It has been a very eventful 12 months for Irish composer and musician Brian Byrne. He was the man behind the new 'Late Late Show' theme tune, won an IFTA for his score for the Irish sci-fi comedy 'Zonad', toured with Diane Warren and worked on the soundtrack for 'Sex and the City 2', where he arranged 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' and also played piano on Liza Minnelli's version of Beyoncé’s 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)'.
Now based in Los Angeles, the Navan man is back among his old friends in the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band for a show at the National Concert Hall on Thursday, 24 June. It will feature music from 'Sex and the City 2, 'Zonad' and other film and TV favourites and the premiere of his new saxophone concerto. Harry Guerin caught up with him during rehearsals in RTÉ for his NCH show.
Harry Guerin: You only moved to Los Angeles six years ago and while the Hollywood soundtrack world is a very closed one, here you are having worked on one of the biggest films of 2010. How did that happen?
Brian Byrne: There's an Australian friend of mine called Tim Davies. He's a big orchestrator in Hollywood and when he can't do a concert or recording he'll get in touch with me. He called me and said, 'Listen, I'm going away. Would you be able to do this job?', but he didn't tell me what it was!
[When I started working] they were right in the middle of shooting the film. They didn't tell us [the musicians] much but they told us that maybe there was going to be a karaoke scene or a wedding scene and this piece was to be three-and-a-half minutes and a jazz standard, so the parameters were set. So when I was working on it I didn't know if it [the music] was going to make the movie or if it was going to make the soundtrack and I didn't know who the singers were. First I heard that Liza Minnelli was on it was when they sent me the soundtrack!
HG: Is it strange being in the dark about stuff like that?
BB: You get used to it. I think they do it to add to the excitement - cloak and dagger. You think it's a glamorous thing but you're actually just turning up in a studio with musicians, exactly what I'm doing here [gestures to RTÉ studio] except instead of a live concert it's a film that's going around the world.
HG: So did you get to meet any of the stars?
BB: No. A lot of them were based in New York and I was based in LA. Everything was really hush-hush. A lot of it was already filmed [and] they did a lot of stuff abroad. So no tickets to the premiere!
HG: Still a great gig to get.
BB: It's nice, but this [working with RTÉ Concert Orchestra] is as much fun - I love it. It's nice when you're over there [LA] to know you can come home and see the friendly faces. Plus, this has been an amazing try-out pitch for me. I've tried out more stuff with this orchestra... This week [at the NCH] we're doing a saxophone concerto. Most concerts I do I'll write a new piece, so it means I'm building up a catalogue of serious orchestral works.
HG: So what else will you be doing on Thursday night?
BB: We have some of the old 'hits' from the 'Swinging with the Sixties' and 'Swinging with the Beatles' shows I've done with RTÉ Concert Orchestra - what people came to see me first would expect. I'm doing some music from 'Zonad' and Simon Delaney the star and John Carney the director are going to introduce it. We've got Claire Bonass, who's a girl we found during our search for a 'Swinging with the Beatles' singer on 'The Tubridy Show'. She was a huge hit and people were calling in and saying, 'Who is this girl?', so she's getting her chance to sing with the orchestra. And we also have the 'Late Late Show' theme.
HG: A piece of music you arranged that hundreds of thousands of people are hearing every week.
BB: It's been a crazy year! One thing has kind of led to another. Ryan [Tubridy] is a big fan of the shows we do at the National Concert Hall. Since we started doing 'Swinging at the Movies' and 'Swinging with the Beatles' he always comes in and we always do a slot on the radio show. He had just moved to RTÉ Radio 1 when I did my first concert conducting the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Farmleigh. We met literally five minutes before the show and we just kind of hit it off. He did that show and was great, and then last year it was mentioned that they needed a new theme tune…
HG: Did you have to turn it around very quickly?
BB: It was quick enough. I mean, I did 'Zonad' in 10 days - I probably had more time to do 'The Late Late Show' theme! That's nearly harder when you've two weeks to write 30 seconds or a minute or whatever it is because you have to get it right and if it doesn't work it doesn't work!
HG: Well, it does, and it has a great kick to it.
BB: Thank you. I thought it would be good to infuse something into it. I could've went exactly like the old 'Late Late Show' theme and some people will say, 'It's not the old 'Late Late' theme'. Exactly: Ryan's a new host and he likes jazzy and big bandy [music]. So I put a bit of his personality into what people associate with the 'Gay Byrne Theme'. For me, it was about trying to capture Ryan.
HG: And as time goes on some people won't remember the old music.
BB: A lot of young people didn't remember the old one and were going on youtube [to hear it]. The old song, I'd love to do it in concert. There's actually a whole song, a whole three-and-a-half-minute song. It's really cool and I'm surprised no-one has ever done it. I'd love to do it on 'The Late Late Show' - I think that'd be really interesting for the audience.
HG: So after the National Concert Hall show what's next for you?
BB: I'm working on a film in July. The contract's not signed yet but I'll be writing it in Ireland and it's an American film. I don't want to jinx it until I sign my name on it. But if it works out it will mean I'll be here for July and I'll bring the family over and I'll get to spend the summer in Dublin - and get paid for it!
Brian Byrne with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band perform at the National Concert Hall on Thursday, 24 June. For more details, visit: www.rte.ie/performinggroups.
