Film scores on tour
For the past 30 years, Hollywood’s go-to guy for sweeping score music has been Hans Zimmer, the 59-year-old composer whose most recent project is the World War II movie “Dunkirk.” Zimmer is such a star in the music world that he’s now embarked on his own tour, which hits Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday and features the Germanborn musician performing with a full orchestra. But before entering the film world, Zimmer was a player in the rock ’ n’ roll world. Here, he tells The Post about his often-forgotten early years.
Your work with punk and new wave groups is not particularly well-known. Was rock stardom your original goal?
It was nice being synth programmer for the Buggles, but I remember the week “Video Killed the Radio Star” was No. 1 in the UK [in 1979], I had to help [Buggles co-founder] Geoff Downes kick-start his car to go to the studio because it was so old. Everyone thought we were rolling in money!
How did you end up working with the Damned on 1980’s “The Black Album” ?
One day I woke up and there was a record-company guy at the door asking if I could help him. I thought we were just going around the corner, but we drove [from London] all the way to Wales [around 150 miles], where the Damned were recording. He introduced me to them and said, “This is your new producer.” I suppose it was a gentle kidnapping! I don’t think the label people thought I was going to last a day, but I thought the band were really fun and interesting, and we got on like a house on fire.
After your transition into the movie world, did your rock ’n’ roll past help you in any way?
I remember when we were doing “Days of Thunder” [directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise] in Daytona Beach [Fla.], we were working with a lot of stunt race-car drivers who all looked at me as if to say, “Who is this guy?” But one day, I got Jeff Beck to visit me [Beck contributed to the score], and from that moment on I was the coolest guy on set! Living in London for years, I never felt the need to learn to drive, but the stunt drivers taught me on the Daytona 500 course. So now I’m very good at going extremely fast, and turning left. It’s a very useful skill in everyday life!