In the Company of Kings
添加了 星期三, 01 可能, 2024 发表于 Philippe Mouchon
Silva Screen Records has announced a soundtrack for the documentary In the Company of Kings.
Silva Screen Records has announced a soundtrack for the documentary In the Company of Kings.
The Original Score composed by Ade Fenton and Tim Slade for In The Company Of Kings, the feature documentary directed by Steve Read following a fight fan’s unforgettable journey into the dark heart of American boxing to talk to eight former world champions and those closest to his hero Muhammad Ali.
The film was initiated and inspired by a brutal and racially motivated attack, an attack that left the film’s producer Robert Douglas, half-blinded and suffering from PTSD after two racist thugs stabbed him in the eye on the ‘rough assed’ streets of Liverpool, England. In The Company Of Kings is a direct response to that attack.
Robert and director Steve Read set out to find solace and support from the heroes he grew up idolising; black icons that gave Robert hope as a young mixed raced boy from the hardened council estates of Liverpool, whilst at the same time, reaffirming a place in history for these great fighters.
Record producer and composer, Ade Fenton, along with multi-instrumentalist Tim Slade had worked with Steve Read before –
“Working on this score was a no brainer for us as we’re both boxing fans, so when Steve approached us about it, we accepted immediately. I’d worked with Steve before on the Gary Numan documentary Android In La La Land as well as a few corporate adverts, so I knew the process would be fun and rewarding.
We were involved from a very early stage, so even as Steve was filming in the US, he’d be sending us clips so we could get a vibe about the direction the documentary was going to take.
From those, we could see that this wasn’t going to be your standard sports documentary as it would cover many aspects of the effects the sport can take on boxers; emotionally, physically, mentally, and socially.”
The film is an uncompromising study of the fight game, often known as the Hurt Business, mirrored by Robert’s own story of racial struggle growing up. Told with incredibly candid and powerful accounts of boxing’s golden era by those that helped create it.
The filmmakers travelled the length and breadth of the US to meet a multitude of former world champions, trainers, managers and referees. From Miami to Vegas, Atlanta to Columbus, via the Fentanyl riddled badlands of North Philadelphia and to Deer Lake Pennsylvania, Muhammad Ali’s home as he trained for some of the greatest battles in the history of the fight game.
The composers worked on the film for over a year –
« Knowing Steve Read’s artistic style, it was clear that we had to approach it from a film score perspective, so once we had enough of the original cut to work with, we got together and began creating a palette of sounds that felt right for the film. From memory, this initial work on the score took place in the latter part of the final Covid lockdown, so our first sessions were a mixture of remote collaboration and eventually being able to actually be in a studio together.
Because of these restrictions and because of the impact they also had on Steve’s filming plans, the score probably took us around a year in total to complete, on and off.
We knew of course that the dark electronic style of a lot of our previous work would not suit the tone of some of this film, so Tim played a lot of cello and double bass to give the score an organic texture for the more emotional scenes.
I think we were able to combine this naturally with the slightly darker tones of the scenes set in Philadelphia, for example, as well as some of the more harrowing conversations about the Ali v Holmes fight and its subsequent effects. Thankfully, Steve agreed that this approach worked and as he was liking pretty much everything we were sending him, once this theme had been established, the music came naturally. »
In The Company Of Kings spans a golden era of boxing. From the scintillating Ali 1fights of the 70s, to his demise at the hands of his great friend and former protégé Larry Holmes; and into the 80s with the dominance of super promoter Don King, middleweight legend Bernard Hopkins and world champion brothers Michael and now deceased Leon Spinks – the list of contributors is impressive, their testimonies heartfelt and powerful.
These moving, insightful and at times jaw dropping accounts, explore some of the most incredible events of that era.
Ade Fenton is a record producer and composer, most notably working alongside electronic music icon Gary Numan. He has now produced five critically acclaimed albums for Numan: Jagged, Dead Son Rising, Splinter, Savage and Intruder. The chart success of Splinter meant that Numan and Fenton would soon be back in the studio again working on the follow up Savage (Songs From A Broken World) which entered the Official UK Album Chart at number 2, delivering Numan his highest chart placing since 1980 and again receiving rave reviews.
In 2021, the pair delivered Intruder, again entering the Official UK Album Chart at number 2, enjoying widespread global acclaim, with many critics hailing it as one of the finest in Numan’s illustrious career.
Ade has also formed a partnership with multi-instrumentalist Tim Slade, specialising in the creation of original music for Film, Television and Digital Media.
In 2016 they completed original scores for the Investigation Discovery/October Films produced thrillers Angel of Decay, The Chameleon and The Head Hunter. In 2017, the pair composed an original score for the British horror film Nails and created original music for the TV series Kiss of Death and Eight Days That Made Rome.
The film will hit streaming platforms around the world on April 30, 2024.
( - Silva Screen Records - )