Tom McLeod
Composer Tom McLeod loves the "magic" involved with creating music: "It's incredible as a composer — you wield this extraordinary power; you have people's emotions in your hands. One moment you've brought them to a euphoric place, then in the next minute you're making them laugh."
McLeod was a teenager in Lower Hutt when he started dreaming about a career in music. He wanted to shift from studying business to music so he decided to cold call legendary television composer Terry Gray for advice. That fateful chat eventually led McLeod to jazz school and his first job working in television.
But there was a problem: McLeod was a dab hand on drums but he wanted to get into jazz school as a pianist. A determined McLeod began practising piano for eight hours a day. His perseverance paid off when he was accepted into the Wellington Polytechnic Conservatorium of Music (now the New Zealand School of Music).
After McLeod finished university in 1997, Gray asked him to work on TV kids show McDonald's Young Entertainers. McLeod was just 22; becoming the assistant music director was a "phenomenal chance" for a young grad. His job involved arranging music, fronting the live band and creating beats with early digital sound producing system MIDI.
McLeod's second TV job was arranging music for musical talent quest Showcase, hosted by Ian Fraser. He took a big step up to work with a string, brass and rhythm section. One of his earliest composing credits was on kids spy series Secret Agent Men in 2004. McLeod's work was nominated for Best Original Music at the 2005 NZ Screen Awards.
In-between screen jobs, McLeod scratched another creative itch performing onstage as comic character Tommy Love. "Performing is fun and you don't have to take music and yourself seriously. There's so much wonderful emotive music in the world, but I like it when I make people laugh." Parodying 60s era Las Vegas cabaret, Love had big hair and aimed to "change the world through love".
In 2002, Love starred in an episode of short-lived series Revelations. Three years later, McLeod won NZ On Air funding to write a six-part Tommy Love TV series for Prime. Unfortunately McLeod had to turn down an offer to be the music director for Dancing with the Stars because of the clashing schedules. The Tommy Love TV project ending up falling over when Sky bought the channel.
High profile kids shows have kept McLeod busy over the years. He was the musical director on series four of teen sci-fi hit The Tribe, composed three series of teen superhero drama Amazing Extraordinary Friends, and composed three seasons of teen sitcom Girl vs. Boy. McLeod's skills on the latter show saw him win Best Original Music in a Series at the 2014 and 2015 APRA Music Awards.
A job composing music for 2009 documentary Lost in Wonderland led to a fruitful collaboration with director Costa Botes. McLeod went on to compose several more of his documentaries, including Candyman (2010) and Act of Kindness (2015). In the same period he composed the music for high profile World War l miniseries When We Go to War. McLead also composed for RNZ's documentary series on wildlife conservation Fight For the Wild, which won him Best Original Score at the 2021 NZ TV Awards.
McLeod has worked on several dramatic features. After composing the music for 2011 thriller Netherwood, he was nominated for Best Score at the 2014 NZ Film Awards for 3 Mile Limit, which dramatises the history of Radio Hauraki. Chinese-Kiwi feature Into the Rainbow followed in 2016. McLeod’s orchestral score for the 3D adventure was recorded in Berlin. Other international co-pro work included composing four tele-features for German national broadcaster ZDF based on Emilie Richards' novels.
A 2017 documentary about chickens saw McLeod use his composing skills to capture the quirky animal themes. Pecking Order tells the story of a group of chicken enthusiasts trying to win the National Poultry Show. That same year, McLeod worked on feature film Kiwi Christmas. Working in the superb acoustics of the Stella Maris Chapel in Wellington, he recorded a children’s choir and student orchestra. McLeod aimed to capture the “whimsical, magic nature” of the film.
McLeod also composed the evocative music for 2019 feature documentary, Camino Skies, about six people who walked the 800 kilometre long Camino de Santiago in Spain. In 2020 he supervised the score and was one of the composers for "ghost, buddy, murder mystery” Dead.
Alongside writing songs for film and TV, McLeod also composes for major stage productions. In 2018 he composed the music and collaborated on the lyrics for Auckland musical City of 100 Lovers, one of the most ambitious musicals staged in New Zealand to date. In March 2021, a seven-year project with Tim Finn was brought to life when opera Ihitai 'Avei'a - Star Navigator premiered in Auckland. Finn composed songs, while McLeod arranged and also wrote additional music for the New Zealand Opera production about Tahitian navigator Tupaia.
Published on 25 March 2021; Updated on 4 March 2022
Sources include
Tom McLeod
Tom McLeod website. Accessed 25 March 2021
'Tom McLeod' Sounz website. ccessed 25 March 2021
Unknown writer, 'Not just the pianist' (Interview) - Capital Times, 20 February 2013