Two Steps from Hell
| File:TSFH-logo-Steven-R-Gilmore.jpg | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Genre | Music production |
| Founded | February 14, 2006 |
| Founder | Nick Phoenix Thomas J. Bergersen |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California , USA |
| Products | Movie and trailer music |
| Website | twostepsfromhell |
Two Steps from Hell is a production music company based in Los Angeles, California founded by Nick Phoenix and Thomas J. Bergersen on 14 February 2006.[1]
About
Two Steps from Hell (TSFH) mainly produces music for movie trailers, although recently it has also been used for television shows and selected games.
As of June 2013, TSFH has published 20 demonstration albums and 8 public albums, with almost 1000 unique tracks. Their upcoming public album, Sun, which will be released in early 2014, will be the second public album with only songs composed by Thomas Bergersen. A couple of preview tracks, "Cry" and "Sun", from the album, can be downloaded from Thomas Bergersen's official website. An official music video for "Sun" can be found on Facebook and YouTube.
TSFH's main graphical artist is Steven R. Gilmore,[2] who has created album covers for almost every promotional and public release, including the logo of the company, with the exception being the 2009 DVD release of their library, where the album cover was created by Paul Zeaiter.[3]
Main Appearances
The company's music has been featured in:
- Trailers for, but not limited to: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Dark Knight, The Fighter, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Tron: Legacy, Anna Karenina, No Country for Old Men, 2012, Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Super 8, Inception, Drive Angry, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1", Hugo, John Carter, The Town, Priest, and Prince of Persia.
- Video Games such as Resident Evil 6, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, PlanetSide 2, Killzone 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, League of Legends, F1 2013 and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
- Television shows such as Breaking Bad,[4] Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Revolution, Homeland, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Merlin, Deadliest Warrior, and during the 2012 London Olympics. The track Archangel was also used in the 18/05/2013 episode of Britain's Got Talent.
Other major appearances
TSFH's music is now also used extensively in a variety of places, from global events to local concerts, some of which are recorded below:
- Their song "Heart of Courage" was used in the beginning of UEFA Euro 2012 matches, in the beginning of the London 2012 Olympic games athletics finals and also in a promotional video for the World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid.[5]
- The song "Invincible" was performed live by Royal Marine Bands in the Royal Albert Hall in London in April 2013.[6]
- On June 4, 2012 a TSFH app was announced for iOS and Android, containing 19 tracks of previously released music in a compilation called "Demon's Dance".[7][8] The app was officially released on June 26, 2012 for iOS,[9] followed by the Android release the next day.[10]
- American artistic gymnast Alicia Sacramone used "Heart of Courage" combined with another song for her floor routine in 2011.
- Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast Alina Maksymenko used a medley of songs of the team producers for her hoop routine in 2012, she finished 6th at the rhythmic gymnastics individual all around final in London. That same medley was used in 2013 by Italian artistic gymnast Enus Mariani for her floor routine.
- Swiss artistic gymnast Giulia Steingruber used "Love & Loss" as her floor music in 2013.
- 2013 America's Got Talent winner Kenichi Ebina used a number of songs in his performances en route to his victory in the reality show, including "Ocean Princess", "Promise" and "For The Win".[11]
Charity
- The song, "Heart", from Thomas Bergersen's solo demonstration album Two Steps from Heaven, was made available in 2011 to raise money to help the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.
- Thomas Bergersen has recently released a new song called, "The Hero in Your Heart", to raise money to help the victims of the Typhoon Haiyan, the 2013 Philippine typhoon. The lyrics have been performed by Merethe Soltvedt. It's not yet known if this song would end up in the Sun album.
Concert
TSFH successfully hosted a live concert on June 14, 2013 at the Disney Hall, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., performing some of their most popular songs, such as Heart of Courage, Protectors of the Earth, To Glory, Strength of a Thousand Men, Black Blade and Breathe, as well as Ocean Princess, Age of Gods and Remember Me from Bergersen's album Illusions.[12] The next day, they confirmed on Facebook further concerts, with place and date to be announced.[13] On June 26, 2013 Bergersen confirmed the next concert to take place in Europe.[14]
Discography
Demonstration Albums
- Volume 1 (2006) [First album]
- Shadows and Nightmares (2006) [Mainly 'Horror' Genre]
- Dynasty (2007) [An 'Epic' Genre album]
- All Drums go to Hell (2007) [Heavily Percussion-Oriented Album]
- Nemesis (2007) [An 'Epic' Genre album mostly composed by Thomas Bergersen]
- Pathogen (2007) [Electro-Metal album largely composed by Nick Phoenix]
- Dreams & Imaginations (2008) [New Age album]
- Legend (2008) [An 'Epic' Genre album, with some songs composed by Troels Folmann]
- Ashes (2008) [Horror Genre]
- The Devil Wears Nada (2009) [Mostly light and humorous album]
- Power of Darkness (2010) [Epic-themed album]
- All Drones Go to Hell (2010)[15] [Also known as Mystical Beginnings;[16] Uses many 'Drone' instruments, New Age Album]
- Illumina (2010)[15] ['New-Age' album]
- Balls to the Wall (2011) [Percussion album, with some songs composed by Alex Pfeffer]
- Nero (2011) [An 'Epic' Genre album, with some songs composed by Alex Pfeffer]
- Two Steps from Heaven (2012) [Pet Project of Thomas Bergersen, 'Inspiring']
- Faction (2012) [In ExtremeMusic it shown that this album is composed by "Bergersen/Phoenix/Rue" It is not cited with the rest of the albums in their website.]
