A biography for Bear McCrearyhasn’t been written yet.
“After 'Eureka' and 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,' I was like 'the scifi guy.'”
“I am equally comfortable conducting an orchestra or talking to a group of academics as I am on stage playing with a rock band. Having my feet in both worlds has benefited me greatly.”
“Yes, Gimli was a very comedic character, but at the end of the day we understood him almost to be like an orphan.”
“I mean, I think as a composer for film, I am very frequently deferential to the drama. My motto is, 'Do no harm.' My goal is that you don't notice the music.”
“Being a composer is a little like being a painter. Sometimes you hire a painter because you want a beautiful painting for your wall, and other times you hire a painter because you want them to paint the wall the color that you want them to paint it.”
“I think David S. Goyer is definitely a visionary writer and filmmaker.”
“The harfoots are nomadic. And if a society is on the move, its instruments have to be portable.”
“When I go to gaming circles on I'm a 'God of War' guy. I'm in horror circles, I'm 'The Walking Dead' guy. In sci-fi, yes, there's 'Battlestar,' but there's also weird fare, like '10 Cloverfield Lane.' 'Outlander' is a historical epic, and there's 'Black Sails.'”
“Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, period pieces, these are all things that inspire me and get me out of bed.”
“Damien' is my love letter to Jerry Goldsmith.”
“I didn't listen to anything with electric bass, guitars, or drums until I was fifteen!”
“I can't write a piece of music in a void, I have to know what instrument I'm writing it for. In the case of 'Da Vinci's Demons,' I knew I wanted to incorporate Renaissance instrumentation and musical styles with more contemporary orchestra, soloists, and synthesizers. So, that got me started.”
“There was a time after doing 'Battlestar Galactica,' where I had my pick of projects that wanted taiko drums and ethnic vocals. You know, that was like, I was the guy who did that.”
“I studied under Elmer Bernstein.”
“I mean, 'Battlestar' was - it doesn't sound it now, but then, that was not how you scored sci-fi space operas on TV. It was a very modern approach.”
“When you die at a difficult part of a game multiple times in a row and you always respawn at the same place, anybody who's played a video games knows that the music starts to annoy you because you're hearing the same music ad nauseam.”
“It's hard to take a series of intervals that we all recognize, and arrange them in a way that is not so simplistic, to give the audience that's a little bit of a challenge but still retains that catchiness. Goldsmith was the master of that.”
“As I emerged into my profession, I realized I had a really unique skill set.”
“Close Encounters' really showed the world what can be accomplished when a filmmaker and composer are cooperating closely.”
“A theme can be a little melody, it can be a couple of notes. It can underscore and add subtext.”