Music is an integral part of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” graphic novel. Here’s a quick sample:
– The Scott Pilgrim name is taken from a song by the now-defunct East Coast Canadian all-girl band Plumtree
– There’s a least two bands in the books, Sex Bob-Omb and The Clash at Demonhead (both are video game references)
– Book #3 “Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness,” is an knowing nod to the Smashing Pumpkins.
– Obvious: the character Young Neil is Neil Young backwards (duh) and one character Stephen Stills is named after a Crosby, Stills & Nash member.
– Scott Pilgrim #5 actually comes with a written-in soundtrack in the index that includes an modern indie-rock heavy mix of Spoon, Be Your Own Pet, Beulah, Neko Case and many more.
– ‘Pilgrim’ author Bryan Lee O’Malley has already posted mixtape selections from the first three books that include bands like Big Star, Wilco, and local Canadian fare (some broke-up and underappreciated) like Thrush Hermit, Joel Plaskett, Zumpano, etc.
So it’s not hard to make some pretty educated guesses what director Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead” “Hot Fuzz”) will utilize musically. The template is already all in the books.
Set in Toronto, Canada, ‘Pilgrim’ the book also includes celebrated Canuck hard rockers Sloan in its fifth volume soundtrack pages and in Wright’s most recent photo blog post founding member vocalist/bassist Chris Murphy is clearly seen jamming with Michael Cera and actor Johnny Simmons who play the sycophant only-fan of Pilgrim/Cera’s band Sex Bob-Omb, Young Neil. Does this mean Murphy and or Sloan are helping create some of the music for the band? He’s probably at least doing some music consultation we’re sure (any Torontonian/fan of Pilgrim could have guessed their participation a mile away; we did).
But what does Sex Bob-Omb sound like? A source close to the project tell us one idea back in the day was to have the Tennessee garage rock band Be Your Own Pet to play and or supply the music for the imaginary band, but they’ve since broke up (look for their music to be included somewhere). But the group, while loud, has an alt-country, jangly vibe that some people have missed.
“Yeah, and nobody seems to notice that [Stephen Stills] is banging on an acoustic guitar and singing about his tortured relationship,” O’Malley told the L.A. Times last year. “I think they’re a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll. He’d be like Gram Parsons, but the rest of the band won’t let him slow down. I thought of early Uncle Tupelo, when they were really smushing punk and country into one weird arrhythmic monstrosity.”
We already know that Canadian synth rockers Metric are on the soundtrack and that Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich is (probably) curating the soundtrack. Set in Toronto, which is already replete with winning indie-rock bands, we’ve also already noted that T.O. faves Broken Social Scene has been spotted hanging out with Wright (who is good buddies with Godrich; and BSS have already done a ton of film work) so it won’t surprise us a bit if they’re involved. The Toronto scene is also very incestuous, so when one band joins the fray, all of them do (and the BSS network already includes Metric, Feist, Stars, Jason Collet etc. etc.). Our loose guess is Metric is probably going to do some of sounds for The Clash At Demonhead band since they’re both synth-rockers fronted by a female singer (and the group seem all too adamant about not discussing their participation in the film).
Either way, “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” should feature no end of musical riches.
