Creative Director/Composer Augustus Skinner, who has
written music for countless acclaimed ad campaigns, including BP.com, Canon,
Mercedes, BMW, L’Oreal, Sony, Adidas, Amazon.com, and Gateway, has opened his
own music company, Crispin Thump. Skinner, known to many in the industry as Augustus
“Dicadillac,” helped to establish Amber Music in London, first as Chief Engineer, then as a
close collaborator with award-winning composers Nick and Andy, and ultimately as a
full-time composer.
In 2003, Skinner relocated to New York, and it is in the
emerging, artistic Bushwick area of Brooklyn that he has
now established his self-proclaimed “House of Musical
Mayhem.” His boutique, featuring fellow composers
Krishna Venkatesh, Jon Darling, Eugene Cho, Ed 209, and
Erich Lee, is, according to Skinner, “a reaction to many of
the established music houses, who have a structure and an
MO that makes them more akin to the corporations they
work for.” Presiding over a small boutique, Skinner deals
directly with agency creatives and producers, gleaning a
deeper understanding of what creatives want to express
musically. “Our clients are high-profile advertisers who want to purchase a piece of art
when they commission music,” Skinner asserted. “Large corporations don’t really need
another layer of corporate identity to alienate them from their audience. They turn to us,
counting on our creative ingenuity.”

Skinner also cited significant changes in the music side of the advertising industry as
inspiration for the establishment of Crispin Thump. “As a result of aggressive campaigns
by record companies to license music to advertisers at reduced prices, and reduced
budgets for original music compositions from advertising agencies, the available market
has effectively shrunk.” He said that agencies and clients may be driven to play it safe,
but that “unfortunately this neither upsets people, nor does it inspire them.”

Asserting that larger music houses respond to the situation by producing excessive
quantities of demos for every job they are bidding on, often relying on poorly paid and
poorly briefed freelancers to make up the numbers on submissions, Skinner is confident
that his business model will prove valuable to the community. “Agency producers have
told me they’re tired of ‘retreads,’ they don’t want to hear the same track submitted
several times,” he said. “I believe we fill a niche, because we are specialized, and we
understand our market. Because we are small and focused, we make sure that we only
take on work at which we can excel. Our work is a reflection of us as individuals.”

Skinner the individual entered the world of music at 18 years old, hanging out in studios,
learning everything he could about composition and production. He cut his teeth as a
recording and mixing engineer at Mayfair recording studios, under the guidance of the
highly regarded John Hudson. There, he worked with many top names in the music
industry including: Neneh Cherry, Sneaker Pimps, Bjork, EMF, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones,
Elvis Costello, and Underworld. It was during his tenure with Mayfair that he met Michelle
Curran. Skinner began to regularly mix sessions for her, and when she decided to set up
her own recording facility in London, she brought Skinner on as Chief Engineer. A full-
time composer since 2000, Skinner’s most celebrated work includes: GMC “Holes” via
Lowe/NY, Mudd Jeans for MTV, “Agent Orange,” a short film for RSA USA via Fallon/MN
(dir: Tony Scott), Canon “I Can” via Cayanne Communications/UK (dir : Tony Kaye), and
Smile Bank “Smile” via Partners BDDH.

Skinner said Crispin Thump represents an opportunity to realize the ambitions he has
cultivated over the years. “I like to think of Crispin Thump as an artists’ collective, rather
than an advertising music house,” he said. “All of us are highly experienced in the
discipline of composing music for the ad medium, and we all feel that it is time to bring a
fresh approach to the way that TV commercial music is made.”

Crispin Thump is currently creating the score for a documentary about the life, career,
and general phenomena of Paris Hilton.