Akron area native creates horror film score, soundtrack featuring Northeast Ohio bands

Twelve Northeast Ohio bands make a splash in the soundtrack of the new horror film "Last Night at Terrace Lanes."

That's thanks to local musician Michael Weber, a guitarist, composer and record producer who created the original score for the new film, which premiered on Apple TV+ Jan. 16. Not only has he created the motion picture score to go along with the film's scenes of action, suspense and terror, he's also showcased all Northeast Ohio bands for the soundtrack.

Weber, who lives in Silver Lake, stressed how important it is for these talented Northeast Ohio bands to get exposure with the international release of the film.

"My notion was it would be really cool to include all my friends," said Weber, 26, who leads the band The Michael Weber Show. "We all need to stand up on each other's shoulders to get the break that we're looking for. And who knows, maybe I can help ... people get one step ahead of where they are right now by putting them in this film."

About 'Last Night at Terrace Lanes'

The movie stars Francesca Capaldi of Disney Channel's "Dog with a Blog" fame. In this story, young heroine Kennedy and her friends are bowling at Terrace Lanes when a bloodthirsty cult invades the bowling alley on its last night of operation. The movie was filmed in the real Terrace Lanes bowling alley in Frederick, Md., that was shuttered in 2022.

The Northeast Ohio bands that Weber chose for the soundtrack help create the movie's cool atmosphere in the scenes with bowlers, which have an indie rock vibe.

"We needed something to correspond with the bowling alley, when people are there, and they're bowling," he said.

Akron-based bands on the soundtrack are The Michael Weber Show with the tune "C'mon C'mon," Vipassana with "Baby is Better" and See Creatures with the song "Queen of Cup."

Hope Spinner, who hails from Copley and is now based in New York, is featured with her original song "With You." Weber produced the single with Spinner at his Hudson studio.

Cleveland band Uptight Sugar, which includes guitarist Matt Vance of Akron, is on the soundtrack with the tune "Crawl." Other Cleveland bands are Jul Big Green with "Hindsight," DeMarco Brothers with "Bloodmoon" and Radderall with "Always."

Also on the soundtrack are Kent band Thought Mass with "Star7" and Youngstown bands The Vindys with "Bugs" and The Labra Brothers with "Better Way."

Rounding out the soundtrack is the Chardon Polka Band with its cheeky song "Grab Your Balls, We're Going Bowling," featured in the end credits.

"It's a quirky film and that's part of its charm," Weber said. "It might have moments of blood and gore but it's never to be taken uber seriously."

Check out the soundtrack playlist on Spotify.

Weber describes scoring process for horror film

Weber, speaking by phone Friday, hadn't yet watched the movie on Apple TV+. He missed the film's sold-out premiere in Frederick, Md., because he was in New York music directing Spinner's first solo concert at The Green Room 42.

He used her pop single in the movie scene when heroine Kennedy is in the car with her friends.

When it comes to the murder and mayhem, Weber created all the sonic textures for those moments in his Hudson recording studio. He scored the whole film in three weeks, working 18-hour days, seven days a week.

"The emotion is already baked into the picture. And it's my job to then take that emotion in the picture and amplify it and saturate it in every way that I can to make the audio work well in tandem with the picture that's already been shot," he said.

Weber is a Cuyahoga Falls High School and Kent State University grad, where he majored in advertising. He is largely a self-taught musician.

He began work scoring movies during the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with the documentary "My Name is Lopez" about ‘60s pop star Trinidad "Trini" Lopez.

He also scored a section of the Latin horror anthology "Satanic Hispanics" that was directed by Eduardo Sanchez of "The Blair Witch Project." fame. That led to Weber's latest film scoring work on Epic Films' "Last Night at Terrace Lanes," for which Sanchez is a producer.

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Weber diversifies his career with composing, producing and performing in order to make a living. He believes in lifting other local artists up in the difficult music industry.

"We only do it because, like, our souls are driven to (do it.) There's no other choice. We can't not be artists," he said.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 'Last Night at Terrace Lanes': Soundtrack features Northeast Ohio bands