Ente
At The Movies
Former Oak Parker David Was (Weiss)
is the co-executive producer of "The X-Files: Fight the Future" soundtrack.
D
record another album for release in the
fall, said Was.
During the group's hiatus from
recording, David Was, Don Was and
other members amicably went on to
separate- projects, including one where
the self-named Was Brothers worked
together producing Bob Dylan's 1990
release, Under the Red Sky.
avid Was says he's glad to
be done with the baggage
that fame brings.
"The nice thing about
having any recognition at all and see-
ing your face plastered in mags in
London is having been
done with it at a relatively
early age," Was (born
David Weiss) said.
But vanity is another
question. Barely a breath
after the co-executive pro-
ducer of The X Files: Fight
the Future soundtrack
expounded his view on
success, he begged to end
the interview, citing a need
to meet with a hairdresser
before attending the
evening's L.A. movie pre-
miere.
"I still have to look
good," he laughed.
Was' ride to all that glit-
ters in Hollywood has been
a strangely exhilarating mix
of luck, connections and
experience that began, in
part, with his association
with Was (Not Was). He
co-founded the cultish
underground group of the
early 1980s with fellow
Class of 1970 Oak Park
High alum Don Was (nee
Fagenson).
The Album - Fight the Future (Elektra)
Best known for their
includes tracks from Elektra recording
Top-10 hit "Walk the
artists the Cure ("More Than This"), Better
Dinosaur," they churned
Than Ezra ("One More Murder"), Ween
out four albums, including
("Beacon Light") and Bjork ("Hunter"); and
Was (Not Was (1981); Born
from Filter ("One"), Noel Gallagher
to Laugh at Tornadoes
("Teotihuacan") and the Foo Fighters
(1983); Are You Okay?
("Walking After You"). The album also
(1990) and most successful
includes exclusive submissions from the
of all, What Up, Dog?
Dust Brothers ("The X-Files Theme"), the
(1988).
Cardigans ("Deuce"), Soul Coughing ("16
Was (Not Was) formally
Horses") and Sting with Aswad ("Invisible
disbanded in 1993, but
Sun"). Sarah McLachan contributes a previ-
group members hope to
ously released track (Black").
reunite this summer to
The X-Files:
6/19
1998
98
until you are high, wiggle until you
are higher, wiggle until you ... " Was
recalled.
"And I said, 'Vomit fire.'
"He just smiled a little bit. And
included the lyric [on "Wiggle,
Wiggle"]. I was Dylan for a day," Was
said.
Was' role in the soundtrack for the
anticipated blockbuster X-Files film
soundtrack gave him a knowledge of
what it is like to stand at the intersec-
tion of the film and music business
when it comes to summer releases.
"It is hard to make [a soundtrack]
that is really distinguished and to
make one that has something to do
with the movie," he said. "And you
quickly learn that there are five or six
people just like you all bothering the
same artist," he said of his struggle to
attract big name artists like Sting to
his project.
"It is a tooth-and-nail battle."
The soundtrack project came about
as a result of a softball game with fel-
low journalists. (Was was a music crit-
ic for the now-defunct Los Angeles
Herald Examiner.) Was struck up a
friendship with the then-unknown
Chris Carter — who later became the
creator and executive producer of the
wildly hot television show "The X-
Files" — that continued long after the
last out.
In fact, Carter asked Was to pro-
duce the TV show's
first soundtrack,
Songs in the Key of X,
a quirky CD with
contributions from
Filter, Sheryl Crow
and Frank Black that
has turned into a
must-have for X-
philes.
"With Chris, you
look in the dictio-
nary under `auteue
and you see his pic-
ture. He knows a lit-
tle about every-
Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and writer/producer
Chris Carter — who co produced the film soundtrack with thing," said Was.
Including music.
David Was — on the set of "The X-Files" movie.
David Was recalls feeling afraid to
say anything around the legend for
fear of tripping on his tongue. But as
the project progressed, he and Dylan
struck up a working relationship that
went beyond his expectations.
"You hope that someday you will
be able to work with someone like
him," said Was, adding that the reality
ignited a fear within
him that "I would
say something
uncool."
He says he over-
came that fear.
"I said stuff that
people don't usually
say around him,"
recalled Was. Dylan,
in turn, came to Was
during a recording
session for a much-
needed rhyme.
At the time, Was
had worked hard to
expand his vocabu-
lary, adding unusual
terms to color his
language. One such
word was "ignivo-
mous," meaning
vomiting fire.
"[Dylan] turned
to me one day and
said, 'David, I need a
rhyme here. Wiggle
Pho tos by Merrick Morto n
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
Special to The Jewish News