Who were your main composer influences growing up, and why? At 10 years old I never imagined being a composer but I always found myself listening to John Williams scores on vinyl, mainly because he scored all my favourite movies in those days…Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Superman, etc. But I also loved Alan Silvestri’s score to Back to the Future.
What was your first major project as a composer, and what do you remember the most from this experience? Technically, my first original score as a composer was for an adventure game called Still Life on PC. But my first major AAA assignment was to score Need for Speed Underground 2. It was definitely an eye-opening experience and quite a challenge. The audio director at that time was known to be a very challenging client and multiple revisions were the norm. I remember how difficult it was adjusting to this new workflow compared to simply producing songs and records…not always fun but it was a great proving ground for me.
How did you end up working on the world of Wolfenstein? I got a call from my agent who was approached by the developer Machine Games who were looking for a composer. I was given the brief and was asked to submit a few samples of what I could imagine doing for it, I was very excited to be chosen.