Award-winning composer Steven Price has scored director Edgar Wright's new "Barmageddon" comedy The World's End. The movie is a Focus Features presentation in association with Relativity Media of a Working Title production in association with Big Talk Pictures. Price had previously worked with Wright as music editor on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. His original score can be heard on The World's End - Original Motion Picture Score, released by Back Lot Music Tuesday, August 20, in advance of the movie's nationwide release by Focus Features on Friday, August 23, 2013.
A signature brew of camaraderie, knockabout humor, excessive quaffing, questionable life choices, hand-to-hand combat, and explosive surprises, The World's End reteams director Edgar Wright with actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, following their hits Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). When "five musketeers" embark on an epic pub crawl in their hometown, and attempt along the way to reconcile their past and present, an increasingly insane and dangerous series of encounters with old haunts and acquaintances makes them realize that the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching the fabled pub The World's End is the least of their worries...
Bringing together a full orchestra with electronic instrumental design, Steven Price creates a score for The World's End that is epic and unique. "The World's End was a great opportunity to create a score for a comedy, an action thriller, and a sci-fi apocalypse, all at the same time! Edgar's films are always very layered and it was an enjoyable experience for me to create sounds and subtly plant ideas within the music that add to the film. Additionally, I incorporated the different sounds of communication devices, manipulating them and layering with a full orchestra," explained Price. The composer also incorporates choral vocals building intensity with the orchestra's more percussive moments. Working closely with the director, Price said, "Edgar and I share a love for the sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and that influenced much of the musical sound design that I created for the film."
Steven Price's passion for music began early: a guitarist from the age of five, he went on to achieve a First Class degree in Music from Cambridge University. Following graduation, he went to work in the London studio of Gang of Four guitarist/producer Andy Gill, for whom he would program, contribute string arrangements, and play on albums alongside artists such as Michael Hutchence and Bono. Mr. Price went on to work as a programmer, arranger, and performer with film music composer Trevor Jones. He provided additional music for projects such as Roger Donaldson's Thirteen Days; Stephen Norrington's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Frank Coraci's Around the World in 80 Days; the television series Dinotopia; and Tamra Davis' Crossroads, on which he was also the featured guitar soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra. A recommendation from Abbey Road Studios brought him to the attention of Howard Shore, leading to Mr. Price's work with the Oscar-winning composer as music editor on Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His subsequent movies as music editor included Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, for which he shared with his fellow music editors a Golden Reel Award nomination; and, in his first project with The World's End director Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, on which he also collaborated with the film's composer Nigel Godrich. Among the other composers that he has worked with and learned from are Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Harry and Rupert Gregson-Williams, Patrick Doyle, George Fenton, Dario Marianelli, and Anne Dudley. He has composed music for advertising campaigns in both the U.K. and U.S. After contributing additional music to Richard Curtis' Pirate Radio, he composed the original score for Joe Cornish's sleeper success Attack the Block, winning awards from both the Austin Film Critics Association and the Sitges-Catalonian International Film Festival. Mr. Price recently completed his original score for one of 2013's most anticipated films, Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.