“What would it sound like if I could combine Mötley Crüe with the Daft PunkTronscore?" That was singer and composerPatrick Stump’s vision for the score ofHot Wheels Let’s Race, a new family series based on the iconic toys. TheFall Out Boyfrontman was recruited to not only write the show’s theme song, but the show’s entire musical backdrop, lending a hard rock hand to Mattel’s animated series the same way he has to many other high-profile projects.
The series, which debuts on Netflix on March 4, follows a team of six racers — Coop, Spark, Mac, Brights, Axle, and Sidecar — as they participate in a racing camp that puts an emphasis on “pedal to the metal.” Soundtracked by Stump’s theme song and score, each racer will make their way through races, stunt contests, and intense challenges, proving their mettle as the best drivers around.Mattel saw Stump as the perfect man for the job, given his explosive history as the frontman of one of the biggest bands in pop punk, as well as a massively accomplished composer.
“Between the show’s characters, propulsive cars, and pulse-pounding music, we want to make audiences feel like they’re literally gripping the wheel for an unforgettable ride withHot Wheels Let’s Race,”saidRob David, Vice President of Content Creative atMattel Television Studiosand Executive Producer ofHot Wheels Let’s Race. “Patrick is a one-of-a-kind musical talent, and generous collaborator. We are so lucky to have him as part of theLet’s Racefamily.”
Stump Goes Big or Goes Home With His Scores
Stump’s been scoring film and TV projects for years, with credits that includeSpidey and His Amazing Friends,Merry Little Batman, andBlack Friday, as well as his first experience with the process of scoring, when Fall Out Boy wrote “Immortals” for the soundtrack to Disney’sBig Hero 6. “That [experience] was life-changing,” he recalls, “Where I’m like, ‘I want this every day. I want to do this every day of my life. This is so awesome to watch this music come together.’” Since then, he’s been drawn to “big” sounds, the same kind of propulsive creations that come with being a part of Fall Out Boy:
“That’s something that’s natural to me, but it’s also something that I’ve studied and practiced. I feel like that’s a really natural fit for animation and a lot of kids' stuff, because I was an 8-year-old boy with ADHD. So trying to speak to that kid to maintain their attention musically is something that I understand pretty well…I have a tendency to go big with stuff. I wouldn’t say I’m the most subtle composer. So if there’s an emotional moment, it’s going to be gripping with emotion. I think that lends itself really naturally to kids’ stuff. And it’s also, I never really got rid of my kid stuff. My comic book collection is massive. I’m still living in a lot of those things. So I think that’s one of the reasons too, why it’s a natural fit.”
Stump’s Love for Scores Started With Sci-fi
He cites a love for movies likeStar WarsandBack to the Futureas the genesis of his love for scores, and why he was so excited to get to work on something likeHot Wheels, where the visual is already iconic to so many people the world over. “That was definitely my first love as a kid musically, because they’re just so engaging,” he says, “and they attach to the thing that you’re seeing on screen, which is kind of something that I really wanted to do with the show. There’s an iconography to that orange track, and it’s like, once we’re on that orange track, what does it sound like? I have this opportunity to put a stamp on that sound, to put a stamp on that moment.”
Being a Frontman and a Composer Aren’t All That Different
Andthere’s not all that much difference between creating the soundscape for a series and working with Fall Out Boy, when it comes down to the actual science of it. Aside from the fact that he has a “little bit more anonymity” as a composer than as a frontman, his process is largely the same, since working with Fall Out Boy (and specifically bandmatePete Wentz) begins with “[broader] musical ideas” before Stump takes on the challenge of trying to understand what [they’re] saying musically and how to make those words fit and how to tell that story.” The same is true of working with the team behindLet’s Race, who give him a brief that he then takes off and runs with.
“The producers and the writers of the show have an idea of what they want it to sound like,” he explains. “They have some thematic ideas and they have a story, but there’s music that doesn’t exist. It’s this great puzzle for me to figure out, and in that way, I’d say it’s very similar between Fall Out Boy and scoring.”
Rockstars Don’t Have Deadlines — But Composers Do
Though the project wasn’t without its challenges, given that Stump has been on the road with Fall Out Boy on their massiveSo Much for (Tour) Dust tour, which begins its second leg — aptly titled So Much for (2our) Dust — this spring. He says scoring full-time on a project ofLet’s Race’s scale has been an “experiment,” one that involved having to “fall in love with a calendar and understand deadlines,” things that don’t usually come into play when you’re used to the life of a rockstar.
“To be entirely honest,” he admits, “I wasn’t sure I could do it time-wise, but I was like, “I’m going to figure this out.” I was like, “I’m going to challenge myself and figure out how to make this work.” So there were some sleepless nights because I was like, “Darn, there’s a deadline tomorrow,” but once I got in the rhythm of it, now it’s like it’s awesome andnow I can just have fun with it, which is my favorite part of it.”
Finding a rhythm when it comes to working with a production team is also a key part of his process, knowing and understanding what it is that a director wants from his work. “One of the things that’s a really big challenge is to learn how to understand people’s shorthand,” he says. “There’s an art to learning to understand what the creative team is looking for and how to translate that into music.
It’s also key for him to be able to get on a creative team’s levelbefore he’s able to commit to something. It could be the best project, it could be something that I really want,” he says, “But if I’m not speaking the same language right away, if I can’t understand what the creatives are saying, I’m like, ‘I’m probably not right for this.’” Luckily, he and theHot Wheelsteam clicked immediately: “Right away, I had a feeling. I was like, ‘I think I got this.’”
It seems like he certainly did, asHot Wheels Let’s Racespeeds its way onto Netflix in just over a month, with Stump’s music (featured in the brand new trailer below) backing the thrilling stunts and adventures catered to a whole new generation of kids. His dream now that this project is finished, though? To composethe score for a Marvel movie.
“I’ve been shouting about [them] forever. So they know. They’re kind of like, ‘Okay, well, if anything comes up, you can stop telling us. We know.’”
Hot Wheels Let’s Racepremieres on Netflix on March 4. Check out the brand new trailer below:
