CFO$ Reveal The Heaviest WWE Theme They’ve Written, Talk Creative Process

CFO$, who write most of WWE’s entrance themes, discussed their creative process in a interview with Metal Injection. The highlights are below:

Alicastro on how many themes they work on at once: “Typically there are at least a few projects going on at one time. There’s also always a chance that something will pop up at the last minute for live TV and we’ll have to drop everything we’re doing to get it done in time, but we’ve come to work really well under that pressure. Sometimes, an imminent deadline actually makes it more fun to be honest.”

Alicastro on the process of writing a wrestling theme: “We’ll get inspired by the person we’re writing for and try to set the scene in our heads of what it’s going to be like when they walk out to the ring. We don’t actually know beforehand exactly how their entrance is going to play out, so we try to keep our eye on that, but also stay focused on just writing good music that can stand on its own.”

Lauri on developing the theme: “Once the team at WWE hears where we’re headed with a theme, we usually go through a process of tailoring it more specifically to the actual entrance. Speed it up, slow it down, change the arrangement of parts, etc. Whatever it takes to create a real moment for the fans.”

On Aleister Black’s theme: “Aleister’s theme might just be the heaviest we’ve written for WWE to date. In typical fashion, we experimented with a number of approaches to the music itself, initially unsure of what type of “heavy” we were really going for. What we ended up with was what felt the most brooding and imposing. Even though the guitar parts aren’t the most complex in the world, they just fit the mood perfectly. Our good friend Brendan Garrone of Incendiary came in and truly delivered on the vocal end of things, giving the song a completely new dimension.”