The Alloy Orchestra was a musical ensemble based in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, United States, that performed its own accompaniments to

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

s of the classic movie era. Performing on an unusual collection of found objects (

horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...

s, plumbing pipes, and a

bedpan A bedpan or bed pan is a receptacle used for the toileting of a bedridden patient in a health care facility, and is usually made of metal, glass, ceramic, or plastic. A bedpan can be used for both urinary and fecal discharge. Many diseases can ...

comprising their so-called "rack of junk"), homemade instruments,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

, and a sampling

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, the group scored and performed with 40 feature length silent films or collections of shorts. The group is often credited with having helped revitalize the art of silent film accompaniment. Percussionist Ken Winokur and keyboardist Caleb Sampson founded the group on June 12, 1985 to accompany a theatrical production of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's ''Marilyn Monroe vs. the Vampires''. In 1991

Coolidge Corner Theatre Coolidge Corner Theatre is an independent cinema in the Coolidge Corner section of Brookline, Massachusetts specializing in international, documentary, animated, and independent film selections and series. History Coolidge Corner Theatre was origi ...

director David Kleiler invited Sampson and Winokur to write a new score for

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

's science fiction film ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

''. The pair composed many of the themes for the film, including the title theme "Metropolis" and the dance club scene, "Yoshiwara" and then brought percussionist Terry Donahue into the group before the first performance. After Sampson's death in 1998, the band was joined by keyboardist

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...

, guitarist of

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band

Mission of Burma Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Martin Swope contributing audiotape manipulation and acting as ...

. They have composed music for approximately 40 full length silent films or collections of shorts. They composed scores for 19 feature length silent film DVDs and BluRays that have been commercially released. They toured extensively (performing an estimated 1000 shows world-wide) in 13 countries in North America, Europe and New Zealand.

History

After the premiere show in 1985, on December 31, 1991, Winokur and Sampson accepted a show for Boston's

First Night First Night is a North American artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors ...

, to perform music on a large scale junk sculpture in the

Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...

. The two organizers invited percussionists Michael Evans and Terry Donahue to join them. Next, in the summer of 1992, Sampson and Winokur were invited to contribute a new score for ''Metropolis'' at the

. Then the two brought percussionist Terry Donahue into the group before the first performance. Since that time Alloy devoted themselves to composing and performing new music for silent films. The Alloy Orchestra developed an extensive repertoire of music and sounds that it performed during the projection of silent films. Its three musicians used an array of found objects and electronics as well as traditional percussion, wind and keyboard instruments.Biography
on the Official Website, (accessed January 3, 2015). In addition to publishing scores for silent film releases, the group also recorded a number of CDs of their film music. The first was ''New Music for Silent Films'' through Accurate Records.Listing
of the New Music for Silent Films album on Discogs.com, (accessed January 3, 2015). It was followed in 1995 by the album ''Lonesome'', which appeared through BIB Records.Listing
for the ''Lonesome'' album on Discogs.com, (accessed January 3, 2015). The collection ''Silents'' from 1997 brought together the contemporary scores for the films ''Plain Crazy'', ''

The Lost World The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The g ...

'', ''

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ...

'', ''

'', and '' The Unknown''.Listing
for the ''Silents'' collection on Discogs.com, (accessed January 3, 2015). ''Slapstick Masters'', music for four short silent comedies, was then released on Accurate Records. ''The Last Command'', ''Underworld'', and finally ''The Complete Score for Metropolis'' were self-released. The ensemble performed at film festivals and a variety of cultural events in the US and abroad, including:

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, th ...

, the

Film Society of Lincoln Center Film at Lincoln Center, previously known as the Film Society of Lincoln Center until 2019,Aridi, Sara (April 28, 2019).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved April 29, 2019. is a film society based in New York City, United States. Fo ...

, The Roger Ebert Festival, The TCM Festival,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

AFI Silver AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center or commonly known as AFI Silver is a three-screen movie theater complex in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. Its main auditorium hosts the DC Metro area's third-largest commercial ...

Maryland Film Festival The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...

, Cornell Cinema, Hamilton College,

San Francisco Silent Film Festival The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a film festival first held in 1996 and presented annually at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the largest silent film festival in the United States, although the largest ...

