BY ANGELO VALDIVIA VIA LEVEL AND GAIN
If you’ve been paying attention to Star Wars over the past decade, you’d know the property has been making huge waves not just in film and video games, but television. One of the biggest reasons to subscribe to Disney+ when it launched in November of 2019 was the hit series The Mandalorian. But Star Wars already had a long-running saga on television a decade earlier that was influencing its incredibly rich universe: The Clone Wars.
Kevin Kiner, composer on all animated Star Wars shows so far, has the honour of contributing the most original music to the Star Wars IP. More than that, he’s also contributed to other huge properties over his career, such as Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Enterprise, CSI: Miami, Jane the Virgin, Titans, the 2017 Ghost in the Shell film, plus many, many others.
In April 2021, Kevin won the award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production at the 48th annual Annie Awards for his work in The Clone Wars – The Final Season (2020). It marked his fourth Annie nomination for his work in a Star Wars series, and his first win. He’s also won a bunch of BMI awards throughout the ‘90s and ‘00s for his work on Walker Texas Ranger and CSI: Miami.
We got to chat with Kevin about his recent Annie win — and where to shoot for next, after already being among the stars.
Congratulations on your Annie Award win for The Clone Wars – The Final Season! In terms of total music, you hold the honour of composing the most music for Star Wars in its history, spanning the entire Clone Wars saga and its debut feature film Star Wars: Rebels, and all-new The Bad Batch series. How does all of that feel?
Thanks so much! It feels fantastic! I never could have imagined such longevity for my Star Wars work, let alone the fact that many of my themes have become part of the Star Wars canon. It’s a great honor and I’m just delighted!
I have always tried to handle my Clone Wars themes with the utmost respect, and hopefully that’s what the fans are reacting to when they respond so positively to my music.
Star Wars as an experience tends to have a particular “voice” to its music, especially when comparing the mainline films and even video games. But since you’ve composed for three different series for more than a decade, how do you approach differentiating your ideas thematically to suit them?
It’s been more of an evolution, rather than a revolution.
Rebels was a reboot, in that we went back to some of the original John Williams themes and motifs for the first part of season one. But even then, if you watch Rebels, the music starts to evolve. Electronics start to be introduced and so forth. But ultimately, the DNA of Star Wars is still infused in all of the music I write for the properties.
For The Clone Wars – The Final Season, you’ve included synthesised sounds for some of the more dramatic beats of the show. How does using synthesised sounds affect the way you compose compared to using an orchestra?
As we continued on with season 7 of CW, producer Dave Filoni started having conversations with us — I say ‘us’, because my sons co-wrote much of season 7 with me — about introducing electronic elements, and then ultimately the last few minutes of the finale with Ahsoka in the graveyard and then Darth Vader are entirely electronic. That was a bit of a groundbreaking idea that Dave had in terms of the sound of Star Wars music.
I think the reason we were able to make it work was that even though the last few minutes are all electronic, the nature of the synthesisers we used was still very rich and grand in scope, sonically. That is one of the keys to Star Wars music in general. It is very often bigger than life!
The Bad Batch’s title implies a shift toward focusing on Clone Troopers who don’t fit the mold of what’s expected of them, so is there a way you’ve had to incorporate that into your sound?
Again the credit here goes to Dave Filoni and now Brad Rau on Bad Batch. One of the ideas was that these Clones are a skilled bunch of misfits, similar to the Dirty Dozen or Kelly’s Heroes, so you will hear some of those stealthy, sneaking-around bits of music in which we incorporate that Dirty Dozen classic film score sound. Something new for Star Wars music yet again!
Moving away from Star Wars, you also have a vast portfolio of other high profile projects you’ve worked on in recent years, such as Jane the Virgin, Titans, Doom Patrol, and Ghost in the Shell. What are some lessons you’ve learnt from working across large projects with huge audiences as well as some with smaller ones?
One of the things I’m most proud of as a composer is my range. I’ve worked very hard to try to have a command of very different styles, from Narcos: Mexico, to Titans, Doom Patrol, and Star Wars. That’s a very wide range stylistically, and I’ve been fortunate enough to co-compose alongside some really great composers: Gustavo Santaolalla, David Arnold, Clint Mansell, Dennis McCarthy. So I’ve been able to see and hear and learn the inner workings of some marvelous stylists, and adapt them to as well as incorporate them into my own voice. It’s been great for my creative growth!
So you’ve made a significant mark in one of the biggest entertainment properties ever made. What does a hard-working composer like yourself aim for after that? Is there even another property other than Star Wars whose history you’d love to contribute to?
I’m really just so fortunate to be working on the properties that I currently am. It’s hard to imagine a better creative path! I did love Spider-Man as I was growing up — I even used to literally climb the walls in our house when I was 9 or 10 years old! So Spider-Man would be a blast!
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Images supplied. Credit Mercy Kiner.
