Meet Michael Drew | Music Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Drew and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I believe a few things lead to success – relationships, hard work and persistence. I have had some key relationships at pivotal moments in my career and the support from those people has been crucial. I also believe that hard work is essential for success. The catch is, it might not be the outcome you initially envisioned, but truly working to the best of your abilities and being persistent will lead to success. Persistence comes down to grit and determination. There have been so many late nights and times where I have felt like nothing was working, but I’ve pushed through and been able to find a solution to the challenge I was facing. Much of my career success is from strong relationships and the hard work and dedication I put into everything I did. To this day I constantly learn about the craft and push to be the best composer that I can be.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been a composer now for 9 years and have written music for film, video games and other mediums. I had always grown up loving movies, playing video games and loving music. Storytelling was my biggest passion and when I learnt I could combine all of them in pursuing composing, it felt like finding the exact thing I was always meant to do. So far in my career, I’ve had the wonderful pleasure and privilege of working side by side with many incredible creatives, travelling the world and learning from some of the greats in the industry.

After many years of planning, working and dreaming I was finally able to move to LA from Australia, and I’ve been loving it ever since! It was definitely a challenge moving across the world to pursue music, especially to a town filled with so many talented and passionate composers. But I knew this was where I was meant to be to chase the career I’ve always wanted.

My most recent completed project is the score for the horror feature film ‘The Matriarch’ by Jayden Creighton and Duckpond Productions. I’ve been lucky to do many different genres over the years, but horror has always had a special place in my heart because of how outside the box you can go. When crafting the score, I wanted to pay homage to the horror scores of old, while still bringing something new to the picture. One of the crazier ideas was to take Australian animal sounds and completely mangle them with guitar amps and effects from the computer. I took sounds from birds and reversed them, then fed that signal through a distorted guitar amp to create a truly horrifying and unique sound. This then became part of the main theme for the Mother in the film. The score also features deeply thematic style writing which is something I’m most passionate about as it can really help tie a storyline together. When themes are associated with characters and deeper meanings, it opens up the score to truly be a part of the DNA of the film.

I was also recently honoured to be given 3 awards for a previous release ‘Arlo and The Sea’, a film by Damian Overton. The film has been circulating the festival circuits and has been receiving a lot of love and awards from all over the world. Later this year we will collaborate on the feature film ‘Chaos and The Spark’ shooting right here in LA.

I constantly try to bring my authentic self to each project I’m a part of, and try to find ways to incorporate the past and future sounds of scoring into each story.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place I always recommend is The Academy Museum. The first time I went with my father and Aspen, we stayed for 5 hours and didn’t want to leave! It’s filled with so many incredible features and is a must for any film lovers out there. There’s also an incredible room dedicated to all the previous Oscar winners and a wall filled with their acceptance speeches. Very inspiring and loads of fun.

I’d also recommend checking out The Grove. Filled with great food and shops, it’s a winner for everyone who goes. You’ll always find something you like and the scenery and set up is magical.

Last but not least is Pink’s hot dogs. Best chilli dog I’ve ever had!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I definitely want to give a shoutout to my parents, both of these incredible human beings and role models have given me nothing but love and support on my journey. Without them I wouldn’t be the person I am today and I wouldn’t be the composer I am today. I honestly can’t thank them enough for all their sacrifices, time, faith and energy they have put into helping me chase my dreams.

I must also extend a special shoutout to my partner Aspen. There have been many tough times in this career, but she has been a wonderful foundation to me. Her support and love means the world to me and she is constantly someone I look up to. I couldn’t do any of this without her.

One of my biggest mentors has been (and still is) Dr. Andy Hill. Thanks to his teachings and deep knowledge and love for the craft, I was able to learn from one of the best and translate my love for the craft into a fulfilling career.

Website: https://musicbymichaeldrew.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicbymichaeldrew/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-drew-5ab16213b/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelDrewNH

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@michaeldrewcomposer

Image Credits
– DONTEVA – Fernando Guerra Jr. – Duckpond Productions – Ruben Russo