If you enjoy the entrance music in All Elite Wrestling, you have Mikey Rukus to thank for that.
Mikey Rukus was the latest guest on AdFreeShows.com’s One-On-One with Jon Alba to discuss all things AEW. While talking about how he was able to get the Ghostbusters parody track done for The Elite in a short amount of time, Rukus revealed he was able to get Nick Gage’s entrance theme finished in just 45 minutes.
“And another example, Nick Gage, when Nick Gage came in we did that track in 45 minutes,” Mikey Rukus revealed. “And I say we because I got the same call this time from QT [Marshall] he’s like, ‘We have any music for Nick Gage?’ No. Do you need music for Nick Gage? He was like, ‘That’d be great if you could,’ and I knew that he had used For Whom the Bell Tolls. So I just went with it and immediately before as I’m walking up the stairs, it’s just it’s playing in my head. I get in here. I started laying everything down.
“I lay down the drum tracks first. And I programmed everything that’s just kind of my I have an electronic drum set right here I can play but it’s for my process. I love to be able to use the mouse and I just click and program everything. I click and program the keyboards, my synthesizers I click and program all of my drums. I live track my guitars, live track my bass, and it’s just my I don’t know why it is it’s just my way some people find it super tedious. I just get into this space where I kind of lose myself. And I’m in it. And that’s it.”
Mikey Rukus would go on to reveal that doing the theme music for “The Icon” Sting has been the white unicorn of his career thus far.
“It was something that was kind of like the white unicorn, the white whale, so to speak, and people would ask me in interviews all the time, who’s the one that you would want to make music for? And I would always say Sting,” Mikey Rukus said. “And that was actually one that I had some time to think about. And Tony and I were texting back and forth. And we’re just talking about some music and he’s like, ‘I got a project I need you to work on.’ I was like, ‘I’m all ears.’ He said Sting and my heart sunk. Like it dropped and I was like, Oh my God. I said okay, I immediately have to stop talking about Sting in interviews. I don’t want to give it away where I was one of maybe four people that knew at the very beginning. And I have found out just before Thanksgiving.
“So it gave me that Thanksgiving weekend to kind of panic about it. Because it for me with the fan base. It was 50/50 with the fans at the time, they didn’t really know me. I’m still even now I’m still evolving in my production and things like that. So I knew that I had to nail this. But if I had focused on oh my god, if I don’t make this right, I’m going to be a failure, I kind of threw all that out the window. And I went off of let me just go back to basics and tell his story. And this is a new story but at the same time, it’s one that’s continued because this is part of his journey. So this is like a new chapter in his journey, but it pays homage to his entire body of work as the crow and Tony wanted it that way as well. And I remember Tony saying, ‘I just want organs. If you can get organs in there, great.’ So I put it together a few times and I actually didn’t have a chance to talk to Sting until it was done.
“And we get on the phone and they were like, ‘Hey, this is Steve and hey guys,’ I’m like, ‘Ahhh hey, Mr. Sting,’ cause I was like dude, man. I’m a fan at the end of the day. I was starstruck on the phone, you know what I mean? But that moment in itself was a defining moment in my career. And it wasn’t just the music that I created. It was the way the entire production set it up. So they made it all work the way the camera was set, the video wall, the volume of the music, and everything. It was a perfect moment and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I will never forget it. I sat next to my wife and we were just watching and I knew as soon as those lights shut out, my heart was racing. And there’s still times where we get a new theme that we’re going to debut that I know is coming and I get that same feeling. So I know it’s not going away anytime soon, but that was the one for me.”
READ MORE: Mikey Rukus Creates ‘Family Matters’ Style Theme Song For Nyla Rose And Vickie Guerrero On ‘BTE’
Do you enjoy the music Mikey Rukus makes for All Elite Wrestling? What is your favorite theme that he’s made? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit One-On-One With Jon Alba with a link back to this article for the transcription.
