Director Sam Peckinpah made his bloody and revolutionary The Wild Bunch in 1969, the story of a group of aging outlaws out for one last score. In it, violence becomes a ballet of brutality, corruption is all encompassing, every transaction and interaction is laced with betrayal, as every man stares down death and obsolescence. Arguably the most controversial movie of 1969, The Wild Bunch forever changed the nature of screen violence and the way it was edited and fetishized.

Now, for one night only, musicians Sook-yin Lee, Samaza Murava, Christo Graham, and Adam Litovitz are banding together to create a beautiful, soul-stirring new score to hopefully transform this saturation of violence into something else. Juxtaposing grace with bloodshed with the aim to achieve transcendence and release, and reimagine how we experience a cinematic classic.

Royal Stompbox is made possible in part by funding support from the Toronto Arts Council.