Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, music producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Halloween and Halloween II and the John Wick franchise. He has collaborated with directors like Zack Snyder, Rob Zombie, Genndy Tartakovsky, Neil Marshall, William Friedkin, Scott Derrickson, James Gunn, Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, and Ti West. In addition, he is the former lead guitarist of the American rock band Marilyn Manson, and produced its albums The Pale Emperor, Heaven Upside Down, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. He is Jerry Cantrell's touring/studio member.
Early life, family and education
Bates was born on June 5, 1965, in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, he played in a hair metal band Smash Alley.
Career Bates returned to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in music. He began his career in the 1990s scoring low-budget films like The Last Time I Committed Suicide, and Denial. In the meantime, he was a member of the alternative rock Pet alongside Lisa Papineau; the band released their eponymous debut in 1996. His breakthrough into the mainstream came in the early 2000s, when he worked on higher-profile projects like Get Carter, Half Past Dead, and Baadasssss!. The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead was significant, as he would maintain long-term collaborations with its director Zack Snyder, and writer James Gunn.
Bates scored four of director Rob Zombie's films, beginning with 2005's The Devil's Rejects. For Zombie's remake of Halloween and its sequel Halloween II, Bates adapted John Carpenter's original themes and motifs in order to fit the darker, grittier, and more contemporary atmosphere of the films. It was around 2007 that Bates began working regularly on big-budget, blockbuster films; including 300, Doomsday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sucker Punch, and Conan the Barbarian. He also composed scores for smaller, independent films like The Way, Killer Joe, The Sacrament, and Flight 7500.
The soundtrack for 300 was controversial due to its heavy borrowing of themes from film scores by Elliot Goldenthal, amongst others. On August 3, 2007, Warner Bros. Pictures acknowledged this in a statement. The matter was settled amicably with the soundtrack credits being subsequently described as adapted from material by Elliot Goldenthal.
Bates composed the score for Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Having worked with James Gunn in the past, Bates had a good idea on how Gunn wanted things done. Before any of the cinematography started, Gunn had Bates write several themes prior to shooting so the scene could be matched to the music instead of the score being created to fit the scene. This required cooperation between Bates and Gunn in advance since these scores would be in the final piece, instead of a temporary filler acting as a placeholder. They influenced the performance on set, which required an undertaking by both Bates and his team. For four months, they clocked upwards of 100-hour work weeks to produce this finished product. After all the work, they had a total of 29 different soundtracks giving a combined total of 64:34 of music. "At least half the cues in the movie have more than 500 tracks of audio," Bates was quoted in an interview with Melinda Newman on HitFix. This was a result of there being orchestral passages that were doubled or tripled, choirs, overdubs, and other instrumentals.
That same year, Bates composed the score to the action film John Wick, collaborating with Joel J. Richard and Marilyn Manson. The film proved a surprise critical and financial success, and Bates returned to score its sequel John Wick: Chapter 2, and also its third and fourth installments. He and Richard also scored its 2025 spin-off Ballerina, replacing Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich. He would later collaborate again with co-director David Leitch to score a spiritual successor, the Cold War-era spy thriller Atomic Blonde.
Bates composed the soundtrack for the PlayStation 3 games God of War: Ascension and Army of Two: The 40th Day, as well as the PlayStation 4 game Killzone: Shadow Fall. Most recently he composed for Crossfire.
Other projects In 2014, Bates co-wrote and produced Marilyn Manson's record The Pale Emperor. The album debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, while the single "Deep Six" went on to chart higher than any other single by Marilyn Manson on Billboards Mainstream Rock Chart. Bates joined the band in 2015 as the lead guitarist for The Hell Not Hallelujah Tour. The album's song "Cupid Carries a Gun" was used as the opening title music of the TV show Salem, and Bates composed the show's score. In April 2015 he left Marilyn Manson to resume film work.
In October 2015, during a Q&A with Marilyn Manson at the Grammy Museum, Manson announced that he and Tyler were working on new music together again. In 2015 Loudwire listed "The Mephistopheles Of Los Angeles" No. 1 best rock track and Rolling Stone included The Pale Emperor in its Top 50 list of the best albums of 2015. He returned as the lead guitarist during the tour with Slipknot in July 2016. In 2017, they worked for the follow-up Heaven Upside Down with a world tour, starting July 20, in Budapest, playing more than 100 shows around the world. In January 2018, Bates announced via Twitter that he left the band and returned to his studio to work exclusively on film and television.
Tyler composed the song "Monsters After Dark" for the night Halloween mode of the ride Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!.
In 2021, Bates co-produced and played strings, percussion and guitar on Jerry Cantrell's album Brighten.
