Roll7’s upcoming skater-shooter, Rollerdrome, is our first to characteristic a totally authentic soundtrack, that includes darkish retro-futuristic synth beats by the unbelievable Electrical Dragon. I spoke to Ian, the artist behind Electrical Dragon, to debate the method of engaged on the challenge and creating this all-new album.
Jemima Tyssen Smith: Hiya Ian! I had the pleasure of working with you when you created the unbelievable all-new music for Rollerdrome. This was such an thrilling challenge for Roll7 as a result of it’s the primary time we’ve had a very new soundtrack made only for one among our video games. What was it that drew you to the challenge?
Electrical Dragon: You summoned me!
Haha – it’s true! Sure, I used to be truly the primary particular person to succeed in out to you – we initially wished simply the one observe, proper?
Sure, that’s simply it – I didn’t know the complete particulars of the sport on the time, however what I noticed was tremendous fascinating to me, and I truly provided to do some authentic work at that time. After that I had a gathering with a number of the workforce and we talked by way of what was wanted in additional element. I’d been in a rut with the album I used to be engaged on, and speaking to the parents at Roll7 actually gave me a burst of inspiration. I feel it simply all got here collectively very well for everybody concerned, truly. I’d all the time wished to work on a sport soundtrack, and Rollerdrome is an unbelievable sport to be concerned with.
I feel whenever you spoke about the opportunity of authentic tracks that felt excellent for us since we wished such a particular vibe to the soundtrack. Might you speak a bit about that?
Yeah, so the power we have been after was a soundtrack with the ability of synthwave however a definite 70’s flavour. It felt prefer it is likely to be fairly difficult to steadiness as we actually wished to keep away from going too disco as properly – the sport has a darkness to it that wanted to be echoed within the music. In the long run it truly got here collectively fairly naturally, although. I mainly tackled the soundtrack as if it was form of from the angle of the 70’s wanting ahead – very BBC ‘Tomorrow’s World’, you recognize? After which I used to be impressed a bit by a number of various things actually: 70’s pioneers like Vangellis, Wendy Carlos, Philip Glass, Giorgio Moroder, Tangerine Dream… a number of inspiration from a number of locations!
Seeing the entire cool equipment you have got is so inspiring – it’s all actually fascinating stuff. What was it that drew you to music and to synthwave within the first place?
I used to have a Commodore 64 as a child, and my uncle purchased me some software program for that which was referred to as ‘Utilisynth’. It was very sophisticated, however I managed to make some superior wibbly-wobbly noises, and from there on I used to be form of hooked! I went on to play guitar, I DJ’d home music within the 90’s, I used to be even in a dying metallic band for a bit… however in time I returned to synth.
And we’re very glad you probably did! This challenge is clearly fairly totally different to engaged on an album that’s not connected so carefully to a sport and an idea – how did that be just right for you?
Yeah, for the reason that tracks want to suit with the gameplay I couldn’t actually do breakdowns in the identical approach I may need achieved on a very free-form album, in order that was a extremely fascinating problem to work round. I additionally wanted to strike a steadiness between the dystopian narrative and the thrilling gameplay – the tracks wanted grit, however in addition they wanted a way of enjoyable in there, too. I feel these moments of positivity actually assist make the darkish elements of the sport darker, which I actually like. One factor I did love concerning the course of – and this might sound foolish – is that the narrative actually helped me to select observe titles. I all the time discover naming tracks a bit powerful, so it was an actual aid to have content material already there to drag titles from!
Lastly, I’ve to ask – the place does the identify ‘Electrical Dragon’ come from?
It’s from a 2001 Japanese movie – Electrical Dragon 80.000 V. It’s about two rivals who get electrocuted after which find yourself with superpowers… and so they additionally play critically guitar-wrecking solos.
That sounds so cool! I’m including it to my watch checklist as we communicate. Thanks a lot for taking the time to speak to me in the present day and for making this epic soundtrack. I simply can’t watch for individuals to expertise it in-game.
Me neither!
Rollerdrome is coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 August 16.
