Piers Baron is an Englishman who started his musical career as a drum n' bass producer, and conquered the European club scene with his wild beats. Since then a lot has changed for Piers, or Baron as he is more commonly known. He moved to America and became a bonafide musical genius with a (luckily for us) fascination for board sports. Over the last few years Baron has enriched many movie productions with high-toned original soundtracks, including classics such as Flip Skateboards' seminal "Extremely Sorry", Volcom's "9191" and most recently Nike's "Never Not Part 2". Baron has also worked closely with gods like Lemmy from Motorhead and Dave Lombardo from Slayer. We were honored to sit down for a chat with Baron, who as it turns out is a big Method Mag fan… who knew?! So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Piers Baron!

Listen to the soundtracks before, after or while you read, up to you! (Remember now, these are original soundtracks not just playlists)
"Never Not Part 2" Soundtrack
"9191" Soundtrack

“Extremely Sorry” was a milestone in your career and your first venture in creating original soundtracks for board sports movies. How did you get connected with the Flip guys in the first place?
Well, through a set of unexpected events. I was staying in LA with Alex Moul (who was an OG Flip team rider for those that don’t know) on a DJ tour about 10 years ago, I met Geoff Rowley through Alex and he asked me to edit a song down for something he was filming and our relationship grew from there, at the time I was a well known drum and bass producer. About 3 years after that, Jeremy Fox (Flip Founder/CEO) reached out to me to talk about the possibility of making an original score for "Extremely Sorry".
 Covering “Stand by me” with Lemmy and Dave Lombardo is probably every musician’s wet dream. How exactly did this come about? Any chance you and the guys could come play at my wedding?
Haha, Rowley has done a ton of Vans stuff with Motorhead so we were able to get Lemmy into the idea and record the vocal part to a click track. Lombardo was introduced to me by Troy Eckert of Volcom, he came onboard later and was the glue that made the track feel finished.
 
There is a long list of music gods you have worked with, like Lemmy, Dave Lombardo, Snoop Dogg and Stephen McBean. Is there any particular artist you would like to collaborate with one day? Maybe Miley? Haha!
I would definitely work with Miley, she has star power and an amazing voice. The list is endless: Skrillex, Noel Gallagher, Francoise Hardy, Lorde, Brian Molko, Jon Hopkins…
 
How did board sports first come into your life?
I guess the same way for most people, I started skating when I was 9, which in turn dragged me into the whole counter-culture world that existed then, the music and the fashion of skateboarding.

Can you kickflip? Let’s say 1 make out of 10 tries still counts.
I think I could probably just about sneak one in on a 1-in-10 basis.
 
Do you ever find time to go up into them thar hills and slash some snow?
I have been snowboarding a few times, I enjoyed it a lot, I live in LA though, so there isn’t much snow. Gigi tried to get me to go to the Dragon house with him once, I was out of the country at the time, that would have been fun though.
 
Tell us a bit about "Never Not Part 2", who first approached you for this project?
It was Joe Carlino, I had spoken to him about a completely unrelated project and we started talking about the Nike movie. At the start of 2013 he introduced me to Per-Hampus Stalhandske, kind of a funny story, I had never met Per before, but we actually lived on the same street!? Per is the man.
How did it go down, I remember seeing the making of clips for "9191" and Jake Price would give you a raw edit with no sound, and you and the other musicians would just jam out as you watched the footage on a screen in the studio. Was the process similar for "Never Not"?
We approached it way differently from 9191, which was essentially custom arranged songs. This movie was so dialogue heavy it required a completely different approach. There was a lot of brainstorming and back and forward between myself and Per, which then progressed to collectively banging our heads against the wall, and then at one point or another we had a breakthrough. From then on the music started coming together pretty easily. Nike were cool as FUCK and give us complete creative control of the movie, I will forever respect them for that.
 
Speaking of "9191", that movie was so trippy, it is absolutely one of our favorite snowboard movies ever! Did Volcom and Gigi give you any briefs on what to do or did they just tell you to go wild?
No, there was definitely a brief, Jake (Price) had storyboarded the whole thing! Myself, Gigi and Jake have a very similar taste in music so we got to pretty much do what we wanted, Jake knows what he wants and that makes a composer's job a lot easier.
 
When you collaborate with artists for a soundtrack, do you get to choose who you work with?
Yeah, for sure, they are usually my ideas or sometimes the director's, but I am the person on the phone selling the project to people and their management.
 
Do you feel like non-original soundtracks (i.e. the traditional "mix-tape" approach) in snowboard movies lack consistency in general?
At this point, yes, without a doubt the format is rinsed. I think "Never Not Part 2" was really well received because it has gone against the grain of what was there before. There is, of course, room for all of it, you could make the GNARLIEST movie of all time with licensed music. I just think that for now it's good to have a mix of both, a few licensed songs and an awesome score as well.
 
Is your approach when making a soundtrack similar to when you're making an album?
Completely different, a soundtrack is an audio accompaniment for visuals, whereas a record has to paint its own visuals and imagery. Both are awesome to make, though.
 
You had your start in music in the drum n' bass scene. Do you still have love for electronic dance music?
I couldn’t have more love and appreciation for electronic music, the people I worked with and the friends I have made in the EDM scene, a lot of whom I am still in contact with today.
You've proved you’re able to produce and compose music in many different genres. Which would you say is your favorite right now?
For soundtrack, it's constantly changing, it really depends on the footage. For listening, right now I am loving the Lorde record, super dark goth pop, really cool.
 
How would you describe your own recent music in a few words?
Melt your face and ears awesomeness.

What are you working at the moment? Can you give us a little spoiler?
I am writing a record with another artist who shall remain, for now, nameless.

Last words are yours!
Thanks to the snowboard community for all the love I have been shown!

Interview by Klaus Lotto
Photo by Arto Saari