SAM SCOTT

Composer and lyricist of ‘Always On Your Phone’

Samuel Scott has composed music for projects such as Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Separation City, and Skylander Academy. He’s spent the better part of twenty years playing music with ‘The Phoenix Foundation’, who've been nominated for twenty-four NZ Music Awards (and even won a few), performed on Later … with Jools Holland, and toured the world. Along with his co-writers Conrad Wedde and Luke Buda, Samuel won the award for best original score at the NZ Film Awards for the Taika Waititi film Boy. Most recently he co-produced Dave Dobbyn’s acclaimed album ‘Harmony House’, co-writing the APRA Silver Scroll-nominated song of the same name. Having spent many years performing and writing with countless bands, he is now more likely to be found sitting at a computer, drinking coffee, and creating music for film and TV.

‘Between the ages of ten and twelve, I read like a maniac. The more sarcastic the book the better. Adults seemed ridiculous creatures to me then (they still do!), and anything that made fun of them was good. I remember being thoroughly captivated by Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, a very silly book. That’s probably about when I got into Monty Python as well – and Roald Dahl’s horribly dark short stories. So yes, I guess when I was eleven, everything I liked had to be English, hilarious, and totally aware that humans are mad and the only way we can cope with life on this planet is to laugh at ourselves.’