Earlier this month, Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL, released Synthesized, his first album in four years. Of course, that doesn't mean the Dutch-born musician and remixer has been locked away in a studio waiting for inspiration to strike. In fact, for the last few years, Holkenborg has shifted his focus to scoring movies and video games, most recently collaborating with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer on films like Inception, The Dark Knight Rises and even the upcoming Man of Steel. Additionally, he's worked on several EA titles like Mirror's Edge, The Sims 3, as well as THQ's Saint's Row: The Third.
IGN recently had a chance to catch up with Holkenborg to discuss his latest endeavors, starting with his latest album...
IGN: So first, what can you tell me about this album and the direction you decided to take with it?
Junkie XL: This one was different from my previous albums in that before, I would lock myself up in a studio for six, seven months and make an album -- get the record straight to the record company, and that would be it. For this record, I wanted to do it differently... I came up with the idea, and I was like, “Okay, if we were to kick all my records on my shelf and they all fell out, some interesting records would fall on top of each other. Are there elements in there that we could use?” I just love so many different types of music, and I have been influenced by so many years of music that has been made from the ‘50s. I’ve always tried to combine things like that into my music. So for this, I wanted to go in a different direction.
IGN: This is your first album to come out in several years. What made you decide now was the time to release Synthesized?
Junkie XL: The most important reason is that -- I moved to LA in 2002, and the goal when I moved was to really work in the film industry. The amount of work that I had in the city increased more and more over the last ten years. The last couple of years I’ve been working very intensely with Hans Zimmer; I actually moved my studio a year ago to his complex, so we’re neighbors now. We’ve been constantly working on films together, whether it’s Madagascar 3 or The Dark Knight Rises -- we’re now working on Man of Steel. That means a lot of my time goes into film scoring. I’ve used, over the last four years, every time I had a break for a couple of weeks, I would use that as a fresh breath of air to work on my own material, which was actually very inspiring. But that’s why it took four years. It’s not like I locked myself up for four years and wrote 12 songs. [Laughs]
IGN: You mentioned your collaboration on Man of Steel. I’m guessing you can’t quite talk about that one yet?
Junkie XL: No, I can’t really talk about stuff I’m working on right now because that’s how that goes. But Hans loves my way of working, and he loves my approach to music in general. What Junkie XL is all about is combining organic music elements with electronic elements. It’s something that he is not only specialized in, but something he’s looking for to push into a new direction, which is, how can we mix orchestral music with other types of music and push the limits on that? So that’s primarily my role with him.
IGN: You’re also known for your work in video games. What initially drew you to that medium?
Junkie XL: It’s actually very simple. I noticed from very early on in the ‘90s that while video games were starting to become a very interesting revenue, they were also a way to reach people that you normally can’t. Back then, MTV was still big, all the local music channels and radio were still flying, but I felt that I made the right decision looking back, moving into that medium when I did. I made sure that when the time came, I had made a solid decision in that. Now, it turns out, that was a smart decision to do. I know that back in the day when I started doing that, many of my colleagues actually thought I was a sellout. That was still in a time when you needed to be all artistically cool about this and about that. But I felt it was still the same thing. Things have changed so much since then. Now, the same people that were so against it in the ‘90s are now all lined up in LA trying to find work.
IGN: What would you say is the biggest difference between working on an album like Synthesized and composing for a movie or video game?
Junkie XL: An album is artistic thing. Besides the fact that you’re maybe bonded to a certain style because your fans want to hear certain things or your record company that wants you to push in a specific direction, other than that, you can do whatever you want in your album, and you have all the time in the world to do it. With movies and video games, you’re work in a team spirit. It’s not you who’s driving the ship, it’s the director -- and if it’s not the director, it’s the studio. It’s about a product. And film music isn’t necessarily great music. It’s film music, and you have to understand that when you work on a film. It’s about the film and not about the music. If the music supports the film, great. Then, on its own, it’s a great piece of music, then you really have done a great job.
IGN: Also, when you’re composing for an album or a film, your tracks are working within a finite amount of time, but a video game can last anywhere from eight to a hundred hours. How do you compensate for those variant experiences when you’re working on such a large scale? Is there a drastic difference in the process?
Junkie XL: The process is similar, it just goes way faster. You have to make decisions very early on. You know, the average amount of music that I make per months is anywhere between an hour and two hours. So if you compare that with the average output of an artist, it’s usually 12 times more than that. So the stress is way higher, but you deal with the same questions. When you see a movie, you come up with musical ideas and you start thinking about what type of sound you should be using; what should it be here, what should it be there?
IGN: Are you a pretty big gamer yourself?
Junkie XL: I used to [be]. There were a bunch of different games, but the last one I really sunk my teeth into was that first Wipeout in ‘95. That was the last one I really played until 4 or 5 in the morning. And I just noticed that if I was not going to change certain habits right then, I was either going to be an amazing gamer or I was going to have a great music career. It was either/or, you know? It was impossible to combine. But I have couple of friends that are really heavy gamers. Right now, I can still sit down next to them and drink beer and watch them play for an hour, and it’s just like watching a movie. It’s incredible.
IGN: Would you say Wipeout is your all-time favorite game then?
Junkie XL: No, it’s not necessarily my all-time favorite, but it was really the last game I really got into back then. I know some gamers would say, “Wipeout? What is that?” That was, like, five thousand light-years ago. Games have developed so insanely since then. One of my neighbors here did the score for Assassin’s Creed, and when you see that, it’s just mind-boggling how beautiful it looks. It’s great, absolutely.
Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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