Local musician Rob Bull has joined the ESP team to report on the Peterborough music scene and some of our local heroes. One of our city’s success stories is Dave Smith who’s proving a hit with Hollywood…
David James Smith is a well known figure on the Peterborough music scene. He’s the front-man for the nationally award winning band Austin Gold, long time member of local circuit regulars Children of the Revolution, tutor and all-round guitar hero. But his name is now making waves across the pond in Hollywood.
David joined forces with former Peterborough resident and long time friend and music producer Andy Hawkins to write and record the track ‘Give Me a Late Night Tear Up’ for use in the 2020 action comedy film Chick Fight, staring none other than Academy Award nominee and multiple Golden Globe winner Alec Baldwin.
The film, also starring Malin Akerman and Bella Thorne, focuses on the character Anna Wyncomb (Akerman), who when faced with the trials and tribulations of her life finds refuge in an all-female underground fight club. She is mentored and trained by boxing coach Jack Murphy (Baldwin) and despite early setbacks and some hefty knockouts, works her way up the ranks to take on rival and seasoned campaigner Olivia (Thorne) in the epic final showdown.
David’s track is used for a whopping 2 minutes and 24 seconds in the film and features during a prominent scene when Anna is introduced to Jack for the very first time. Anna finds the world class trainer in a seedy bar, heavily inebriated, drink in hand singing along to Give Me a Late Night Tear Up.
I caught up with David to ask him just how all this came to fruition…
Firstly, what was it like seeing the legendary Alec Baldwin drunkenly singing along to a song you’ve written?
Dave: “Mad but exciting!”
Obviously there’s been no big cinematic release because of the pandemic, so how did you premier the film in the Smith household?
“Well there are some scenes not suitable for our kids so my wife and I ordered a takeaway and watched it on Prime Video after they had gone to bed. Watching it was all very surreal, especially when the song came on.”
You must be really proud of such an achievement, but just how do you go about getting a song in a Hollywood movie?
“Myself and my very good pal and producer Andy Hawkins are currently working on a library album project to be used for film, TV, etc. We have an agent who approached us to provide a ‘classic rock’ track for the film. We worked very swiftly on the track to get it sent to the director, in fact as soon as we’d finished the final mix our agent sent it immediately. It’s certainly demonstrated the pace of the industry.”
Are you working on anything else for Hollywood right now?
“There is another film potentially at the end of the year but the library film/media album is a rolling project we are continually working on. The idea is to have a catalogue of music ready to submit for placement in films, dramas, major adverts, documentaries etc.”
We’re going to be speaking again soon for a future article focusing on Austin Gold news and some big 2021 plans, but for now you must be looking forward to getting back to gigging as lockdown restrictions ease?
“I cannot wait to gig again, we all can’t. The whole industry has been tucked away for over a year so we’re all bursting to get out of the studios and make a racket on stage again!”
You can download the film Chick Fight via all major platforms, it is also available now to stream with your Amazon Prime membership. You can keep up to date with Austin Gold via their Facebook page or www.AustinGold.co.uk
Rob Bull
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