Tommy Tallarico Part 2

04 Dec 2008 at 18:08:59 by Andy Alderson

The Video Games Live: Volume One album has already been released in the States and it’s now been picked up by EMI Classics. How does that feel?

EMI is one of the biggest record companies in the world so it’s great to have that kind of power, budget and distribution behind the record. It shows that people are taking notice. This is the first video game compilation album to be released worldwide. There were some tracks we wish we could have put on there but that’s why we called it Volume One. Like with the live shows, we had to prove to people that it’s a good idea. You won’t see any Nintendo or Square Enix stuff on the album but it’s coming. You have to prove to some companies that it’s a good concept before you can do anything. But at the same time, the idea wasn’t to pick the most popular games – it’s about the music and maybe some of the music doesn’t get a lot of attention it deserves. There are 11 cuts on the album and we have a list of 50 for the shows so we have options. 

You’ve also composed an awful lot of video game music. How does it compare to playing live and which do you prefer?

Wow, that’s a great question because I go through phases. I’ve been a composer in the games industry now for over 18 years and I’ve worked on over 272 games and I even got an award from the Guinness World Record people at one of our London shows. As composers, we sit in our little caves and we compose the stuff and I don’t think a lot of composers really understand that the music they create in their little corner of the world reaches the entire globe. So, when you travel around the world and perform it live, it really brings tears to my eyes. Every time I walk out on stage and see a full crowd it’s really emotional. For that reason I would say that I draw greater pleasure from the live performances. Here you are creating something live with people ten feet away from you, reacting in real time. It’s something very, very special.

As music creation technology has changed dramatically since you began composing, have you changed the way you approach making music?

I think it’s changed for some people, but I haven’t really changed. My approach has always been just to create a great piece of music. I think some composers and designers think more like “does it match the scene perfectly, does it do this, does it do that?” Some people would even say that if you don’t even hear the music, that means you’re doing a good job because it blends in so well. I’ve always wanted to give the person just a great piece of music and whether it fits the level exactly or not is kind of secondary to me. A lot of people might disagree with that and that’s fine. There are a number of different ways to do this successfully. But I’ve always been about writing a great piece of music that people will remember long after they finish playing the game. Take Earthworm Jim, for example. One level we’d do a techno/electronic thing and the next level would be banjo music. The next level would be polka and the one after that rock n’ roll. If you were to sit down with a designer and explain that to them they’d think you’re crazy.

But it suited the game perfectly...

We were just a group of guys trying to make each other laugh. That was the game design doc for Earthworm Jim – how can we make each other laugh today? And I think that shows in the game. Another example is a game I worked on a couple of years ago called Advent Rising. It was kind of a commercial failure but the music was interesting. I wrote it like an Italian opera. It was a space epic so, of course, the designers came to me and said “John Williams! Let’s make it sound like Star Wars.” But as I’m reading the story and going through it I’m thinking “there’s drama, there’s death and it sounds like an opera to me. Why not write the piece as an Italian opera? I did some demos for them and it changed the way they thought about the music for the game. Going back two decades, I was using the same approach back then as I do now.

Obviously the technology has changed – going from bleeps and bloops and midi files and trying to get it all on a little chip to using live orchestras. The production values have changed, but my approach hasn’t.

What is the one piece of game music that you are most proud of and why?

It’s probably...oh man, there’s a couple. Are you gonna make me pick one?

That’s how we roll.

[Laughs] On a personal level then I’d have to say the opening to Advent Rising. There’s a song called ‘Muse’ and we play it in Video Games Live sometimes. It’s an Italian opera and that’s something I’ve wanted to do for my entire life. If I had some secondary picks I’d say the Earthworm Jim stuff as it’s a real favourite of mine because it was so fun to create and so many people heard it.

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