Pat Irwin

Profile

Discipline: Media Scoring

Pat Irwin has spent over 4 decades pushing the boundaries of popular music with his soundtracks for some of the most recognized and popular shows in television including Dexter: New Blood, Nurse Jackie, Bored to Death and scores for animation including Rocko’s Modern Life, Pepper Ann, Class of 3000, and SpongeBob SquarePants. Class of 3000. He has composed the music for many independent features including But I’m A Cheerleader, My New Gun, and Bam Bam and Celeste, written by, and featuring, comedienne Margaret Cho. His contributions to the SpongeBob soundtracks were awarded ASCAP Film & Television Awards in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

He is currently recording and performing with SUSS, their debut recording, Ghost Box, released on Northern Spy Records and was listed in the “Top 10 Ambient records of 2018” by Pop Matters. The critically acclaimed second SUSS LP, High Line, was released on Northern Spy Records in November, 2019, Promise was released in 2020 and the double LP, SUSS, was released in 2022.  Pat was a long time member of the B52s and recorded and performed with the band from 1989 through 2007. Prior to the B52s he was a founding member of The Raybeats as well as 8 Eyed Spy with Lydia Lunch. In 2013, The Raybeats released The Lost Philip Glass Sessions, a series of collaborations with composer Philip Glass that were originally recorded in 1982.

Pat has also composed for theater and dance and has collaborated with choreographers Stephen Petronio and Pooh Kaye as well as playwright Theodora Skipitares. He has received grants and awards from the New York City Cultural Council, The New York Foundation For The Arts, Meet The Composer, The Mary Flagler Carey Charitable Trust, ASCAP, and the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. While researching expatriate jazz and jazz musicians for the Watson Foundation he studied and performed with composer John Cage. He received a B.A. in American Studies from Grinnell College in 1977 and in 2012 received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Grinnell.