Nik Phelps

San Antonio, Texas

Born in Texas, Belgium-based composer Nik Phelps has played with diverse musical artists, from Eric Johnson and Lou Rawls, Frank Sinatra and They Might Be Giants, to Frank Zappa Tony Bennett and Mary Martin. For over thirty years, he has created scores for films in a style that can best be described as rhythmic and witty, heartfelt but with an ironic sense of humor. He recorded with Tom Waits, playing on three films and five CDs. He has been scoring film since 1988, starting with the seminal San Francisco soundtrack group The Club Foot Orchestra, and has been working in the animation field since 1995, scoring for the animated CBS TV series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. In 1996 he founded the live film music project The Sprocket Ensemble, collaborating with animators such as Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Lei Lei and Ivan Maximov. He also gives workshops on various topics, including sound for film, pitching performance techniques, and about unleashing the creative process.