Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh: ‘Paul Reubens changed the trajectory of my career’
Mark Mothersbaugh, the lead singer of the new wave band Devo and composer for shows like Santo Bugito, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Beakman’s World, has credited the late Paul Reubens for launching his career composing music for TV.
In a tribute to the late Ruebens, he said their collaborations on the series Pee-wee’s Playhouse and 2016’s Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday “changed the trajectory” of his career
He told Yahoo: “He always had a good personality and a good heart. It’s just shocking and sad that he’s gone.” They were longtime friends as well as collaborators, but Mothersbaugh didn’t know about his private battle with cancer, noting they had plans to work on an “animated version of Pee-wee’s Playhouse” in the future.
When Reubens initially reached out to him to ask about composing music for the children’s comedy series, Mothersbaugh noted he’d “never done a TV show before”, adding that his collaboration with Ruebens took him “into the world of film and television and video games”.
The fast-paced turnaround of the weekly episodes proved a nice break from touring with Devo, with Mothersbaugh saying: “I’d write 12 songs’ worth of music on Tuesday, record on Wednesday, put a tape in the express mail on Thursday, they’d mix it into the show on Friday, and on Saturday morning, we’d all watch it on TV. And then the next Monday, I’d get another tape in the mail. I was like, ‘Sign me up for this job!’”
But it was Reubens’ confidence in him that was really valuable, and his feedback was very simple. “When it’s something sad, make it really, really sad,” explained Mothersbaugh. “When it’s something happy, make it really, really happy.”
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