Be yourself. I don’t think I realized how important this is until I started to play with the B-52s. There’s no other band in the world quite like the B-52s and they didn’t get that way by copying anybody else.
As a part of our series about creating a successful career in the music industry, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Pat Irwin.
Pat Irwin is a New York-based composer and musician with a career spanning film, television, and music since the late 1970s. His most recent project is composing the score for Dexter: Original Sin. Prior to that, he composed the score for Dexter: New Blood.
A founding member of 8 Eyed Spy and The Raybeats, Pat was also part of The B-52s from 1989 to 2008. He currently performs with the ambient instrumental band SUSS.
Pat’s extensive TV credits include The Good Cop (Netflix), Nurse Jackie (Showtime), Bored To Death (HBO), and Dexter: New Blood (Showtime). His film work includes scores for But I’m A Cheerleader, My New Gun, and Bam Bam and Celeste, as well as documentaries like Fall To Grace (HBO, Sundance) and Hopper Stories.
In animation, Pat is known for his work on Rocko’s Modern Life (Nickelodeon), Pepper Ann (Disney), and Class Of 3000 (Cartoon Network), with multiple Film & Television Awards for his contributions to SpongeBob SquarePants.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew up in the Midwest. My family moved every couple of years, from Utah to Ohio, to West Virginia, and back to Ohio, and on to Minnesota and then Illinois– that type of thing. I went to Grinnell College in a small town in Iowa. After college, I spent a year in Paris– which was a life-changer, and from there I moved to New York City. It was 1978, and for me at that particular time, it was the center of the Universe. Once I moved to New York City I never left, there’s no place like it.
I think all the moving around might have prepared me for a life full of touring and unfamiliar settings.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
Somehow I’ve always known that I would pursue music, but I never in a million years imagined it would be a career. I didn’t even know that it was possible. Ultimately, it’s all I ever wanted to do. Music was my only choice. When I moved to New York, all I wanted was to be in a Rock and Roll band and play either CBGBs or Max’s Kansas City. Lucky for me, I did both.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are too many to name just one. I think of the community of musicians and performers who helped me along the way. I think of my friends in the B-52s and the other bands that I’ve been in. I think of the choreographers and filmmakers who gave me the opportunities to create music for dance, t.v., and film. I think of Joe Murray, the creator of “Rocko’s Modern Life,” who gave me the opportunity to write music for such an incredible, and timeless, cartoon.
You probably have a lot of fascinating experiences. Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I’ll never forget attending composition workshops with the composer, John Cage, while I was living in Paris. From Cage, I learned that music is everywhere around us. Cage had more conviction than anyone I’d met before, or since. That conviction is important.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I’ve made lots of mistakes over the years — and I’m still making them! But to be honest, none of them seem particularly funny.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I’m thrilled to be in a band called SUSS. We make records for a small independent label based out of Brooklyn called Northern Spy. It’s a big deal to me that we get to make
records. We’re going out on tour soon and will be playing SXSW and the Big Ears Festival with lots of dates in between.
There’s also another Dexter series in the works, “Dexter: Resurrection”. Stay tuned!
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
Just be yourself.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in the music industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Always stay open minded about new things, new sounds, and new music. Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know, and that’s not just music.
Thank you for all that. This is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in The Music Industry” and why? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
- Be yourself. I don’t think I realized how important this is until I started to play with the B-52s. There’s no other band in the world quite like the B-52s and they didn’t get that way by copying anybody else.
- There’s no substitution for the truth. Music, at its best, comes from a very soulful, honest, and truthful place. You can tell when it doesn’t.
- Always take the note. This one might seem a little specific, but I was composing the score for a television show, “Bored To Death”, and the director wanted me to change something that I spent hours and hours working on. Luckily for me, the Post Production Supervisor said to me, “always take the note.” The scene ended up being much better after I changed the music, it just took me a little longer to understand what was really going on. Ultimately, whatever show that I’m working on, it isn’t about me or the music. It’s something much, much bigger.
- You want to be the person that people want to talk to. It might take a little extra effort, but being positive goes a long way, particularly when you’re collaborating in a band or working on a score for a film or tv show. No matter what show I’m working on I’m determined to get better at listening to the director. If the director has an idea I’m there to listen. I wish I was better at this when I first started.
- Discipline. This stuff takes practice. I remember, many years ago, when I was attending the workshop with John Cage, we were working on a piece using his unique composition method. I wasn’t particularly giving the piece my full attention and Cage said to me, “let’s talk about discipline.” I’ve never forgotten it.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Support the arts and the arts will support you. We need more art and we need more artists. Artists need our support. Arts programs in the schools need to be funded, this is not a luxury, it’s essential.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
We’re living in extraordinarily divisive times. It’s heartbreaking and hurtful. I’m going to turn this question around and suggest that if you can sit down with one person; a friend, a stranger, a colleague, and find a way to discuss the deep divisions that are all around us, then do it. We need to heal these divisions. We need to celebrate one another, embrace our differences. We need to listen. Practice tolerance. Remember, there’s no substitution for the truth.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
My personal website is https://patirwinmusic.com/. You can find SUSS at https:// www.sussband.com/ and is available on all of the streaming outlets. I particularly like https://suss.bandcamp.com/. I’m on Instagram @patirwin100percent and on Facebook I have a music page, Pat Irwin Music.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Pat Irwin On 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in The Music Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.