The Art of Jaws in Music Making
What effect does “Jaws” have on music and performing?
Well, besides the iconic score playing in our heads any time we get anywhere near the deep end of grandma’s pool, the film plays a massive role in the art of performing live music. We all know just how much the film did for not just the thriller/horror genre, but for the movie industry as a whole. However, many people and fans alike do not realize the importance the film has when it comes to the modern music making process.
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Some musicians (including myself) have a condition where when you are making music or listening to it, sounds present themselves to you in the form of pictures, shapes, and even colors. Many artists from Billie Eilish to Lorde to John Mayer claim to have a condition of this kind. When I first saw the film, I was six years old (far too young) and the film equally traumatized and inspired me.
However, there was a certain factor to the film that made me keep coming back all the way into my young adulthood. What was it though? This was a question that I asked myself for many years. Was it the storytelling, the acting, etc.? The answer: the shark. Particularly the shark that is depicted on the classic poster for the film done by Roger Kastel. I can recall being roughly five or six when I first saw the poster before I even saw the film itself and was absolutely enamored with the raw beauty and terror about what lies beneath the depths depicted in the art.
Jaws director Steven Spielberg with composer John Williams
I found the poster aesthetically pleasing and always found myself coming back to the art sometimes more than I came back to the film itself. Now while I can still quote the movie front to back, the Roger Kastel art is what has remained ingrained in my brain for most of my life (and more recently the Joe Alves concept art). So, again going back to the question of “what affect does “Jaws” have on music and performing?”
Well, with the information we have been given on what this perception of images and music is and my love for the poster artwork, we can accumulate an answer. Most of my time is spent in a studio or on a stage of some kind making music or other art. Given how I process sounds into images, colors, and shapes in my head like one big Rubik’s Cube, I essentially curate music in my head to the aesthetics, colors, and shapes depicted within the “Jaws” poster art.
When making music and performing, it is important for me to be easily transported to my brain’s “safe place.” Everyone has this image, memory, or other file in their brain that they are able to access easily in times of need. For me this is the Roger Kastel imagery. “Jaws” has been one of the most constant things in my life as people and places have come and gone, and it continues to bring me comfort when I need it most.
So, when I am in that studio or on the stage doing/making anything, I close my eyes, and get transported to that poster art. I see the textures of the paint strokes, the rows of teeth on the shark, the hues of blue throughout the art. This is why in my studio I have a “Jaws” poster shrine.
A massive depiction of the shark right in front of my desk and little fragments of the poster scattered throughout my workspace. Anytime I need that inspiration or calmness, I look to the poster and feel a sense of peace. Anytime I am able to get my hands on any iteration of the iconic poster, I jump on the opportunity (the most recent addition being a “Hello Kitty” Tervis cup depicting the art). It is hard to believe that a painting depicting such a terrifying and traumatizing scene can bring such a wave of comfort when you need it most.
A young Matthew standing proudly by the iconic Jaws poster.
While I do find the whole film itself to be aesthetically pleasing, nothing will beat that Roger Kastel painting. Anytime I pick up the guitar and close my eyes, faintly in the back of my mind I begin to hear that “duh-duh, DUH-DUH.”
Words by Matthew Morris
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