Local hip-hop group has songs in 'Venom' sequel
Sep. 30—BEVERLY — Here's a story with names like Czarface, Venom and Carnage. But we promise you, it's a nice one.
It starts last February with an Instagram DM to Seamus Ryan. Ryan grew up in Beverly and is a member of the Boston-area hip-hop group Czarface, which also includes Peabody native George Andrinopoulos, who owns the Soundtracks record store on Cabot Street in Beverly.
The message was from an agent for Tom Hardy, the Academy Award-nominated British actor who starred in the 2018 movie "Venom". The agent told Ryan that Hardy wanted to speak with him directly.
About a week later, Ryan was walking his dogs around 6 a.m. one Sunday when Hardy called. Hardy told Ryan that he listens to Czarface when he's working out and wanted to talk with him about a project.
"At this time I'm thinking, 'Please be Venom! Please be Venom!'" Ryan said in an email, "because I've been a fan of Marvel since I was buying comics at the old White Hen on Elliott Street, and my son loves Venom specifically."
"Turns out it was, and I hit the roof," Ryan said.
Hardy asked Ryan if Czarface would be willing to write some songs for "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," the sequel to "Venom." The result: The group will have two songs, "Good Guys, Bad Guys" and "Today's Special," in the movie when it opens in theaters on Friday.
Ryan said his son and daughter helped out in the chorus of the "Good Guys, Bad Guys" track, which is profiled in what he called "a pretty cool fight scene."
"I knew if this song was approved it would remain in the Venom universe forever, and selfishly I wanted to get my son and daughter's voices in there somehow because they're fans and I figured that would be cool for them," Ryan said.
The "Venom" movies are based on the Marvel Comic character of the same name. In addition to Hardy, who stars as Eddie Brock/Venom, the sequel also stars Woody Harrelson.
Ryan has been performing since the early '90s as the hip-hop artist Esoteric, including with Andrinopoulos as part of the duo 7L & Estoteric. In 2013, he and Andrinopoulos teamed up with Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck to form Czarface.
Ryan said it was a "treat" to be able to check out parts of the movie so far in advance, and to work so closely with Hardy, via FaceTime, on developing the music.
"This opportunity met at the intersection of the things I love most in life — hip-hop, comics and movies — so the pressure was on when making the track, but Tom has a way of making you believe that you're the guy for the job and that helped a lot, Ryan said.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.
