Silent films feel modern when set to original new scores. See for yourself in Phoenix
RPM Orchestra had been improvising their way through the underground noise music scene in downtown Phoenix for a couple years when they struck on the idea of composing original scores to accompany silent films as they screened.
They tested the waters at FilmBar in 2011, performing a score to "The Unknown," a 1927 Tod Browning horror film starring Lon Chaney as Alonzo the Armless, a circus freak who throws knives with his feet, and Joan Crawford as the carnival girl of his dreams.
As Pete Petrisko, who founded the orchestra as a studio project in 2008, recalls, "We had such an overwhelmingly positive response to that first show, we set a 10-year goal of, 'Hey, we want to play the Orpheum Theatre within the next decade.'"
They made it in under the wire last October, reviving their score to "The Unknown" at the downtown Phoenix theater.
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How to see RPM Orchestra at the Orpheum Theatre
RPM Orchestra returns to the Orpheum on Sunday, May 8, for a live score performance accompanying a screening of "Filibus: The Mysterious Air Pirate," a 1915 silent film directed by Mario Roncoroni and written by Giovanni Bertinetti.
It's a film they've been wanting to get to for a while.
"We were basically waiting for the day that somebody would digitally remaster it," Petrisko says.
"And it's an Italian film, so we were hoping that if someone did remaster it, they'd put in English intertitles. In 2019, somebody actually did that. So we moved it up to the top of our list."
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How RPM Orchestra chooses a film to score
"Filibus" is the first installment of RPM Orchestra's 2022 silent film scoring residency at the Orpheum Theatre, with the quintet returning on Tuesday, Sept. 6, for another performance.
"We combine traditional instruments, homemade instruments and sound effects to give a fully immersive experience," Petrisko says, "as if you're there in the time of the film, experiencing it as it happened."
Choosing a film is determined in part by availability and whether a print of the film exists that's of sufficient quality to screen in a theater.
After that, Petrisko says, "It really varies from film to film, as far as what draws us to a particular film."
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'First rehearsal is kind of the hot mess'
A lot of times, it comes down to the story, whether it's a horror film or comedy.
"They're timeless stories," Petrisko says. "The humor is still funny. The terror is still terrifying. The stories translate. And hopefully with the score we provide, we emphasize the tone of each particular film to really bring the tone out of the woodwork."
The scores tend to come together in the course of two or three rehearsals.
"First rehearsal is kind of the hot mess," Petrisko says. "The second rehearsal, we pull it all together. And third rehearsal, we kind of run through it as close as it's going to be to the live performance before we present it in a theater."
At that hot mess of a first rehearsal, they roll the film and improvise a score as they go.
"As a group, we kind of sense what's working and what isn't and we use that as a springboard for the next rehearsal," Petrisko says.
"So we have a foundation. And as we go, we're taking notes as far as if there are specific melodies, that type of thing, and kind of blocking it out scene by scene."
It's only a foundation, though.
"Once we're in the theater, we improvise on that original improvised foundation that we've set," Petrisko says. "So it's not 100% set in stone. Even between that last rehearsal and on stage, there is a bit of a difference."
Petrisko sees a lot of similarities between live film scores and the other work he does with his experimental project that describes itself as a proto-Industrial Americana dieselpunk music quintet.
"When we do mixed-media performances, we may be working with a dancer," he says. "Whatever we're playing to, we're scoring movement. That could be on screen. It could be dancers. So the process isn't all that different."
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The orchestra behind the film scores
RPM Orchestra staged their first show in a laundromat that didn't know the show was happening.
"I had put together a CD of experimental music in the studio," Petrisko says. "And when it came time to do a CD release, it hit me that I need a live band.
"I started with poaching two members of one of my favorite local bands, World Class Thugs — Jim Dustan and Jocelyn Ruiz."
The rest of the players fell into place over time with Erik Hunter completing the current quintet (which also features Vic Void) in 2014.
Their latest EP, "Revved Up," is available on Bandcamp. Two of the four tracks were captured at silent film screenings — "The Penalty" at FilmBar in 2018 and "The Unknown" at the Orpheum Theatre last October.
It makes perfect sense to Petrisko that their film score concept was embraced by local audiences.
"I don't think anyone had quite seen anything like it in Phoenix," he says.
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Why silent film scores became a phenomenon
But they're actually part of a much larger network of musicians.
"There are a few hundred bands worldwide that score silent films," Petrisko says. "There's actually a Silent Film Musicians Directory online."
Petrisko credits an interest in presenting silent films to modern audiences.
"They're such timeless films and people don't see them because they hear, 'Oh, silent film' and it just seems so disconnected from our very loud world today," Petrisko says.
"But there's a way to re-present that kind of stuff for a modern audience to enjoy as well."
Asked if there's a level on which doing film scores makes their music more accessible, Petrisko shares a different theory.
"I think what we do makes the silent movies more accessible," he says. "And if by happenstance, the people who come see these film scores get more interested in experimental music, that's good too."
RPM Orchestra at the Orpheum Theatre
When: 5:30 p.m. Sunday, May 8.
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 203 W. Adams St., Phoenix.
Admission: $16; $11 for children.
Details: 602-262-6225, pccticketing.com.
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Phoenix's RPM Orchestra has given silent films a 2nd lease on life
