As the production team Widelife, Ian Nieman and Rachid Wehbi created the massive club anthem "I Don't Want You" and remixed some of clubland's best divas, like Deborah Cox, LeAnn Rimes, and Mariah Carey. They will probably always be best known for "All Things (Keep Getting Better)," the theme for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. After producing music for tv shows, Ian Nieman is back in clubland with Liquid Sunshine and much more.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Congratulations on your success with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I heard you just completed scoring the final episode. How important do you think the music was for the tv show?
Ian Nieman: Yes, sad to say, Queer Eye just shot their final episode in June. To answer your question, I think the music drove the pace of the show. What we created really became a recognizable trademark of Queer Eye. From the opening sequence, to the upbeat euro stuff, to shopping music, to revealing the makeover etc … it all became part the
Queer Eye branding. In the third season I was hired to do the end credit piece, which is actually one of my favorite things I have ever done. It has such an uplifting feel, and ends the show in a positive way. I think the success of "All Things" on its own attests to the fact that the music was a very important and recognizable part of the show. The song went #1 in Australia, won us a Juno Award here in Canada, did quite well on Top 40 radio in the U.S., and is heard in over 30 countries. Who could really ask for anything more? "All Things" was even used twice on a South Park episode. So, for sure, I think our music was a very important part of the show.
RS: All Things must have been a highlight of your career. Did you write the song for the TV show? How did it come into being?
Ian Nieman: Rachid (Wehbi) and I got a call from Kevin Williams at Nervous saying that somebody from Scout Productions was looking to speak with us. Rob Eric from Scout was a huge fan of "I Don't Want U" (which was the most played record on New York's KTU for 2003). We called Rob and he said that they were currently looking for a theme
song for a new show they were putting together called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. They had approximately 10 other people submitting for the theme song and he thought we might be a good fit. I know Thunderpuss was one of the them, as well as Jocelyn Enriquez, etc… Rachid and I quickly wrote a chorus and a verse after we got off the phone and
called Simone Denny to come to the studio and sing it, as the deadline was for the next day (we always worked best under pressure). Well, needless to say we got the gig, thanks a lot to Rob's belief in us. Originally, "All Things" was only a 58sec piece (exactly what you hear on the show open). It was not until a few months later that Rob
thought that we could make this something more then just an intro to a television show. So, Rachid and I went back and wrote a bridge and second verse. After months of negotiations, it finally found a home at Capitol Records, which also offered us a development deal as well. Still to this day, the official Widelife remixes have never been released. We did a club and dub.
