Philip Brigham
Encyclopedia
Philip Brigham is an Canadian
rock
singer
, composer
and guitarist
.
in the school band from 4th to 9th grades, His first major influences were seeing Ricky Nelson
on "The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet" and The Beatles
first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show
in February 1964. He didn't start playing guitar
until autumn of 1966. He took lessons, and watched how other people played, whether live or on TV, and he listened to a lot of different music.
, France
, and from 1969–1970 attended The American School of Paris
. It was in Paris that Philip met Phil Steele, then known as Phil Trainer. He was a 22- or 23-year-old bass player and vocalist, and he "raided" Philip's high school rock band, taking Phil on guitar, Gerry Murphy on drums, and flute player Chris Hayward. Steele had previously played in Japan
and Italy
and knew British keyboard player Alan Reeves, then 25 or 26, because Reeves had played in a band called Clinic in both countries, and Phil Steele did some Clinic gigs in Italy
. They put together a five-piece band, and because they were British-American, and had some music industry connections, they immediately got signed to a production company, and subsequently were signed to EMI
in France.
called Road to Salina
. Lautner already had French pop singer Christophe
on board for a few songs, and some orchestral stuff, but wanted some rock music for his film. He originally wanted Pink Floyd
, then popular in Europe though virtually unknown in the U.S., but they were not available, so Clinic got a demo tape together and Albane gave it to Georges Lautner. He liked what he heard. By mostly luck, Clinic were in the right place at the right time, and got the nod to work on the soundtrack. Since the songs were being written individually by Steele, Reeves, or Brigham, or in some combination, they decided to say that all songs were Brigham-Reeves-Steele, to avoid arguments over which songs got shown to the film people.
, mostly in their late teens, or early 20s, and young, as in the band had not been together very long. By the time they got to do their own album, Now We're Even (recorded in 1971, released in 1972 in France), they had more of a style, similar to Santana
on instruments meeting Crosby, Stills and Nash on vocals. When they were either writing new tunes specifically for the movie, or trying to find songs that fit from songs various Clinic members had written before, they were still trying to find a sound.
, or The Turtles
or The Zombies
. Alan Reeves had learned jazz piano by his father's side when he was a boy, and had become quite the Hammond organ player, à la Jon Lord
from Deep Purple
, or Keith Emerson
of The Nice
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
. Chris Hayward had studied classical music for flute and recorder. Gerry Murphy was a jazz fan but was also the kind of guy that turned everybody on to The Band
. Phil Brigham was coming at music like a singer-songwriter, like Donovan
or James Taylor
or Neil Young
, although since Clinic, other musicians think of him more as a rock lead guitarist. Bringing all of those influences together was exciting for the young band, but it took them a long time to figure out how it might all fit.
, as opposed to some of the other tunes in that film that were written before it, and they just happened to fit. Phil Brigham started playing "The Chase" by spontaneously playing the guitar riff that opens the tune. Alan Reeves played some rock/classical organ on top of it. At one point, they go to another section with four sustained chords which Alan Reeves came up with, just to get some relief from the repetitiveness of the riff.
is admittedly "low budget", Phil Brigham feels that if he never took part in it, he would never have gotten a writing credit years later for the Quentin Tarantino
film, Kill Bill Volume 2.
, Massachusetts
to go to the Berklee College of Music
. He went on to play in scores of bands, duos, and so forth in the local Boston area. In 1981, along with his then-wife Anne English, he co-wrote and recorded a song that made Boston FM-radio Station WCOZ Best of the Boston Beat Volume 2 album. The duo got some nibbles from A&M Records
, but ultimately were passed over.
Sunday night made-for-TV movie called Condition Critical and an ABC Sunday night movie, I Saw What You Did, starring Rosanna Arquette
. Also Jerry Springer
, Ricki Lake
, 20/20, Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Pete & Pete
and Lifetime's Intimate Portrait, with Stefanie Powers
.
"It turns out that Julie Dreyfus
, who plays Sofie Fatale in Kill Bill
, knew that Quentin Tarantino
was looking for music, and her father, Francis Dreyfus
had the rights to quite a lot of soundtrack music, including Road to Salina. The soundtrack called "La Route De Salina" was re-released, on CD by Dreyfus Records in 2003. Curiously, there's at least one Clinic song, "Come On Come On" that's in the movie, but not on the LP, and vice-versa. A song called "Jacqueline
" is on the LP but not in the movie." - Philip Brigham, March 22, 2005
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
.