Pordenone Silent Film Festival Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, New Zealand International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Mass Moca, and many others. They also performed on tour throughout the United States at local movie houses, such as Boston's

Somerville Theatre The Somerville Theatre is an independent movie theater and concert venue in the Davis Square neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. Over one hundred years old, the Somerville Theatre started off as a vaudeville house and movie ...

, The Coolidge Corner,

Ragtag Cinema Ragtag Cinema is a non-profit independent movie theater located on Hitt Street in Columbia, Missouri. The theater was founded by a group including Paul Sturtz and David Wilson in May 2000.

, and the

Englert Theatre Englert Theatre in Iowa City, Iowa, is a renovated vaudeville-era playhouse now serving as a community arts center and 725-seat performance venue. It is owned and operated year around by Englert Civic Theatre, a non-profit art organization. The b ...

. The trio revised their scores as better and more integral prints of films become available. For instance, they performed a new score to accompany the recently restored version of Fritz Lang's ''

'' at the TCM Classic Movie Festival in April 2010. Alloy often worked in collaboration with film archives and collectors, such as: Film Preservation Associates, Lobster Films,

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Harold Lloyd Estate The Harold Lloyd Estate, also known as Greenacres, is a large mansion and landscaped estate located in the Benedict Canyon section of Beverly Hills, California. Built in the late 1920s by silent film star Harold Lloyd, it remained Lloyd's home ...

, Douris Films,

Munich Film Archive The Munich Film Archive, in the Munich Stadtmuseum, is one of eight film museums in Germany. It has no showrooms and is limited to screening the films in a single cinema with 165 seats, as well as collecting, archiving, and restoring film copies. ...

, and the Lumiere Institute. The group endeavored to display the best available prints at their shows. For example, Alloy acquired its own new print of Dziga Vertov's ''

Man with a Movie Camera ''Man with a Movie Camera'' (russian: Человек с киноаппаратом, translit=Chelovek s kinoapparatom) is an experimental 1929 Soviet silent documentary film, directed by Dziga Vertov, filmed by his brother Mikhail Kaufman, and ...

'' from

Gosfilmofond Gosfilmofond is a state film archive in Russia. It is the main film archive of the Russian Federation and a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). It is a state cultural institution — curator of films collection and othe ...

. Alloy and wrote its own score based on Vertov's notes for the film's 1928 premiere. Alloy's director, Ken Winokur, restored and released new 35mm and digital prints of ''Phantom of the Opera'', ''Son of the Sheik'' and ''The Eagle''. Alloy released many DVDs, Blu-rays, and CDs. The group published seven CDs of their film music. The first was ''New Music for Silent Films'' through Accurate Records. It was followed in 1995 by the album ''Lonesome'', which appeared through BIB Records. The collection ''Silents'' from 1997 brought together the contemporary scores for the films ''Plain Crazy'', ''

'', ''

'', and '' The Unknown''. ''Masters of Slapstick'', music for 4 short silent comedies, was released on Accurate Records. In 2000, ''The Last Command'', ''Underworld'', and finally ''The Complete Score for Metropolis'' were self-released. In addition to publishing scores for silent film releases, the group also recorded a number of CDs of their film music. The first was ''New Music for Silent Films'' through Accurate Records. It was followed in 1995 by the album ''Lonesome'', which appeared through BIB Records. The collection ''Silents'' from 1997 brought together the contemporary scores for the films ''Plain Crazy'', ''

'', ''

'', and '' The Unknown''. ''Slapstick Masters, music for 4 short silent comedies, was then released on Accurate Records. The Last Command, Underworld'', and finally The Complete Score for Metropolis were self released. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' put the ensemble on its list of the 100 most creative people or groupings in the entertainment world.

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR i ...

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

called the trio "one of the pioneers in composing new music for old movies" and

Lloyd Schwartz Lloyd Schwartz (born November 29, 1941) is an American poet, and the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He was the classical music editor of ''The Boston Phoenix'', a publication that is n ...

discussed their recording of scores to a pair of

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

films: "Most silent movie music just fills the void. Some of it even gets in the way. But the Alloy Orchestra really helps us see what we're watching and often the music, whether driving or fanciful, is worth listening to on its own." In addition to their work on silent films, Alloy Orchestra composed music for contemporary films, including ''

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control ''Fast, Cheap & Out of Control'' is a 1997 documentary film by filmmaker Errol Morris. Summary The film profiles four subjects with extraordinary careers: Dave Hoover, a wild-animal tamer; George Mendonça, a topiary gardener at Green Animals ...

