Press Release from Dragon's Domain: Dragon’s Domain Records presents TURKEY SHOOT, featuring music composed by Brian May (MAD MAX, THE ROAD WARRIOR, CLOAK & DAGGER) for the 1982 science fiction horror film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith (THE MAN FROM HONG KONG, STUNT ROCK, THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA, SAHARA), produced by Antony I. Ginnane and William Fayman, John Daly, David Hemmings and Brian W. Cook during the boom of the Australian New Wave of cinema in the late 1970s and early 1980s from a screenplay written by Neill Hicks and Jon George, starring Steve Railsback, Olivia Hussey, Lynda Stoner and Michael Craig.
Released in 1982, TURKEY SHOOT, also known as ESCAPE 2000, takes place in a dystopian future where society is falling apart. Violent riots are shredding cities to pieces. Free will is extinct and defunct and the free exchange of ideas is a mere fantasy. Those who try to resist the current government are herded into ‘re-education’ camps and forced to literally run for their lives to be hunted by the guards and special guests for sport. If they can survive the hunt, they can return to society.
Created during a period of brazen musical fearlessness in cinema, May’s score for TURKEY SHOOT is an unique blend of various acoustic and electronic textures that were wildly audacious for their time. The orchestral passages were comprised of oppressively heavy marches and savagely bleating brass while his synthesized concoctions pushed the boundaries of early 1980s genre scoring.
Born in Adelaide in 1934, Brian May (no relation to Brian Harold May of Queen) was one of the first composers to achieve international acclaim as an Australian composer and was best known as the composer of MAD MAX and THE ROAD WARRIOR (MAD MAX II). May received his musical training as a pianist, violinist and conductor at the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium. He joined the Australia Broadcasting Company in 1957, where he formed the ABC Adelaide Big Band, an ensemble that performed all manner of light music for broadcast, and May became a leading figure in Australian light music as a result. He moved to Melbourne in 1970 to arrange and conduct the ABC’s Melbourne Show band. Moving into film music in a period of time when Australia’s film industry was just beginning to take its place among international film circles, May composed such notable film scores as RACE FOR THE YANKEE ZEPHYR, ROAD GAMES, CLOAK AND DAGGER, DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR, MISSING IN ACTION 2, SKY PIRATES, STEEL DAWN, DR. GIGGLES, FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHT MARE and BLINDSIDE. He won the Australian Film Institute Award for best original score with MAD MAX; many other awards followed, including the Golden Award from the Australian Performing Rights Association. He continued to score films until 1993, composing music for more than 30 films and many hours of television, most of which he orchestrated himself. Sadly, the composer passed away in 1997 at the age of 63.
Previously released on a very rare compact disc release, Dragon’s Domain Records is excited to bring the TURKEY SHOOT back to the marketplace, newly remastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland with much improved sound. The booklet includes liner notes written by author and composer Brian Satterwhite, including the participation of director Brian Trenchard-Smith.