Early life
Phil became interested in music from a very early age. He played the saxophoneSaxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
in the school band from 4th to 9th grades, His first major influences were seeing Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
on "The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet" and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
in February 1964. He didn't start playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
until autumn of 1966. He took lessons, and watched how other people played, whether live or on TV, and he listened to a lot of different music.
Beginnings
At the end of his junior year in high school, Philip moved with his family to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and from 1969–1970 attended The American School of Paris
American School of Paris
The American School of Paris is a private, coeducational day school located in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris, France. It was founded in 1946 shortly after the end of World War II by the combined efforts of the American Embassy and the American Express Company...
. It was in Paris that Philip met Phil Steele, then known as Phil Trainer. He was a 22- or 23-year-old bass player and vocalist, and he "raided" Philip's high school rock band, taking Phil on guitar, Gerry Murphy on drums, and flute player Chris Hayward. Steele had previously played in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and knew British keyboard player Alan Reeves, then 25 or 26, because Reeves had played in a band called Clinic in both countries, and Phil Steele did some Clinic gigs in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. They put together a five-piece band, and because they were British-American, and had some music industry connections, they immediately got signed to a production company, and subsequently were signed to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in France.
The Road to Salina
After signing with EMI France, Reeves' fashion model wife, Albane Navizet, took a bit part in a French film by director Georges LautnerGeorges Lautner
Georges Lautner is a French film director and screenwriter.He was born in Nice, the son of actress Renée Saint-Cyr.- As director :* 1958 : La Môme aux boutons* 1960 : Arrêtez les tambours* 1960 : Marche ou crève...
called Road to Salina
Road to Salina
Road to Salina is a 1970 French film, a psychological thriller directed by Georges Lautner. It stars Robert Walker, Jr., Mimsy Farmer and Rita Hayworth. The film is based upon Maurice Cury’s novel Sur la Route de Salina...
. Lautner already had French pop singer Christophe
Christophe (singer)
Christophe is a French singer and songwriter. He was born Daniel Bevilacqua on 13 October 1945 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne to Italian parents....
on board for a few songs, and some orchestral stuff, but wanted some rock music for his film. He originally wanted Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, then popular in Europe though virtually unknown in the U.S., but they were not available, so Clinic got a demo tape together and Albane gave it to Georges Lautner. He liked what he heard. By mostly luck, Clinic were in the right place at the right time, and got the nod to work on the soundtrack. Since the songs were being written individually by Steele, Reeves, or Brigham, or in some combination, they decided to say that all songs were Brigham-Reeves-Steele, to avoid arguments over which songs got shown to the film people.
Early recordings
Some of the seven songs used in the film were written before they saw the sections of film the director wanted music for, but luckily they fit. In a few cases, such as for example "The Chase", they were brand new compositions and really was a collaborative effort between the writers. They were very young when they got the chance to write music for Road to SalinaRoad to Salina
Road to Salina is a 1970 French film, a psychological thriller directed by Georges Lautner. It stars Robert Walker, Jr., Mimsy Farmer and Rita Hayworth. The film is based upon Maurice Cury’s novel Sur la Route de Salina...
, mostly in their late teens, or early 20s, and young, as in the band had not been together very long. By the time they got to do their own album, Now We're Even (recorded in 1971, released in 1972 in France), they had more of a style, similar to Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
on instruments meeting Crosby, Stills and Nash on vocals. When they were either writing new tunes specifically for the movie, or trying to find songs that fit from songs various Clinic members had written before, they were still trying to find a sound.
Forming a sound
Phil Steele was more of a pop guy, influenced by The HolliesThe Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
, or The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
or The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
. Alan Reeves had learned jazz piano by his father's side when he was a boy, and had become quite the Hammond organ player, à la Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
from Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, or Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
of The Nice
The Nice
The Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is often considered the first progressive rock album...
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
. Chris Hayward had studied classical music for flute and recorder. Gerry Murphy was a jazz fan but was also the kind of guy that turned everybody on to The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
. Phil Brigham was coming at music like a singer-songwriter, like Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
or James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
or Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, although since Clinic, other musicians think of him more as a rock lead guitarist. Bringing all of those influences together was exciting for the young band, but it took them a long time to figure out how it might all fit.
