Friends of Dean Martinez

Friends of Dean Martinez is an instrumental rock/post-rock band featuring members of Giant Sand, Calexico, and Naked Prey. FoDM music may be described as a combination of Americana tunes with bits of electronica, ambient, lounge, psychedelia and dub intertwined with surf rock-inspired lead guitars.

History

The band was formed in Tucson, Arizona as an experimental side-project by various members of Giant Sand, Calexico and Naked Prey. Their debut album, The Shadow of Your Smile, was released on the Sub Pop label in 1995.

Friends of Dean Martinez have gone through a variety of line-ups. They moved for a time to Los Angeles and are now settled in Austin, Texas. Currently, the trio includes Bill Elm on steel guitar, electric guitar & organ, Mike Semple on guitars, and Andrew Gerfers on drums.

Cinematic Musical Work

They performed a live score to the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. Film-scoring work includes the Richard Linklater film Fast Food Nation and the John Waters narrated feature documentary Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea.

Upon seeing Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea for the first time, Elm recollects, "I felt I could really write music for this. It was a nice fit for what we do, the images, and the story. It felt natural to watch it and want to write music. It was inspiring, and that's the most you can ask for when you score something or write music."

Between 2009 and 2013, Bill Elm and Woody Jackson have created and contributed to the soundtracks for the video games Red Dead Redemption, L.A Noire, and Grand Theft Auto V of Rockstar Games.

In December 2010, Elm and Jackson won Best Original Score at both the Machinima Inside Gaming Awards and Spike TV's Video Game Awards for their work on Red Dead Redemption.

Discography

Albums

• The Shadow of Your Smile (1995)
• Retrograde (1997)
• Atardecer (1999)
• A Place in the Sun (2000)
• Wichita Lineman (2001)
• Under the Waves (2003)
• Random Harvest (2004)
• Live At Club 2 (2005)
• Lost Horizon (2005)
• Fast Food Nation OST (2006)
• Red Dead Redemption OST (2010)
• Undead Nightmare OST (2010)

EPs

• Atrasar (2001)
• In the Wire (2001)

Singles

• "Polena" / "Seashells" (1995) (as Friends of Dean Martin)
• "Cordova" / "Monte Carlo" (1996)

Compilations

• On the Shore (2003; two discs combining songs from Wichita Lineman and Live At Club 2 on disk 1, with Under the Waves on disk 2)

External links

• At MySpace
• Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea official website
• Fast Food Nation official website
• "Redemption songs: the making of the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack", The Guardian, 26 May 2010