Ramin Djawadi is a bonafide workaholic whose heavy plate will keep him from joining the Game of Thrones tour in Tampa, and he’s not shy about the ups and downs of being the person left out of the gig that hits the old Gary amphitheatre on Sunday.
“Anxiety comes from the fact that I really enjoy doing this so much; this has always been a childhood dream of mine, so every single concert I've done up to now has been an absolute blast,” he said about leaving the tour to Michael Sobie, who’s been with the GoT live concert experience from day one. “Really I’m just jealous of him because he gets to be at every concert.”
The 45-year-old, who picked up an Emmy the week before the Tampa show, took 15 minutes to talk about bouncing ideas off his kids, GoT prequels and more.
You’re pretty much one of the busiest composers in television, Ramin.
I'm a workaholic, I guess. I love what I do so, it lends itself to that. Even on a Sunday, I'm working. I love doing music. I enjoy it, I will do it anyway. I can't complain.
I’ve talked to hip-hop producers who’ll just catalog beats or sounds when they hit a writer’s block, but what do you do when you kind of need to step away from the creative or editing process?
I like to exercise, so I’ll go swim or go for a walk — any kind of sports will clean my mind. I like to garden, funny enough, to clear my mind. Now that I've got them, a lot of time is spent with my kids, and that definitely takes you out of the mindset as well. They really inspire me. Five-and-a half is such a great age where the things they say really make you rethink everything and look at the world differently. That's a great way to step away from everything.
At that age, can they get an understanding of what you do for a living? How much are you able to bounce ideas off of them?
I don't know about bouncing ideas off of them, but I love when they come into my studio. I can't always show them the visuals, so I play the music, and it's always fun to see when they smile. For example, for Game of Thrones they hear a theme and they go, "Oh is that the bad guy?" It's great when you're just playing the music, and they pick up on what that music is saying. Kids are so honest, and they'll just tell you if they like something or not. In a way, I guess it's it's fun to bounce ideas off of them like that.
Will they be able to catch you working one of the shows this fall?
Possibly, I mean, again, we are showing footage. It's manipulated in a way so that it's not too graphic, but we still want to stay true to Game of Thrones without being too graphic because we actually see that a lot of people bring their kids to the show; we want to make sure they can enjoy as well. The one thing I always let my kids watch during the European tour was rehearsals, which they love. We wouldn't play any visuals; it was just the orchestra playing the music, and that was just incredible. They see all the different instruments, and they want to interact with the musicians. Both of them actually asked to get up in front of the orchestra and actually conduct the orchestra, so I let them get up there, and they conducted the main title. If I was in their shoes, I would've been way shy.
The tour was in arenas, and it’s gotten bigger by moving into sheds for the summer. How much of the arena show translates, and how much of planning for this run involved a big learning curve?
It's been a huge learning curve for me, because three years ago I had never done this before. So the first tour, I really had to learn everything as quickly as possible. We changed a lot of things on the next tour and not it's going to be different yet again. I think it'll be fun because, like you said, the concepts are being changed, so it's gonna be completely different. We won't have our entire stage, so we had to kind of redesign our show while keeping a lot of the features, like pyro, that we had on tours before. Some it will be different. But I think in a good way just because of what the venues are. It’s exciting to play outside, it'll be absolutely incredible.
Yeah, that is kind of something to think about. Because you know, the last arena show did have those six stages, which probably involved a lot of a lot of help and build out. And now you're kind of going to adjust the show to the shape of these particular sheds that you're going into. Is all of that something that played into the cancelations in Syracuse, Arkansas, Hartford and Virginia Beach?
No, I mean, I'm not really sure. Those were some technical issues, but I'm not sure what happened there.
Throughout GoT you were the guy who pretty much had to work hard at not giving up spoilers, but is there anything you can give away in terms of what somebody who saw the last tour might be surprised by when they come see the new outdoor show?
The exciting thing is that season eight is finished, so we reworked the show yet again with all that material, so we have a full story from season one to eight. Some of the big pieces from last season are in the new show, and that means we’ve had to modify the show; you can’t just tag new material on, or you’d have a four-hour show.
Any quirks about micing a dulcimer at a shed where bands like Slayer go all in?
A dulcimer isn't easy whether you're outside or inside because it's it's a very sensitive instrument, and it's very resonant instrument.We definitely have to experiment with different mic-ing techniques to to figure out what the best way is. I feel like we we really got it right on last year's tour as far as the way we did it.
And just to be clear, is this is an ensemble that you selected, or the type of situation where local orchestras get charts and a couple of days to practice?
It's a hybrid, which I do like to point out because it's very exciting, and it was a really cool experience for me. There is a traveling band with several soloists that I’ve selected — like cello, violin, vocals, keyboards — that will be touring through through the country. But then there's also a local orchestra and choir that has devoted practice to the music and performance. Local audiences actually get really excited about that. I've met wonderful musicians across the country, and actually across the world now, and it's been an absolute pleasure working with them.
Yeah, I think anytime you get a chance to remind more mainstream audience that there are municipal and state orchestras, which still requires support, and some of them get better support than others… but anytime you remind people that those people exist, and that they work, and they do shows like yours, it's always better for the arts in general.
Exactly. Yeah, I totally agree. And, and again, it's part of your hometown, and I think that gets people excited.
And you won’t be at the Tampa show. Is it just scheduling that keeps you from certain dates? Is there a sense of anxiety that you get not being there?
The anxiety really comes from the fact that I really enjoy doing this so much; this has always been a childhood dream of mine, so every single concert I've done up to now has been an absolute blast. So there’s a bit of jealousy about not being at every concert because I enjoy it so much. But otherwise, I know it's going to be in good hands, because it’s in Michael Sobie’s hands, and he’s been our keyboard player on all of the previous tours. When I would play an instrument, he would actually go out and conduct the orchestra. So he's been here since day one, knows the show in and out. He's incredible.
Fans, listeners, obviously think all your music is great, but is there ever an instance where you feel like the volume of your work lends itself to compositions you’re not 100% head over heels about? How many people help you edit and listen back to the compositions?
On Game of Thrones, really, it was David and Dan (Benioff and Weiss, show runners). I mean, I would play them every single piece of music. That's really how it works in the industry; you can't just fly whatever you want. Every piece really gets reviewed and played through and, and gets talked about. They're really my extra set of ears guiding me through what the music should be. So in that sense, they edit with me, and it's been amazing because their vision for the show is incredible.
Some people are talking about GoT prequels. I feel like it’s too early, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask whether or not you’ve seen anything.
Like you said, it's still too early to tell. If they were shooting a pilot, music is always kind of the last thing, and at this point it’s too early to tell if I’ll be involved or not.
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This article appears in Sep 19-26, 2019.