When asked if he is particular about which spots he chooses to score, Tommy Coster replies with a quick and emphatic, "No."
The response is surprising. With industry friends like Carlos Santana and Eminem, a current hit on the charts and a composing career that spans all the way back to grade-school, Coster can afford to be picky. But he doesn’t care. "I will work with anyone on anything as long as the people are cool," says the producer/ composer/sound designer, who officially opened his own shop, Tommy Sound, Santa Monica, in July. "I learn from every single project I do."
Coster hopes to learn quite a bit in his new venture, where he has already scored three spots—"Tee," "Whack" and "18th Hole"—for Gatorade, all of which were directed by Neil Tardio Jr. of Fuel, Santa Monica, via FCB, Chicago. Coster also did the music for Kumho Tires’ "Splash," helmed by Scott McCullough, who at the time was represented by The Directors Network, Studio City, Calif., through Sang Am & Associates Advertising, Seoul, Korea. (McCullough has since left The Directors Network, and aligned himself with several regional companies for spotwork.)
"Right now, I’m demoing three spots for BBDO for Dodge," Coster says. "It’s interesting, because I didn’t have to demo [the Gatorade and Kumho ads]. They picked me because of who I was and what my credits were, and they liked me. But with this, I’m actually up against everybody else. I’m interested in seeing how I fare."
prodigy
Though he’s relatively new to the commercial business, Coster was literally born into the world of music. His father, keyboardist Tom Coster, toured with Carlos Santana from ’72 to ’78, and composed some of the guitarist’s songs. "Music was everywhere in my house," the younger Coster recalls. "Our living room was filled with instruments." Like his father, young Tommy was drawn to the keyboard. "As soon as my hand could reach it, I wanted to play it," he explains.
When Coster was 11, he co-wrote a song with Santana. "My dad told Carlos, ‘My son’s writing this song, and you’ve got this other piece of music. You should see if you can put them together.’" The song, "Zulu," was recorded for Santana’s Moonflower album. "By the time I was 12, I had a gold record; I was making royalties," says Coster.
Though he decided to put his songwriting career on hold to "be a kid," Coster knew he wanted to go into the music business. "When I was nineteen, I decided to go to Berkeley College of Music in Boston," he relates. "I wanted to study and see exactly what I wanted to do."
After spending two years at Berkeley, Coster decided not to limit himself. He worked as a session musician on albums ranging from Dr. Dre’s NWA Reunion to John Tesh’s Live at Red Rocks. He produced several jazz CDs for his father, and thanks to his former Berkeley classmate Brad Fairman of Brad Music, Pleasant Ridge, Mich., Coster began scoring spots. "We had stayed in touch. And Brad said, ‘I’ll fly you to Detroit. Why don’t you work with me?’" Coster remembers. "He was the one who taught me how to dissect a piece of video and get a feel for what tempo would work and how to approach different things, especially rhythmically." As a freelancer working for Brad Music, Coster composed and co-wrote music for several automobile ads. "We did a lot of car stuff because Detroit’s a big car town," he notes.
New Avenues
Coster, who had dreamed of composing music for features, found he enjoyed spotwork just as much. "Scoring a spot is like scoring a little thirty-second film," he says.
Before he knew it, Coster was offered the chance to score the ’98 comedy I Got the Hook Up, which starred rapper Master P and was released by Miramax. Although he wound up collaborating with Fairman, Coster says, "By the time I came out of it, I realized I could stand on my own."
After his film experience, Coster moved out to Los Angeles, and embarked on a series of successful musical projects, the most noteworthy being Eminem’s hit "The Real Slim Shady," which he co-wrote with Dr. Dre, Eminem and Mike Elizondo. (The song appears on Eminem’s CD The Marshall Mathers LP.) "It was a blessing," says Coster. "I had no idea that I was going to be one of those guys that could say, ‘I bought this house because of this one song.’ I don’t know if it’s going to create that kind of revenue for me, but it is one of those songs that will change my life."
In February, Coster began moving his equipment into the 1,300-square-foot space that would become Tommy Sound. Thanks to the success of "Slim Shady," Coster won the Gatorade package before he’d officially opened his doors. "I remember the producer walked in here after I’d gotten the spots, and he was very nervous," Coster says with a laugh. "I heard later that he’d thought, ‘Man. You have your stuff set up in a garage.’ Then, after I did the work, the client sat down and looked at the music and had no changes. After that, the producer was like, ‘That’s fine that your shit’s set up in a garage!’ "
The three spots depict Michael Jordan attempting to golf as a manic caddy expounds on the virtues of other athletes. The color footage of Jordan and the caddy alternates with black-and-white action shots of WNBA star Chamique Holdsclaw ("Tee"), who plays forward for the Washington Mystics; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter ("Whack"); and Indiana Colts quarterback Peyton Manning ("18th Hole"). All of the ads are accompanied by Coster’s music and sound design.
After some initial discussion, it was up to Coster to create a "theme song" for each disparate athlete. "Originally, [FCB creatives] said, ‘Jeter’s from New York. We’re thinking Broadway. Holdsclaw is from down South, so we’re thinking gospel. And Manning is a country boy, so we’d like some country,’ " he remembers. "It was only supposed to be a very short piece of music on the black-and-white athletic footage. Well, the spot actually ended up having cut-in pieces of black-and-white footage throughout. So, I wasn’t able to just write a piece of music for the middle. There was some sound design involved and there was music going in and out. I said, ‘You know what? I’m not feeling that Broadway thing for Jeter. I’d rather do straight-ahead swing. Because you just don’t hear that in commercials, and it’s very strong and aggressive. The country worked for Manning, but for Holdsclaw, we decided to go with ’70s funk, like [the music from] Superfly and Shaft. We used the wah-wah guitar, and the over-exaggerated hits, with the bass and drum groove. That worked out really well."
In "Splash," which is accompanied by a driving techno beat, a man is speeding down a highway in a red sportscar, while a voiceover extols the virtues of Kumho tires. Suddenly, the driver comes upon a rabbit lounging in the middle of the road; he stops short to avoid the bunny, and a red substance flies across the road. Thinking he has struck the animal, he gets out of the car. Thanks to the tires, he was able to stop in time, but his paint job is now splattered across the road.
Coster is excited about the success of his new company, but he remains cautious. "I’ve just started to digest the thought of me having all this overhead, and starting to employ people," he says. "I’m still figuring out exactly what my next move is. I want the business to grow, but I don’t want it to grow too fast, because I also want it to have longevity."
While he still enjoys scoring features—"Right now, I’m up for Steven Seagal’s next film, Exit Wounds, with Warner Brothers"—Coster hopes his future is full of spotwork. "What’s fun for me about commercials is they’re an opportunity for me to get a budget, and make a mini-record," he says. "I can write a piece of music, and because of that budget, I can call whatever musicians I want to do it. It’s great."r
