a>. The soundtrack won him an Australian Film Industry award, which prompted his move to London to work further on film and music projects. Revell's profile grew throughout the '90s as he supplied the scores to films like Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World and John Woo's Hard Target, as well as The Crow, Street Fighter, The Craft, and others.

During the 2000s, he developed a working relationship with director David Twohy, supplying music for his 2000 sci-fi thriller Pitch Black and subsequent follow-ups The Chronicles of Riddick (2013) and Riddick (2018). Revell has also scored films like Ted Demme's '70s drama Blow, Michel Gondry's comedy-drama Human Nature, and David Gordon Green' action-comedy Pineapple Express. He has worked closely with director <a href="spotify:artist:49VlDIG7Dw8raSByeCKXF6">Robert Rodriguez</a> on films like Sin City and Grindhouse: Planet Terror. Along with his continued film work, he retained connections to the rock world, contributing arrangements to <a href="spotify:artist:5nGIFgo0shDenQYSE0Sn7c">Evanescence</a>'s 2003 album Fallen and writing arrangements for productions by <a href="spotify:artist:1km0R7wy712AzLkA1WjKET">Biffy Clyro</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Ya43ZKWHTKkAbkoJJkwIB">the Wombats</a>, French singer <a href="spotify:artist:2nvXsWaHgwu3v3wsVJAEcI">Emma Shapplin</a>, and others. Revell has written for TV shows, as well, including scoring soundtracks for CSI Miami, The Forgotten, and Fox's Gotham. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi