Pat Irwin | |
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| Born | Patrick Irwin (1955-05-17)May 17, 1955 (age 70) |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | Film score,contemporary classical music,rock |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, pianist, conductor, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, keyboards, guitar, saxophone |
Pat Irwin (born May 17, 1955) is an American composer and musician who was a founding member of two bands that grew out ofNew York City'sNo Wave scene in the late 1970s, theRaybeats and8-Eyed Spy. He joinedThe B-52s from 1989 through 2008. He currently performs and records withSUSS who have released several records on the indie labelNorthern Spy.
He composed the score for the Showtime series,Dexter: New Blood. Other television scores includeHBO'sBored to Death,Showtime'sNurse Jackie, andThe Good Cop onNetflix. He has composed scores for many cartoons includingRocko's Modern Life,Pepper Ann,A Little Curious, andClass of 3000. Independent film credits includeMy New Gun,But I'm A Cheerleader, andBam Bam and Celeste.
Pat Irwin graduated fromGrinnell College in 1977.[1] He received aThomas J. Watson Fellowship for international study and moved to Paris after graduation. In Paris he attended composition workshops with John Cage. Moving to New York City in 1979 he was a founding member oftheno wave band8-Eyed Spy which includedLydia Lunch andJim Sclavunos, both members ofTeenage Jesus and the Jerks andGeorge Scott III fromthe Contortions. With Scott, he later formed theRaybeats with other former members ofthe Contortions:Jody Harris and Don Christensen.
8-Eyed Spy dissolved in 1980 after the death of George Scott. The band released Live onROIR as a cassette only issue and a self-titled record on Fetish that was completed without Scott. Both Irwin and Scott contributed toLydia Lunch's solo recording onZE,Queen Of Siam. Scott was credited as Jack Ruby, a reference to his band before joiningThe Contortions.
The Raybeats continued to perform with Danny Amis on bass. They released two full-length albums,Guitar Beat, produced byMartin Rushent and recorded in 1981 at Rushent's newly built studio outside London. The Raybeats second LP,It's Only A Movie was recorded in New York City in 1983 and was produced by the band with Joe Blaney and mixed atElectric Lady Studios. In 2013 The Raybeats releasedThe Lost Philip Glass Sessions on Orange Mountain Music, a collection of recordings that were started withPhilip Glass in 1982 but were never completed.
Robert Palmer, writing inThe New York Times, described Irwin as a "mercurial presence on the New York rock scene of the early 80's. The bands he helped found, the Raybeats and 8-Eyed Spy resembled each other only in that they had an aversion to the predictable and the ordinary."[2] He began touring and recording withnew waverock bandThe B-52's in 1989, playingkeyboards and guitar.[3] His relationship with the band began when they borrowed Irwin'samplifier for their first gig inNew York City in 1978.[3][4] The band toured steadily through the 1990s and had two Top-Ten hits with "Love Shack" and "Roam". Recently, he has been performing and recording with the ambient-country group,SUSS.
Irwin composed the score for theShowtime series,Dexter: New Blood. He also composed the scores forHBO’sBored To Death and the Showtime series,Nurse Jackie. He composed the scores for many cartoons includingRocko’s Modern Life,Pepper Ann,A Little Curious, and theEmmy Award winningClass of 3000 (withAndré 3000 from the group,Outkast.) His contributions to theSpongeBob SquarePants soundtracks were givenASCAP Film and Television Music Awards in 2011, 2012, and 2013.The Cartoon Music Book referred to Irwin’s music as "astonishing musical cues that hold up with the best ofRaymond Scott."
Irwin has performed in various venues throughout the world includingCBGB, Max's Kansas City,Mudd Club,The Kitchen,Dance Theater Workshop,The Knitting Factory,Radio City Music Hall,Carnegie Hall andMadison Square Garden.
Irwin’s first feature film score was forMy New Gun which was shown at theCannes Film Festival in 1992. He has since composed the scores for many independent films includingBut I’m A Cheerleader, andBam Bam and Celeste as well as several documentaries includingFall To Grace written and directed byAlexandra Pelosi for HBO Documentaries.
In 2012 Irwin received an honorary doctorate fromGrinnell College.[5] He currently teaches a seminar in film and television music atNYU'sTisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, as well a seminar in Scoring for Film and Television at theFeirstein Graduate School of Cinema atBrooklyn College.
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