Questions for Michael Hoenig

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Jon
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Questions for Michael Hoenig

Post by Jon »

I sent the following questions to Michael Hoenig for an interview. He's very busy and will answer them in May at the earliest. As you might see, I focused mostly on his film scoring career. Did I miss anything?


Tell us about your early years of playing with Agitation Free in the 70s.

Did you enjoy playing with Tangerine Dream in 1975? Did you ever consider joining the band on a more permanent basis?

Your first solo album Departure From The Northern Wasteland (1978) is a classic in the electronic music genre. How did you work on this album?

Why did you decide to move to Hollwood in the early 80s?

Tell us about working on Koyaanisqatsi in 1982.

Would you say that meeting Jack Nitzsche in the mid 80s was the breakthrough you hoped for in Hollywood? How did you meet him and how did you two work together?

How did the collaboration with J. Peter Robinson on The Wraith (1986) come about? Did it disappoint you that no score material appeared on the soundtrack album?

Your work with Robinson continued with The Gate the year after. What kind of score was this?

1987 also saw the release of your long-awaited second album, Xcept One. Are you pleased with this album? What exactly happened to the record label Cinema Records which seemed to go under shortly after?

The Blob (1988) was your first score album release, on the Filmtrax label. How did you approach this film musically?

Tell us about the music you wrote for The Last Of The Finest and Class Of 1999, both of them released in 1990.

You produced Jack Nitzsche's score for Revenge the same year. I was always curious whether Nitzsche was Tony Scott's first choice as composer on that film, as Scott just had worked successfully with Harold Faltermeyer and Hans Zimmer. What can you say about this?

Did you have any contact with your old mates Edgar Froese and Chris Franke during all the years you spent in Hollywood?

In 1995 you scored the two feature films Terminal Justice and Above Suspicion. Tell us about this music.

Your music for Dark Skies (1996) finally got a CD release on Perseverance Records some years ago. How did this release come about? Are you pleased with it?

Tell us about the music for the Baldur's Gate video games, and the CD releases of the music.

How did you score the 1999 Kiefer Sutherland-movie After Alice?

William Hurt starred in the film Contaminated Man (2000). What kind of score was this?

You scored over 20 episodes of The District in 2000-03. How is working on a TV series different from scoring a feature?

Has your music ever got replaced by another composer? If so, on what films?

You have not worked on a film score since Dracula 3000 in 2004. Why is that? What have you been up to since then? Will we see a return to film scores soon, or will there be another solo album?
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Post by j_pertou »

Very nice. I personally would like to know if there are any plans of a re-release of Xcept One.
When it's dark enough, you can see the stars.
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Jon
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Post by Jon »

I may ask about that. Don't you have the CD?
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Post by j_pertou »

Jon wrote:I may ask about that. Don't you have the CD?
Only a CDR.
When it's dark enough, you can see the stars.
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Post by Jon »

I bought it used for an OK price at Amazon Marketplace. They still have it.
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Re: Questions for Michael Hoenig

Post by Peter Beasley »

Jon wrote:Did you enjoy playing with Tangerine Dream in 1975? Did you ever consider joining the band on a more permanent basis?
It wasn't in Michael's hands. He was ejected when Edgar and Chris thought it better to give Peter another chance.
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Re: Questions for Michael Hoenig

Post by Jon »

Peter Beasley wrote:
Jon wrote:Did you enjoy playing with Tangerine Dream in 1975? Did you ever consider joining the band on a more permanent basis?
It wasn't in Michael's hands. He was ejected when Edgar and Chris thought it better to give Peter another chance.
Well, let's see if Hoenig says the same... :D
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Post by 24db »

I think one of the reasons why Michael left was that he didn't want to continue doing improvised music anymore (see the Synapse magazine article online), strangely enough Chris Franke was starting to voice the same opinion in the UK press at this time.
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Post by Peter Beasley »

I'd like to know more about the damage to equipment on the Australian '75 tour and the effect it had on the performances, rhythm wise. I've read that Franke's modular system was transported upside down which damaged it.

Also, did Michael play the Munich gig in April '75 or did it mark the return of Peter Baumann.
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Re: Questions for Michael Hoenig

Post by Peter Beasley »

Jon wrote:I sent the following questions to Michael Hoenig for an interview. He's very busy and will answer them in May at the earliest.
Any news from Michael yet? I'm really looking forward to his answers.
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Post by Jon »

He's still very busy. He was just travelling for many weeks. I'll ask him again, I'm sure he can answer the questions in an hour or two, so I guess it comes down to will too...
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Post by intercorni »

There is no question of cooperation with Manuel Göttsching (Ashra)
+ Michael Hoenig: Early Water.
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Post by Hipgnosis »

Hi,

I think I would ask a lot more about the music, the art, and the development thereof.

There are a lot of changes and differences in attituds in the arts in Germany, Europe, London, and then California ... and this is a really important part of what one changes/does in the long run.

Michael comes from a school of music learning and experimentation that is NOT something that is found in the USA at all ... here the attitude towards music (specially the West Coast) is very Hollywood'ish and not about the originality in it at all ... it's about the money and the majority of the music does not get used correctly or properly in a way that can show the film way better ... as an example.

Conversely the music business here is horrific about experimental music and you can easily check out Djam Karet for the last 20 years, and how sad it is that a nice band can not do anything, just to get you an idea of how a lot of experimental music gets treated. Over here in Portland, my playing Tangerine Dream is an oxymoron to almost everyone around me at work!

I think having a better idea of what it took for him to come from here to there to another place would be much more interesting and fun to hear. So what ... he worked with Nietzche ... that is not important ... what is, is ... what did Jack request of him musically and what was he looking for? ... as a way to help understand thoughts, processes and other details that show ... a person at work with his art ... a person painting his own work ... a writer working on his novel ... an artist at work!

The rest is all "fame" stuff and not important!
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Post by Jon »

Hipgnosis wrote:Hi,

I think I would ask a lot more about the music, the art, and the development thereof.

There are a lot of changes and differences in attituds in the arts in Germany, Europe, London, and then California ... and this is a really important part of what one changes/does in the long run.

Michael comes from a school of music learning and experimentation that is NOT something that is found in the USA at all ... here the attitude towards music (specially the West Coast) is very Hollywood'ish and not about the originality in it at all ... it's about the money and the majority of the music does not get used correctly or properly in a way that can show the film way better ... as an example.

Conversely the music business here is horrific about experimental music and you can easily check out Djam Karet for the last 20 years, and how sad it is that a nice band can not do anything, just to get you an idea of how a lot of experimental music gets treated. Over here in Portland, my playing Tangerine Dream is an oxymoron to almost everyone around me at work!

I think having a better idea of what it took for him to come from here to there to another place would be much more interesting and fun to hear. So what ... he worked with Nietzche ... that is not important ... what is, is ... what did Jack request of him musically and what was he looking for? ... as a way to help understand thoughts, processes and other details that show ... a person at work with his art ... a person painting his own work ... a writer working on his novel ... an artist at work!

The rest is all "fame" stuff and not important!
Well, if you read my questions you will see that I ask how he and Nitzsche worked together, I guess that's almost the same as asking "what Jack did request of him"?

Hollywood may be about money, but after all, that's where Hoenig worked in the 80s and 90s, so I have to ask him about that.

Also, I'm very much into film music, so I'm interested in hearing what he has to say about these films he scored.
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