I love watching cartoons from my youth, and I was pumped to see that Warner Bros was releasing The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie in theaters.

One of the things that gets me most into those movies is the score, which allows you to laugh and feel the other emotions of the story.

And that’s why I was so excited to talk to Joshua Moshier, the composer behind the movie. As the first fully-animated Looney Tunes film to hit theaters, The Day The Earth Blew Up takes audiences on a cosmic adventure with Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, blending classic animated storytelling with contemporary innovation.

His score perfectly encapsulates this, drawing inspiration from Carl Stalling’s original compositions while also embracing the film’s sci-fi setting.

Let’s dive into the interview.

– YouTube www.youtube.com

NFS: Hey Joshua! Your 80-minute score on The Day The Earth Blew Up is a constant and dynamic presence throughout the 90-minute film. How does your process change when crafting a score of such detail and length?

JM: Hello! Thank you for listening so closely. Before I started writing to picture, I wrote two suites of themes, inspired by some early footage and art shown to me by Pete Browngardt and Alex Kirwan. These became a helpful well to draw from when the edit became ready for score. Once I’m writing to the picture, the detail is refined and polished at every stage, from the sketch to the mockup, orchestration, recording, and mixing. That’s true on every project, but on this on,e the recording process involved an incredible orchestra that we tracked at the Evergreen Stage in Burbank, where Back to the Future was recorded. There are so many details and choices made at the recording stage, such as omitting certain elements for clarity or moving the violins an octave higher for extra emotion, that shape the music into its final form.

NFS: You are participating in a strong musical tradition by scoring a Looney Tunes film. How did you balance paying respect to the original cartoon compositions while also incorporating your more contemporary flair?

JM: I approached this movie as a cinematic feature first, and then let the drawings tell me when something needed to get pushed into Looney Tunes territory. There are incredible drawings in this movie, brilliantly exaggerated poses and actions that require from the music an extra level of agility and responsiveness. But even in those moments, I tried to do something in the spirit of Carl Stalling, but in a way that is personal to how I express myself through music.

NFS: The sci-fi setting for this film immediately differentiates it from other Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies cartoons. What were the creative considerations in shaping the score’s genre trappings?

JM: Aside from folding in the musical language of film noir and 1950s B-movies, something that was important to me was playing the scary moments as pure horror. I wanted the characters to be grounded in a feeling of genuine peril, because we stay in those modes longer in a feature than you might in a short.

One scene that I loved scoring is when Daffy begins to suspect that people in the park are acting strangely, and he goes into a full-blown conspiratorial meltdown. By experimenting with rhythm, I found a way to create the feeling of increasing intensity without actually changing the tempo, as I might have in a short, which instead allows the music to stretch out and unify the action over a very long sequence.

NFS: Did you take inspiration from any other projects outside of the Looney Tunes universe for your score?

JM: Yes, and in particular, I draw a lot of inspiration from records that aren’t tied to films. I adore the music of saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter, and he was a big science fiction fan, so I was very much tapping into the feeling of listening to his music and the endless imagination his music represents to me.

NFS: Did you use any unique instrumentation for your score on the film?

JM: A highlight of the project was having Lara Wickes perform theremin live on stage with the orchestra. Her command of the instrument is just masterful and instantly creates this otherworldly color that is both beautiful and unsettling. Another key component of the score is the harmonica, performed by Ross Garren. It really dials in Farmer Jim’s fatherly character and brings so much life to the score.

‘The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie’Credit: Warner Bros.

NFS: You also have an impressive background scoring for such hit comedy series as Documentary Now! and Baskets. How does scoring for live-action differ from animation?

JM: I try to let the story and tone of the show shape the sound of the music, more so than the medium itself. The main title for Documentary Now! is grounded in a sense of wonder and evolving history, and in Baskets, the music is much more about the juxtaposition of living in dusty Bakersfield, CA, and yearning for a life left behind in Paris. For The Day the Earth Blew Up, the music is centered on how these two friends really love each other, for all of their looniness and eccentricity. Everything you hear really flows from that core.

NFS: Your score for The Day The Earth Blew Up is available on vinyl as well. What does it mean to you for your work to be sold as a physical release?

JM: It’s such a joy to have our vinyl out there in the world, and for fans to be able to add it to their collections. I’m sending a heartfelt shout-out to Water Tower Music for supporting this release; it wouldn’t have happened without them. And to Enjoy the Ride Records for putting together a beautiful package with all the fun color variants. I spent much of last year preparing the digital and vinyl release of my solo album, Semipermanence, so it was a nice surprise to have the vinyl for The Day the Earth Blew Up arrive so quickly after.

Joshua MoshierCredit: Sally Ryan

NFS: Can you tell us more about any upcoming projects you may have in the pipeline?

JM: I co-scored a series with Ryan Elder called Haunted Hotel that Netflix is releasing on September 19th. It’s super funny and scary, with an amazing voice cast. I’m also creating spatial music for Google Maps in the new Android XR operating system, which will ship in a headset later this year. I scored the original Google Earth VR all the way back in 2016, so it’s been a blast to incorporate the new technology that has developed since then. In the app, you can experience any place in the world in virtual reality, and the music reflects what an emotional experience this is. And it’s always nice to have a reason to get back into space!