I had a great gig, I had the means to move down here, so I took that opportunity. After a couple records and several tours over the course of a few years, I decided to move down to Los Angeles because at the time, pretty much everything I was doing was with his group. After they disbanded, he embarked on a solo career and I recorded and touring with him. He was the singer and creative force behind the band, The Pixies.
To answer your question, I started playing and recording with Frank Black. I moved to Los Angeles and that did happen, and I ended up making a bit of a detour into composing. I was focused on being in groups, touring and playing on records. At that time, I had no design on scoring. I'd always thought about moving to Los Angeles because there was so much opportunity there. There just wasn’t enough activity, not enough work coming in. Later on, I was living in Marin County, playing in bands and things had sort of run their course. Can you tell us what events led you to Los Angeles? I understand you grew up in Northern California. In our far ranging discussion, Lyle reveals how he attained expertise by emulating the work of his idols and how he has brought emotional depth to comedy through his scores. Most notably, Lyle has been celebrated for his work in collaboration with producer/director, Judd Apatow, shaping the musical identities of comedic treasures including Superbad, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek, HBO's Crashing, and Netflix's Love. As a first call session player and touring musician, Lyle has hit the road with the likes of Sting, Todd Rundgren, and Beck, and recorded with Norah Jones, Michael Bublé, Ziggy Marley, and Shakira. He served as a key member of The Forest Rangers for the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack curated by Bob Thiele.
Kickstarting his career, playing with Frank Black of The Pixies and his own band, Bourgeois Tagg, Lyle found his way into the world of advertising music, which subsequently led to his first film scoring job on Jon Favreau's Made.
Lyle Workman is a radically adventurous composer, guitarist extraordinaire, and recording artist.