Andrew ‘Andy’ Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart jumped from composing for horror director Mike Flanagan to Marvel’s latest animated series, starting with retro synthesizer sounds of the late 80s and early 90s in the show’s first episodes before including more modern instrumentation and techniques, with care placed on the large number of handoffs between scenes that can feel jolting if the music isn’t done right.
Having made a name for themselves by composing for every project of horror director Mike Flanagan’s since Oculus in 2013, Andrew (“Andy”) Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart – known collectively as The Newton Brothers – ventured into unknown territory this year when they signed on to compose for X-Men ‘97.
Not only is this Grush and Stewart’s first animation project, but it’s also their first superhero-centered endeavor.
“Early in our career, we got into more of that darker, thriller, horror genre, but we’ve been wanting to explore outside of that for a while,” says Stewart. “We’ve both been big fans of the IP of ‘X-Men.’ We saw the original series as kids and we’re very much nerds. I have ‘X-Men’ posters on my wall. So, there was already a strong love for it. That’s what lit the fire.”
As the continuation of Marvel’s X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), X-Men ‘97 takes place just a year after the end of the original series. The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are facing new challenges without their longtime teacher, mentor, and leader Professor Charles Xavier. Under the leadership of their former adversary Magneto, the X-Men are forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
The voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler. The series, now streaming on Disney+ with new episodes every Wednesday until May 15, is produced by Marvel Studios Animation and executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley, and Emi Yonemura.
And, of course, it’s all saturated with epic music by The Newton Brothers.
“I remember when we were making our demos for the team, we had to calm our expectations, and just like do the best job we possibly could and expect nothing,” remembers Grush. “And it felt like the time that we waited to hear back was four years instead of those four weeks. When we heard they loved the demo, it was exhilarating… and terrifying at the same time.”
It’s one thing to venture into new genres, but it’s another for that new venture to entail a new medium – animation – and involve a legacy property that’s been adapted many times over. Plus, the new series still took place in the 90s.
“And what was really surprising were the transitions,” shares Stewart. “A ton of stuff will be happening, and then you're in this next scene, and then another scene. The handoffs between the scenes can feel jolting if you don’t do the music right. And the fans know what the original is like. They're expecting a seamlessness transition between not only these scenes, but the two shows as well. So, we really wanted to make sure everything connected.”
Early on, Grush and Stewart experimented with retro synthesizer sounds of the late 80s and early 90s. Not surprisingly, the music of the first couple of episodes are more in line with that era. However, as the show continues, the sounds gently begin to update and include more modern instrumentation and techniques.
“It’s like if you go see Radiohead today,” says Grush. “You're still going to hear some of the tunes from way back, but with some new stuff mixed in there. It was a similar situation with X-Men ‘97’s music evolution throughout Season 1. We wanted to make sure we acknowledged and honored everything from the past and had a nice build-off of that into the future.”
The Newton Brothers say the biggest help was that everyone – from the animators to the executives – were very open-minded when it came to the music. And it gave the multi-instrumentalists plenty of room to play.
“We were able to use more instrumentation and sound than we have typically used in a live-action project,” noted Grush. “Episode 4 has some wild variations in sound, with stuff that we typically could never use unless we were going to score for an old-school video game.”
Episode 4 has two parts and in the first segment, called “Motendo,” Jubilee – the youngest member of the X-Men who can create firework-like explosions – wants to celebrate her 18th birthday at the arcade, but Magneto refuses and tells the team to focus on their training. Roberto – a young mutant rescued by the X-Men who can channel solar energy – consoles Jubilee, who is surprised to find a new "Motendo" video game console in her room. The pair are pulled into a video game based on her previous adventures, created by the alien slave-master Mojo who feeds off audience engagement.
So, in a way, The Newton Brothers were scoring for a video game.
“We had so much fun,” says Grush. “We got to use a lot of 8-Bit Synthesis, which you would rarely, or never, use in modern scoring. But we got to use it for three-minute cues where it was the lead instrument.”
8-Bit Synth, or 8-Bit Chiptunes, are known as "video game beats,” and have been used to make the soundtrack for a number of Sega games. Though it’s been used by musical artists like Kesha, 50 Cent, Eminem, and even heavy metal bands like DragonForce, it’s not something you usually hear in a film or TV series score.
“I’m pretty sure you’d get fired if you tried to incorporate this into most scores,” says Stewart. “In most genres, especially in dramas and thrillers, it’s considered cooler and hipper to be minimal. People want minimalism. Strings and piano. I think they're afraid of overpowering certain scenes with a massive amount of music. And sometimes that's absolutely the case. But, for superhero music, it typically is very big, very dense, very thematic. So, we were using layered synthesizers, choir orchestras, drum machines, manipulating circuit boards, and all kinds of things to make a sonic palette much bigger. There was no need for us to hold back.”
There was also more collaboration on X-Men ‘97 than The Newton Brothers had experienced in previous projects. Grush describes the series’ score as a “a fast and chaotic 27-minute dance” that involved the animators and writers as much as the musicians.
“We were lucky enough to sit in on storyboard presentations where these artists would be explaining the scene and adding in sound effects with their mouths,” shares Stewart. “It was the funniest thing but also amazing because they were going to all these lengths to put us in those scenes. It was obvious they were huge fans and that we weren’t the only nerds.”
Grush adds, “It’s amazing to be on a project where you’re so inspired by the artists and the storytelling. When we went to spot each episode over at Marvel each week, we'd run into everyone, and they’d share what was happening with the edit and we’d talk about what we were doing with the music, and they’d offer up ideas. For Five Nights at Freddy's, we were brought in after everything was pretty much done. But with X-Men ‘97, we did come on board early enough to discuss themes and concepts and characters with the rest of the crew. That’s not common in live-action.”
Working on X-Men ‘97 has given The Newton Brothers a taste to do more superhero and animation projects, should the opportunity present itself.
“You get to really get inside the head of the characters with a project like this,” says Grush. “I can't fully describe what it’s been like for us to work on this series with animators and writers who put their blood, sweat and tears into each episode. There were a lot of crazy days that were just busy and packed with a lot of writing that had to get done in production. But there was never a day where I woke up and was like, ‘Oh, darn. I wish I didn’t have to work.’ It was just pure fun. And we feel lucky that we were able to be part of the team. It still doesn’t feel real.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