'' by Errol Morris, ''Dragonflies, the Baby Cries'' by Jane Gillooly and ''Vakvagany'' by Ben Meade. In 2014 a recording of the music for the film ''

'' was released on double vinyl by

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Tennessee, Detroit, Michigan, and Soho, London—with ...

Membership

* Ken Winokur - Director, percussion, clarinet * Terry Donahue - Percussion, accordion, musical saw * Roger C. Miller - Keyboard * Caleb Sampson - Keyboards

Critical reception

Anne Midgette Anne Midgette (born June 22, 1965) is an American music critic who was the first woman to write classical music criticism regularly for ''The New York Times''. She was the chief classical music critic of ''The Washington Post'' from 2008 to 2 ...

of ''The New York Times'' said the orchestra was "fast becoming the country's leading avant-garde interpreter of silent films." She noted that the group had been producing at least one score yearly since 1991, and that ''Blackmail'' "showed it to have the ideal qualities one hopes for in a fusion of elements: attractiveness combined with endurance".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

called Alloy Orchestra "the best in the world at accompanying silent films". A reviewer in ''The Georgia Straight'' wrote that the orchestra "has scored almost 30 silent films, crafting a unique sonic signature for each", while

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

of ''The Los Angeles Times'' said, "Whatever's on the screen, the Alloy Orchestra makes it even more alive". Filmmaker

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...

called them "the maestros of sproing-and-chunk grandeur".

Releases

Blu-ray and DVD

* ''L'inhumaine, Blu-ray (Flicker Alley)'' * ''Phantom of the Opera, Blu-ray and DVD (Kino Lorber)'' * ''Black Pirate, DVD (Kino International)'' * ''Man with the Movie Camera, Blu-ray, DVD, Laser disc and VHS (Image Entertainment)'' * ''STRIKE!, DVD (Image Entertainment)'' * ''Fatty Arbuckle Vol. I and II, DVD (Kino International)'' * ''The General/Steamboat Bill, Jr., DVD (Image Entertainment, Flicker Alley)'' * ''Slapstick Masters, DVD (Image Entertainment, Flicker Alley)'' * ''The Lost World, DVD (Image Entertainment)'' * ''Phantom of the Opera, Blu-ray and DVD (Image Entertainment, Kino Lorber)'' * ''Dragonflies the Baby Cries, DVD (Self published by Jane Gillooly)'' * ''Manslaughter, DVD (Kino International)'' * ''Wild and Weird, DVD (Flicker Alley)'' * ''Son of the Sheik, Blu-ray and DVD (Kino Lorber, Box 5)'' * ''The Eagle, Blu-ray and DVD (Kino Lorber)'' * ''Lon Chaney Collection, (The Unknown), Blu-ray and DVD (Warner Home Video)'' * ''Last Command, Blu-ray and DVD (Criterion Collection)'' * ''Underworld, Blu-ray and DVD (Criterion Collection)''

CD and records

* ''New Music for Silent Films'', CD (Accurate Records, 1994) * ''Silents'', CD (Accurate Records, 1997) * ''Lonesome'', CD (Bib Records, 1995) * ''Metropolis'', CD - 2 disk set (Alloy Orchestra) * ''Last Command'', CD (Alloy Orchestra) * ''Underworld'', CD (Alloy Orchestra) * ''Man with a Movie Camera'', vinyl - 2 record set (Third Man Records, 2014)

References

Sources

*''Independent Film and Video Monthly'', vol. 25 (2002), 15ff. *''New York Daily News''
Mary Talbot, "Alloy Orchestra's Brand of Heavy Metal," August 9, 1996
accessed June 8, 2010

External links

eNotesRoger Clark Miller
*Washington Post review, Alloy Orchestra shakes up the sound of silent film

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups from Boston Silent film music American film score composers Orchestras based in Massachusetts Third Man Records artists 1990 establishments in Massachusetts