Junkie XL has the Need for Speed; Talks to GameZone about ProStreet, FIFA, SSX Blur, and More
By Louis Bedigian 

“It’s a great form of exposure, a better form of exposure than I’d ever get on radio and TV.” 

There’s a big difference in the kind of music that goes into video games, says composer Junkie XL. When EA was looking to populate FIFA 08 with entertaining sounds, they turned to not one but dozens of different composers whose work was already done. They went straight to the record labels, paid the licensing fees, and created a memorable soundtrack. 

“The other side is more interesting,” Junkie XL (whose real name is Tom Holkenborg) tells us. “You get approached by a company like EA to do an hour and a half to two hours of music specially for that game.” Which was just what happened when Need for Speed ProStreet required more than a dozen licensed tracks to produce the desired sound. “That,” says Tom, “is the most interesting part of my work.” 

The Junkie XL persona was born in the early ‘90s after Tom became a producer. Prior to that he played in a couple of indie bands and toured to as many places as possible. “Right when I started Junkie XL I also started making music for movies and video games. I developed this career over the last 12 to 15 years, which finally led to the move to Los Angeles [from The Netherlands] four years ago.” 

NFS ProStreet 

What was the turning point for your career? Have you done commercial work? 

Junkie XL: I’ve done that as well. Actually, many of the colleagues I had in the mid ‘90s, they were very much against this. They thought it was a sell-out. But the music industry [has changed] and they’re all lined up in LA to work in that same area now. 

You’ve worked on Need for Speed ProStreet, FIFA 08, SSX Blur. Tell us about those. 

Junkie XL: SSX Blur, I did the full score for that. An hour and a half of interactive music. Need for Speed, that game – I did the full score for that. Besides that they also licensed a bunch of existing tracks from other artists, including myself, which are used for the soundtrack or the jukebox mode where you can play any track you want. 

What was your involvement in the original Resident Evil movie? That film was considerably different from the game.  

Junkie XL: I was a very active gamer until ’97 – ’98. [After that], I couldn’t maintain my gaming addiction while I worked. With Resident Evil, and with other movies I’ve worked on, if the game is a basis for it, sometimes they’ll look at what the game is all about, and other times they just let it go and take the storyline or whatever and look at it differently. 

Your work also appears in FIFA 08. 

Junkie XL: That was a licensed soundtrack. That’s a perfect example of [a developer] looking for a track that fits with the game. Basically, this is a process that has nothing to do with me. My record company gets approached by [the game company], and they basically make a deal for that one track.

 
FIFA 08 

Going back to NFS ProStreet, what was it that the developers were looking for you to achieve with your score? 

Junkie XL: Usually it works like this: if you’re doing the whole score, you get invited to meet with the developers. In this case the game was being made in Vancouver. I flew out there, and there were one or two stories in a massive building that’s completely dedicated to Need for Speed. You see drawings of cars, samples of clothes. You see people that should appear in the game, what they’re going to look like, how they’re going to act. They had lots of pictures of certain parts of setups where the races should be placed. They were already far ahead in the game [when I came in], they had everything where it needed to be. 

Then you basically have a meeting with the creative team and just go back and forth exchange ideas about what the music should be all about. We wanted to go for an electronic approach. We talked more about the music and how it should act in the interactive part. Then you go back home, compose a few demos that you think capture the whole vibe of the game, send it out, and get feedback. Then you start the full process of creating an hour and a half to two hours of music. 

The interesting part is, once you get your songs there, there is a part where it gets very technical with the audio developers of the game. You go back and forth so many times to [build] the interactive part of the game. 

What kind of interactive music elements tied into NFS ProStreet? 

Junkie XL: You have to come up with things like: is the driver going to brake, is he going to get bumped by an opponent, is he going to run into another car… All of these are called markers or events. You try to support those events with musical changes. If somebody’s creeping up behind you, you have elements to the music that will underscore that feeling. If you run off the track the music almost stops and slowly picks up as you start driving again. It’s a really complicated process but it’s the most interesting part of working on video games. 

These interactive elements you speak of – are they from one song that has been broken into many different pieces? Or are they several different songs that you’re combining and interweaving into the game events? 

Junkie XL: I wrote 30 to 35 songs, and every song is broken down into 20 or 25 events. When you play the game, every time that you make a move, something is changing in the music. If you’re in a crash and your car can’t drive anymore, not only will you hear the sound effects but the music will underscore that moment. 

When you’re playing the game, you won’t necessarily notice it, but it advances the way the player feels the game. In the early days you would have a track that would keep on playing. If you go off the grid and it jumps into the chorus of the song, it has a weird energy. Now everything perfectly matches up. It takes the gameplay to a whole new level, but we haven’t even seen the start of it yet. With the new consoles coming out in years to come, there will be new opportunities for taking sound and graphics to a whole new level [beyond where we are today].  

SSX Blur  

Was it the same kind of thing for SSX Blur – dynamic changes? 

Junkie XL: SSX Blur was also completely dynamic. 

Your music is very unusual. What do you look for when trying to bring something different to the table? 

Junkie XL: They’re always traditional approaches, things that work well. The same goes for movies. I’m trying to [dive] into myself and try something new. It’s really hard because you can’t satisfy everyone all the time. The most important thing is that it underscores the game well. That way, if someone [isn’t necessarily a fan] of the music, but it works really well in the game, it’s fine. For me it’s a great form of exposure, a better form of exposure than I’d ever get on radio and TV. All the people that play NFS ProStreet will hear Junkie XL, and that’s the greatest part of it. 

I agree about the necessity to have relevant music. In a game like Dance Dance Revolution, 90% of the music is weird and inappropriate for mainstream radio. But while playing the game and dancing to them, suddenly the rhythm works and you start to enjoy those weird songs. 

Junkie XL: Yeah I know! That’s the cool thing about making music for video games – you’re creating a different exposure for people that would have never heard of you. 

Are you looking to explore music games as well? 

Junkie XL: I’m sure in the future artists will release their own game. But you need a lot of money to do that. 

NFS ProStreet 

You think that’s where it’s headed? A “Junkie XL Game,” perhaps? 

Junkie XL: Yeah, who knows. But it takes a lot of money to do that, which I don’t have currently [laughs]. 

If you did have the money and were going to make a game, what would it be about? How would it differ from other music games out there? 

Junkie XL: I don’t know. I think technically the music game on its own, I don’t know if it’s interesting. The thing about games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it almost has an educational value. And a lot of fun. I would almost say that music comes in second place because it’s all about the action. The fun part is that people can play solos on their favorite guitar songs. 

What’s next for you? Any new game projects coming up? 

Junkie XL: I’ve got a bunch of stuff coming up. As usual I had to sign a contract and I’m not allowed to talk about it. 

Can you at least say…is it in any of the genres you’ve already worked in? 

Junkie XL: I’m not allowed to say anything about it. I am working on a new game, a new movie, and I’m also in the midst of finishing my album that’s coming out in March.
 

Very cool. Thank you for your time.

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---