SoundWorks Collection Interview Series - Composer Will Bates / Fall On Your Sword

This week we spoke with Composer and multi instrumentalist Will Bates, who also runs Fall On Your Sword (FOYS) Will’s commercial music production company based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Alongside the success of Will’s commercial work he has also collaborated with numerous film directors including Alex Gibney on such films as We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and Mike Cahill’s Another Earth and I-orgins.

We had a fantastic talk about his creative and collaborative process and dive into the technical aspects of running a music production, scoring, and audio post company.

# ABOUT WILL BATES:

Launched in 2007 by London born composer and multi instrumentalist Will Bates, Fall On Your Sword (FOYS) began as a Brooklyn based video art and music project. Following the Youtube successes of several video mashups, a live show was developed with early collaborator and former band mate James Rickman. FOYS performed these original songs with their video accompaniment onstage. The band was joined for a spell by former LCD Soundsystem guitarist Phil Mossman, who collaborated with Bates on a soccer boot commercial which won a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2008 and a Gold Clio for best music. This success led to the launch of Fall On Your Sword as a commercial music production company with studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In 2012 FOYS designed and constructed the critically acclaimed art piece Sea Of Fire; the first in a series of music driven interactive art pieces which are informed by the unique FOYS aesthetic. Built in collaboration with artists Sarah Bereza and Ken Heitmueller their pieces have since shown at galleries and museums and have led to commissions from Fall On Your Sword’s advertising clients.

Other frequent FOYS collaborators include Steve Schiltz who contributed to FOYS’ 2014 scores to “Among Ravens” and “Stephanie In The Water”, and Spencer Cohen who continues to be the drummer at live shows and is featured on many of Fall On Your Sword’s film scores. As the group has grown into a quasi art-collective, so has their facility. Since its construction in 2008, the Brooklyn based FOYS studios have evolved into a full audio post production facility. In 2014 the company opened a second 7.1 mix facility and longtime FOYS producer Lucy Alper became a partner in the company.

Subscribe to the SoundWorks Collection Audio Interview Series