Tree Adams is a performer through and through. Most notably, he’s toured with Dagnasterpus, who are, in fact, dropping their first record later this month. Adams credits his time with the group for making him “more collaborative [and] more of a fan of happy accidents that can come from players in a room.” Indeed, listening to Adams’ compositions for film/tv projects—like The 100 or NCIS: New Orleans, for instance—there’s an element of performativity and storytelling in his music that ultimately urges an equally uplifting and emotional sonic experience.
In a way, this makes Adams the perfect composer for RJ Cutler’s documentary Belushi, which tells the life story of the comedic legend John Belushi. As a performer himself, Adams understands the liveliness that comes with being onstage, in front of the camera, or behind the microphone. Listening to his work on Belushi’s score, and how he expertly weaves together funk, blues, and rock, he not only captures the grandiosity of Belushi’s life and work, but celebrates one of the greatest comedic performers to have ever lived as well.
Even further, it’s a testament to Adams’ skill as a composer that, alongside Belushi’s lively moments, he’s also able to dive deep into the darker corners of Belushi’s life. In our interview below, Adams describes how he consequently “warped, reversed, effected, and just generally mangled” the upbeat elements in order to supplement the more serious moments of the documentary.
Whatever the project or the gig—whether it’s a TV show, a film, performing with his band, or even live-streaming with his musically talented kids during the pandemic—it’s clear that Adams throws himself wholly into a composition, unafraid of making mistakes, of stumbling into new ideas, of veering off track. He’s a master performer, after all, and that makes him a master composer.
Belushi is now available to stream on major streaming platforms.
Hi, Tree! I hope you’re doing well. Thank you for taking the time to answer some of The Nerd Daily’s questions!
Congratulations on the documentary! I know John Belushi predominantly through his work on Saturday Night Live (my dad introduced me to it), so, to me, he’s a legend in physical comedy. What was your relationship to Belushi’s work prior to composing the score for the documentary? And how did it change throughout the process?
Thanks Jericho! I grew up watching John Belushi on Saturday Night Live in the 70s and was a huge fan of his Blutarsky character in Animal House and of course Jake in the Blues Brothers. He was larger than life, funny and irresistible. In working on this project, I really got a sense of the man behind these characters. It was an honor to get to paint this vulnerable side with score as the film reveals the complicated layers there. We needed to be able to go back and forth seamlessly between these dramatic pieces and the harder hitting grooves and source cues. The tricky thing along the way was to figure out just how much to lean into the emotional side of things with the music. In the end, it was all about being tasteful and subtle with the dramatic score.
There’s an amazing depth and range to your score: there are moments where it feels larger than life, almost celebratory, but, on the other side, it isn’t afraid to dive into the darker moments. What was your inspiration for the score? I understand that your process often begins with a centrepiece idea; where did you begin in this instance?
The band ensemble recordings were the springboard for everything. I wrote all of those funk, blues and rock pieces first. Then we recorded things live. Then, I deconstructed different instruments and takes and warped, reversed, effected and generally just mangled them into new pieces for the dramatic score.
How did director RJ Cutler approach the music? And what was the collaboration process like with him?
R.J. had a clear idea of what he wanted for the score. He wanted us to do these vintage band pieces to accompany Belushi’s life story and then we’d find subtle fabric for the emotional/dramatic stuff that would be the connective tissue. He wanted things to be cohesive but we still had to be able to cover a wide variety of styles to evolve with Belushi through the decade.
I’m curious to know more about your process of deconstructing the recorded band elements—would you elaborate more on this technique? How did you decide on it?
It seemed like a logical way to keep things cohesive. So, taking a sustained bass element adding distortion, reversing it, time stretching it, adding effects. Or perhaps taking a cymbal scrape and bending/modulating it. We took harmonica riffs and slide guitar riffs and added modulation and filters to get glass tones and weird pads. Things like that. In the end, it was unrecognizable from its original use but somehow related.
I must confess a personal connection to your music: before the pandemic, whenever I visited my parents, I often found my dad watching The 100 and NCIS: New Orleans, and because I truly credit my dad for introducing me to films and tv—and because the pandemic has limited my opportunities to visit him—listening to snippets of your music on those shows, now, reminds me of family. I know you come from a very musical family, so my question is: how has your music kept you connected with your own family, especially at a time when distance has been the norm?
During the pandemic, my kids and I did a weekly livestream every Thursday night on Facebook and Instagram. Our son plays drums and our daughter plays bass, piano and sings. So, I’d play guitar and sing and we’d do a little three piece set each week. Then, many of our friends, the grandparents and some of our cousins might tune in each week and make comments. My wife would be online chatting with everyone. We’d take requests each week and try to learn some new songs. It was a wonderful way to connect.
Your music, here, traces John Belushi’s life. If you had to trace your own life with music, what would it sound like?
That’s a fun question! I guess as a composer and a songwriter, I have already been tracing my own life with music. If I were to characterize that music, it’d probably be a mixture of exuberant funk, blues and soul mixed with some maudlin orchestral motifs. But, I’ve still got a lotta living left to do so let’s see where it goes!
In addition to scoring films and tv shows, you’ve also performed live, most notably with The Hatters. How has your experience with performing informed the way you create scores and soundtracks? Conversely, how has scoring informed your approach to performance pieces?
I love performing live and have done so since my days with The Hatters up until my latest project, DAGNASTERPUS. We actually have our first record coming out on June 25th on Six Degrees Records. The single “Crawlin with Vipers” dropped on June 8th and we are actively performing and pushing that record this summer! I think the performing/band thing has influenced my scores a lot. It has made me more collaborative, more of a fan of happy accidents that can come from players in a room. I think the scoring stuff has opened up my imagination to new sounds and ways to arrange songs. So, as a songwriter, I am not as confined to the traditional song writing formula and structure as I used to be and I am more open minded as I embark on the creative process.
If you could write music for any (type of) story, what would it be, and why?
I like Science Fiction. It creates some boundless opportunities in terms of the musical palette and there’s also a ton of homage or inside references to drop and quote as you go.
What’s next for you?
Next up promoting this DAGNASTERPUS record and beginning work on a new TV series, which I cannot yet disclose.
