Cliff Martinez

Cliff Martinez
Martinez in 2011
Background information
Born	February 5, 1954 (1954-02-05) The Bronx, New York City
Genres	Film score, punk rock, funk rock, experimental rock, industrial
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Drums, percussion, cristal baschet, keyboards
Years active	1983–present
Labels	EMI
Associated acts	Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Dickies, Captain Beefheart, Lydia Lunch, The Weirdos
Website	cliff-martinez.com

Cliff Martinez (born February 5, 1954) is an American film score composer and former drummer most known for his work with Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Biography

Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse. At the time, however, he was more interested in rock bands, and played drums in a variety of them, mostly in a temporary capacity.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (1983-1986)

After several years drumming for such acts as Captain Beefheart, The Dickies, Lydia Lunch and The Weirdos, in late 1983, he and Jack Sherman were drafted in to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the recording of their eponymous first album after Jack Irons and Hillel Slovak left the band to concentrate on their other project at the time, What Is This? Eventually, tensions between Sherman and his fellow band members culminated in Sherman being fired and Slovak returning for the second album, Freaky Styley. Irons however, was still committed to What Is This?, so Martinez again stepped behind the kit for the recording of Freaky Styley and its subsequent tour. During the recording of demos for the third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, the rest of the band felt that the drummer's 'heart was no longer in the band', but as he wouldn't quit Anthony Kiedis and Flea fired him, and Irons returned.

In 2011, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were announced as inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Anthony Kiedis said he assumed that Martinez would want to attend the ceremony in April 2012 but hasn't spoken with him yet but Martinez along with other former member were invited to atttend.

Film composing

Eventually, Martinez' interests shifted and he focused his attention toward film scoring. His first soundtrack was for the film Sex, Lies, and Videotape, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh would later call on Martinez to produce soundtracks for a number of his films, notably Traffic in 2000 and Soderbergh's 2002 adaptation of Stanisław Lem's novel Solaris.

Composer discography

• Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
• Pump Up the Volume (1990)
• Kafka (1991)
• Black Magic (1992)
• King of the Hill (1993)
• Underneath (1995)
• Gray's Anatomy (1996)
• Schizopolis (1996)
• Wicked (1998)
• The Limey (1999)
• Traffic (2000)
• Narc (2002)
• Solaris (2002)
• Wonderland (2003)
• Wicker Park (2004)
• Havoc (2005)
• First Snow (2006)
• Espion(s) (2009)
• In the Beginning (2009)
• The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
• Drive (2011)
• Contagion (2011)

Discography

The Weirdos

• Weird World (compilation)

Lydia Lunch

• 13:13 (1982)
• Stinkfist (1986)

Captain Beefheart

• Ice Cream for Crow (1982)

Red Hot Chili Peppers

• The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984)
• Freaky Styley (1985)
• The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)
  • Did not perform: Co-wrote Walkin' On Down the Road
• The Abbey Road E.P. - (1988)
• What Hits!? - (1992)
• Out in L.A. - (1994)
• Under the Covers: Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers - (1998)

The Dickies

• Killer Clowns From Outer Space (1988)
• The Second Coming (1989)
• Locked N' Loaded Live in London (1991)
• Idjit Savant (1994)

External links

• Official website
• Cliff Martinez on Myspace
• Cliff Martinez at the Internet Movie Database