- Burn (2012) [A small collection of 8 dubstep remixed tracks. They refer to these tracks as EpicStep][17]
- Cyanide (2013) [Percussion and electro-metal album]
- Crime Lab (2013) [Electro-metal album, similar to "Cyanide"][18]
Public Albums
- Invincible (2010) [Compilation of some of the most popular TSFH tracks]
- Illusions (2011) [Thomas Bergersen album, formerly named Nemesis II]
- Archangel (2011) [Compilation of more of the most popular TSFH tracks]
- Demon's Dance (2012) [Compilation of tracks from various albums, not just epic-themed albums, available only on the TSFH application for iOS and Android]
- Halloween (2012)[19] [Compilation of well-known horror tracks from several demonstration albums, with several other-genre tracks as well]
- SkyWorld (2012) [First public album to use mostly all-new tracks.]
- Classics Volume One (2013)[20] [Compilation of some tracks. First public album available in lossless audio]
- Speed of Sound (2013) [Nick Phoenix album. All-new tracks.] [21][22]
Upcoming Albums
- Sun (2014) [Projected to be similar to Illusions by Thomas Bergersen]
- Unknown album, similar to Skyworld (2014)
Other Albums
There are a number of albums made by other composers and not Thomas Bergersen or Nick Phoenix. Not much is yet known about them. They are:
- Sinners (2011) [Electronic Metal album composed by Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, although still under the TSFH label.]
- Solaris (2012) [Electronic Metal album which is actually composed by Alex Pfeffer, although still under the TSFH Label]
- Orion (2013) [Very short album (only 5 tracks) composed by Michal Cielecki][23]
There are also Trailer Toolkits, especially designed for the movie industry. They can be found at their page in ExtremeMusic.
Music Videos
- To Die on Halloween (2012)
- Sun (2013)
Singles
Songs that aren't on any album (yet maybe). All of the following are from Thomas:
- Where Are You (2011) [Pop-Trance with his unique style].
- The Hero in Your Heart (2013) [For the 2013 Philippine typhoon. Lyrics performed by Merethe Soltvedt].
- Autumn Love (2014) [Dreams And Imaginations album style].
- That's A Wrap (2014) [A combination of many TSFH sounds put together on a dark, orchestral 10 minutes song].
- Into Darkness (2014) [Mix of epic-orchestral and club style single, for sale].
See also
References
- ^ "Two Steps From Hell Home". Two Steps from Hell.
- ^ "About". Two Steps from Hell. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
- ^ "Portfolio". Paul Zeaiter. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
- ^ "Breaking Bad Season 4 Trailer". AMC.
- ^ "26 Years of World Youth Days". Youtube.
- ^ "Royal Marine Bands' Performance on Youtube". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
- ^ "Twitter post". Official Two Steps from Hell Twitter account.
- ^ "Facebook announcement". Two Steps from Hell.
- ^ "The TSFH app on the App Store". Two Steps from Hell via App Store.
- ^ "The TSFH app on Google Play". Two Steps from Hell via Google Play.
- ^ "Kenichi Ebina's Performances in America's Got Talent 2013".
- ^ "Article about the TSFH Concert". SoundtracksAndTrailerMusic.com. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
- ^ "TSFH concert reaction on Facebook". Two Steps From Hell. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
- ^ "Statements after the concert". Thomas Bergersen. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
- ^ a b "Two Steps From Hell — All Drones Go To Hell & Illumina". Trailer Music News. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
- ^ "All Drones Go To Hell". Two Steps From Hell. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
- ^ "Burn on ExtremeMusic.com". Extreme Music.
- ^ "Crime Lab on ExtremeMusic.com". Extreme Music.
- ^ "Halloween description". Two Steps from Hell.
- ^ "Steven R. Gilmore's Facebook post". Steven R. Gilmore.
- ^ "Music - Albums". Two Steps From Hell.
- ^ "Speed of Sound on Amazon.com". Two Steps From Hell via Amazon.com.
- ^ "Orion announcement on Extreme's Facebook page". ExtremeMusic via Facebook.