The Chase
"The Chase" was put together initially as a jam thing that they wrote specifically for Road to SalinaRoad to Salina
Road to Salina is a 1970 French film, a psychological thriller directed by Georges Lautner. It stars Robert Walker, Jr., Mimsy Farmer and Rita Hayworth. The film is based upon Maurice Cury’s novel Sur la Route de Salina...
, as opposed to some of the other tunes in that film that were written before it, and they just happened to fit. Phil Brigham started playing "The Chase" by spontaneously playing the guitar riff that opens the tune. Alan Reeves played some rock/classical organ on top of it. At one point, they go to another section with four sustained chords which Alan Reeves came up with, just to get some relief from the repetitiveness of the riff.
Scoring a movie
Phil Brigham was a senior in high school when Clinic did the soundtrack, and he never saw the totally completed film until later. They would be shown say 1:03 minute's worth of film, and told "put some music of such-and-such type here". When the movie came out, even at age 19, Phil was a little embarrassed at how bad the quality of the production was. The movie was neither a commercial or critical success, but Brigham, Reeves & Trainer all did receive royalties, as the three songwriters from 1972 to 1988. So, while Road to SalinaRoad to Salina
Road to Salina is a 1970 French film, a psychological thriller directed by Georges Lautner. It stars Robert Walker, Jr., Mimsy Farmer and Rita Hayworth. The film is based upon Maurice Cury’s novel Sur la Route de Salina...
is admittedly "low budget", Phil Brigham feels that if he never took part in it, he would never have gotten a writing credit years later for the Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
film, Kill Bill Volume 2.
Back in the USA
After Clinic, Phil came to BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
to go to the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
. He went on to play in scores of bands, duos, and so forth in the local Boston area. In 1981, along with his then-wife Anne English, he co-wrote and recorded a song that made Boston FM-radio Station WCOZ Best of the Boston Beat Volume 2 album. The duo got some nibbles from A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, but ultimately were passed over.
Television Scoring
Philip has enjoyed some success with original instrumentals placed on television between 1990 and the present: an NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Sunday night made-for-TV movie called Condition Critical and an ABC Sunday night movie, I Saw What You Did, starring Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Arquette
Rosanna Lauren Arquette is an American actress, film director, and producer.-Early life:Arquette was born in New York City, the daughter of Brenda Olivia "Mardi" , an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor and director. Her paternal...
. Also Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer
Gerald Norman "Jerry" Springer is a British-born American television presenter, best known as host of the tabloid talk show The Jerry Springer Show since its debut in 1991...
, Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from...
, 20/20, Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...
and Lifetime's Intimate Portrait, with Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...
.
Kill Bill
At first Phil had no idea "The Chase", from his time with Clinic scoring Road to Salina, was going to be in a Tarantino film. When he found out, he was guessing that Tarantino saw Road to Salina and remembered the parts of it that are kind of impressive, the desert cinematography, for example. In Road to Salina, they play "The Chase" for the first time in a scene not unlike the way "The Chase" is used in Kill Bill Volume 2, with a car speeding across the desert on its way somewhere. Phil later discovered more about how "The Chase" music got in Kill Bill Volume 2."It turns out that Julie Dreyfus
Julie Dreyfus
Julie Dreyfus is a French actress.Dreyfus, who speaks fluent Japanese, French, and English, is well known in Japan, where she made her TV debut on a French-language lesson program on NHK's educational channel in the late 1980s, and has appeared on the TV show Ryōri no Tetsujin as a guest and...
, who plays Sofie Fatale in Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
, knew that Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
was looking for music, and her father, Francis Dreyfus
Francis Dreyfus
Francis Dreyfus was a French record producer, who focused on jazz and electronic music, publishing Jean-Michel Jarre's first commercially successful work, Oxygène....
had the rights to quite a lot of soundtrack music, including Road to Salina. The soundtrack called "La Route De Salina" was re-released, on CD by Dreyfus Records in 2003. Curiously, there's at least one Clinic song, "Come On Come On" that's in the movie, but not on the LP, and vice-versa. A song called "Jacqueline
Jacqueline
Jacqueline may refer to:* Jacqueline , a 1956 film* Jacqueline , a French female given name * Jacqueline , a 1961 portrait by Pablo Picasso...
" is on the LP but not in the movie." - Philip Brigham, March 22, 2005