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Alex Geringas is a Lithuanian-Ukrainian composer from Germany who moved to the U.S. following the success of his Grammy-winning song “Dark Side,” sung by Kelly Clarkson. Since then, he has worked as a composer and songwriter for film and television, with credits including the Trolls television franchise, Under Wraps 2, Arlo the Alligator Boy, and the DC/Warner Bros. animated series Batwheels, fulfilling a personal childhood dream for himself. He is also the founder of Rare Behavior.
We spoke with Alex about his recent projects, adapting musical styles to align with genre, his new entertainment production company, and what the future has in store.
Your recent projects span from romantic comedies to animated films. How do you adapt your musical style to fit the unique tones and emotions of each project?
That’s one of the biggest privileges in my job, to be able to switch between genres and find a new unique sound palette for every new project. I mean every genre starts with a blank canvas. I’m very collaborative and versatile– I would describe my music style as a story-driven dialogue with the directors and producers! Their vision drives my musical style.
You’ve worked on various animated projects, including Arlo the Alligator Boy and its follow-up series. How do you balance creating both the score and original songs for animated features?
In creating music for animation, songs are always the first thing to write so the animators can start their magic. We mostly score the movie 1-2 years later! The insanely talented Ryan Crego, who invented and directed Arlo, was my co-writer on all the songs. (He even sang our opening song for the movie.) It was really great to have the director in the room while writing the songs with the same person. LOL–generally I really love to write the songs and the score for the same project, as I am able to incorporate the themes of the songs in my score and vice versa !
Could you share your experience working on the DC/Warner Bros. show Batwheels and your approach to scoring for a superhero-themed series?
When I was eight years old growing up in Germany, I was bullied for my body weight and for being a foreigner (I’m Ukrainian-Lithuanian). I daydreamed of my hero Batman saving and protecting me. Batman is still my hero and now I get to help him, at least musically! My two EPs Michael G. Stern and Simon J. Smith are big soundtrack lovers, so we’re trying to mix the orchestral bandwidth of a John Williams with music genres like K-pop and Trap to combine it in an action-packed score–it’s so much fun and I can’t get enough of it!!!
Congratulations on creating the theme song for Disneyland’s new firework show! What was your experience like crafting a song that captures the essence of the experience?
Thank You! Duddy Brown, my co-writer on “It’s Wondrous,” and I like to go on walks before we write. Duddy and his wife had just found out they were expecting a baby, and we were talking about what a wonder this “magic that we call life” is, and “how it grows from just a spark.” I don’t remember which one of us said those words, but we both just instantly froze in our footsteps and started composing a chorus then and there on the trail with nothing but our voices and my iphone! Later when we arrived at the studio, the thoughts continued and everything just fell into place…except for the very first line. We had what we felt was an incredible song, but nothing to open it with. I’ll never forget how after almost two more hours of beating our heads against the wall searching unsuccessfully for this one simple line, Duddy turned to me and said: “It’s just so hard to know where it starts”…I agreed, turned around to my computer screen, and while adjusting the arrangement, started to hum those exact words to our existing verse melody, just for fun. Again we froze, then looked at each other and literally just hugged each other. We both knew this was the missing line, the perfect beginning of “It’s Wondrous.”
Could you talk about your collaboration on Under Wraps 2? What was it like to create music for this project?
I had the best time. Alex Zamm is not only the director of the movie and my songwriting partner on “My Kind of Monster,” he has also been one of my closest friends and collaborators for many years. Alex already had a visual and a lyric idea for the huge mummy dance scene in his movie. We flushed it out in the studio, involved our good friend, songwriter and rapper Mike Goode to write the rap, and fine tuned everything with the helping hand of Disney Music Exec Steve Vincent. This song is so close to my heart because of the kind message it sets: “We may be opposites like night and day / But you’re in my bones in every way / You’re my kind of monster, my kind of monster.”
Blue’s Big City Adventure is another notable project on your list. How do you approach composing music for children’s content while keeping it engaging for both kids and adults?
Blue’s Clues is such a big part of American children’s culture. First of all, I feel so honored that the creators of this property, Traci Paige Johnson and Angela Santomero, trusted me to create score and song arrangements that pay tribute to their TV show, but also are able to bring the music into the film world. For me, creating children’s content is not any different than creating content for adults– I always try to write and produce the best possible music I can.
With an impressive and varied portfolio, what aspirations do you have for your future projects, and are there any genres or mediums you’re eager to explore next?
I would love to score the next James Bond movie and write a big Disney musical. Now it’s out there!!! Aside from that, my business partner Jonathan Gordon and I are growing our entertainment production company, Rare Behavior, to support young composers and invest in television and film makers. My bud Vincent Rodriguez (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and I have been developing a super fun TV show with lots of music! I can’t wait to share more about it soon!
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Thank you for reading! Learn more about Alex’s work here and Rare Behavior here.
