Listing Woody Pak’s latest projects seems somewhat of a chaotic task. He recently composed the original scores for a handful of documentary features, including “Planet B-Boy” and “American Zombie.” He’s simultaneously producing world-renowned haegum (traditional Korean fiddle) artist Kang Eun-Il’s Haegum Plus and pop-rock quartet Seriously. (KoreAm swung by Pak’s studio in Santa Monica, Calif., the day before he hit the road on the seven-stop Seriously Heart Tour.) Once a commercial composer (he used to score Nike commercials), Pak, 37, along with his wife, Gloria, are using their relatively new artist development company, Chaos Music Theory, to make waves in the music industry. It’s indeed chaotic. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
What prompted you to start Chaos Theory Music?
There are some people who are very successful, but at the end of the day, you ask them what type of music they do and their answer is, “What do you want me to do?” I found myself in that situation just a few years ago. I was asking myself, what is my voice? Who am I?[Chaos] was an outlet for me as an artist.
What’s your mission?
To be an agent of change through culture. I’m not a politician. I’m not a great business person. What I do know is music, and I know that music is instrumental in causing ripples in society. I want to create an outlet for independent artists who normally have no way of getting their music out there. You never know who can change the world.
How’d you come up with the name?
We have a son, Noah, who’s 6, and a daughter, Jojo, who’s 4. One day, our kids were bouncing off the walls and couches. It was crazy. We were, like, hey, this is chaotic. And then we were like “ding!” In physics, the chaos theory says that under all this seeming disorder, there’s some kind of underlying order. We chewed on that and the name stuck.
How do you juggle raising two kids and managing the company?
It’s hard. We end up bringing them to the studio late at night and they’re coming with us on tour. They’re going to be, like, the rock ’n’ roll kids.
What’s on your iPod right now?
Hannah Montana. Not by choice.
