Music Supervisor Evyen Klean on Conveying 'Underlying Emotions'
How did you try to capture the spirit of the era in the music?
We tried to pick a cross-section of pop and rock and just go with what felt organic to capturing the essence of the time. It would've been difficult to get wrong, since this is the music I grew up with and there's such a wealth of it.
What was going on in music at the time?
There were a couple of things happening. There was a British invasion of pop and rock music, which you can see in the movie with "Time Is on My Side" and other Stones songs and Ray Davies songs. And there was a pop-folk thing happening with the likes of Carole King.
Is that the same music from the original documentary series?
When you look at the original documentary, that's what the kids were listening to. The Stones, The Who, David Bowie, Elton John, it's all in there. We didn't necessarily use all those songs, but our decisions were influenced by them.
It sounds like that was the music the Louds' kids' band was also playing.
To create that band, we actually spent time with them in the studio with the actors. Nick Eversman, the actor who played Grant, was actually singing in those songs. The actors were cast with the music in mind, since that was such a big part of who those kids were.
How was music central to the Loud family?
I'm a Southern California kid and I can tell you that music was the most important thing to me and my brothers. When you watch the documentary, you can see that to those kids in the band, music was their dream. They thought that this documentary was going get them the exposure to be the next Rolling Stones. Lance was in a band later, called the Mumps. Even the younger daughter played flute. Four out of the five kids were musicians, so you can tell it was important to them.
How is music used to tell the story in the film?
The film was divided into chapters, and each one was introduced with a clip from the documentary merged with the actors playing the same scene. Most of those chapters were headed by a song that did something to speak to the situation. For example, when Pat is driving to tell her kids about the divorce, you hear Carole King's "Way Over Yonder." When she mentions getting distance from her husband, you hear King's "So Far Away." When Grant drives alone to meet his dad, the song is Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home." When the big blow out is about to happen, "Reflections of My Life" by Marmalade plays. Even the main title, "Dream a Little Dream" sets up this Southern California utopia which ultimately gets shattered. Throughout, the music was essential to conveying the underlying emotions.