Discography Film scores Year Title Director(s) Notes 1993 Blue Flame Cassian Elwes Composed with George Andrian 1994 Deep Down John Travers Tammy and the T-Rex Stewart Raffill Composed with Jack Conrad and Anthony Riparetti1995Not Like Us Dave Payne Criminal Hearts 1997 The Last Time I Committed Suicide Stephen T. Kay 1998 Suicide, the Comedy Glen Freyer DenialAdam Rifkin1st collaboration with Adam Rifkin1999 Thicker than WaterRichard Cummings Jr. Composed with Quincy Jones III 2000 Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth John Blanchard Get Carter Stephen Kay Themes by Roy Budd Rated X Emilio Estevez1st collaboration with Emilio Estevez 2001 Kingdom Come Doug McHenry Composed with John E. Rhone What's the Worst That Could Happen? Sam Weisman Night at the Golden Eagle Adam Rifkin2nd collaboration with Adam Rifkin2002 Love and a BulletBen Ramsey Composed with Wolfgang Matthes Half Past Dead Don Michael Paul Lone Star State of MindDavid Semel City of GhostsMatt Dillon 2003 Baadasssss! Mario Van Peebles 2004 You Got Served Chris Stokes Dawn of the Dead Zack Snyder 1st collaboration with Zack SnyderNominated–IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film2005The Devil's RejectsRob Zombie1st collaboration with Rob ZombieFangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Score2006 See No EvilGregory Dark SlitherJames Gunn1st collaboration with James Gunn 300 Zack Snyder Adapted from material by Elliot Goldenthal2nd collaboration with Zack SnyderBMI Film Music AwardNominated–Saturn Award for Best Music 2007 GrindhouseRob Zombie 2nd collaboration with Rob ZombieSegment: "Werewolf Women of the SS" Halloween 3rd collaboration with Rob ZombieThemes by John Carpenter 2008 Doomsday Neil Marshall The Day the Earth Stood Still Scott Derrickson 2009 Watchmen Zack Snyder 3rd collaboration with Zack SnyderBMI Film Music AwardHalloween IIRob Zombie4th collaboration with Rob ZombieThemes by John Carpenter The Haunted World of El Superbeasto5th collaboration with Rob Zombie2010SuperJames Gunn2nd collaboration with James Gunn The Way Emilio Estevez2nd collaboration with Emilio Estevez 2011 Sucker Punch Zack Snyder Composed with Marius de Vries4th collaboration with Zack Snyder Conan the Barbarian Marcus Nispel Killer Joe William Friedkin The Darkest Hour Chris Gorak 2013 Movie 43 James Gunn Segment: "Beezel"3rd collaboration with James Gunn The Sacrament Ti West 1st collaboration with Ti West 2014 Not Safe for Work Joe Johnston Flight 7500 Takashi Shimizu Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn 4th collaboration with James GunnNominated–Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi FilmNominated–IndieWire Critics Poll Award for Best Original Score Soundtrack John Wick Chad StahelskiDavid Leitch Composed with Joel J. Richard1st collaboration with David Leitch & Chad Stahelski 2016 The Belko Experiment Greg McLean 2017 John Wick: Chapter 2 Chad Stahelski Composed with Joel J. Richard2nd collaboration with Chad StahelskiBMI Film Music AwardGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2James Gunn5th collaboration with James GunnAtomic BlondeDavid Leitch2nd collaboration with David LeitchKeep WatchingSean Carter24 Hours to LiveBrian Smrz 2018The PublicEmilio Estevez3rd collaboration with Emilio EstevezComposed with Joanne HigginbottomDeadpool 2David Leitch3rd collaboration with David LeitchNominated–Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi Film The Spy Who Dumped Me Susanna Fogel 2019John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum Chad Stahelski Composed with Joel J. Richard3rd collaboration with Chad StahelskiFast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw David Leitch 4th collaboration with David Leitch 2020 Books of Blood Brannon Braga Composed with Joel J. Richard 2022 X Ti West Composed with Chelsea Wolfe2nd collaboration with Ti West Day Shift J. J. Perry Pearl Ti West Composed with Timothy Williams3rd collaboration with Ti West 2023 John Wick: Chapter 4 Chad Stahelski Composed with Joel J. Richard4th collaboration with Chad Stahelski 2024 MaXXXine Ti West 4th collaboration with Ti West2025 Ballerina Len Wiseman Composed with Joel J. RichardReplaced Marco Beltrami and Anna Drubich One Spoon of Chocolate RZA Fixed Genndy Tartakovsky Composed with Joanne Higginbottom1st score for an animated feature film TBA Highlander Chad Stahelski5th collaboration with Chad Stahelski
Television scores Year Title Notes 2001Strange Frequency 3 episodesAmerican HighDocumentary series4 episodes 2003Black Sash 8 episodes2004Pornucopia 2 episodes2007–14Californication 84 episodes 2008–09James Gunn's PG Porn 7 episodes2010–11Sym-Bionic Titan20 episodes2013Low Winter Sun10 episodes2014Hysteria TV pilot 2014–16Salem 29 episodes2014–17Kingdom 31 episodes 2017Samurai Jack 10 episodesThemes by James L. Venable, will.i.am and George PajonComposed with Joanne Higginbottom and Dieter HartmannThe Exorcist10 episodesThemes by Daniel Hart2017–19The Punisher26 episodes2018–19The Purge 20 episodes2019–20Stumptown 18 episodes2019–presentPrimal 21 episodesComposed with Joanne Higginbottom 2023Agent Elvis 10 episodesComposed with Timothy WilliamsUnicorn: Warriors Eternal 10 episodesComposed with Joanne Higginbottom2024–present Tracker 42 episodesComposed with Joanne Higginbottom
Video game soundtracks Year Title Notes2008Rise of the Argonauts 2009Watchmen: The End Is Nigh 2010Army of Two: The 40th Day Transformers: War for Cybertron 2013God of War: Ascension Killzone: Shadow FallComposed with Lorn2019Far Cry New Dawn Composed with John Swihart2022Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IISeason 6
Own work Roseland with Azam Ali
With Marilyn Manson The Pale Emperor (2015) Heaven Upside Down (2017) One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1 (2024) One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 (2026)
With Pet Pet (1996) (guitar, bass, backing vocals, production)
With Bush
The Kingdom (2020) (songwriting, production)
With Jerry Cantrell
Brighten (2021) (strings, percussion, guitar, production)
References
External links Official website
Tyler Bates being interviewed at the Grammy Museum