One of my favourite soundtracks, and a recent obsession of mine, has been the soundtrack to the game Virginia by Lyndon Holland. His soundtrack has had such a great affect on me, and no doubt many others.
Lyndon recently agreed to answer some questions of mine so that we can get more of an understanding of the man behind the music.
The Interview
- Please tell us about yourself in as many or as little words as you like.
- I’m a pretty normal guy with geeky interests and a strange job, working out of my bedroom in West London.
- Growing up, who were your heroes in music?
- John Williams, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Jerry Goldsmith, Nobuo Uematsu
- Growing up, who were your heroes outside of music?
- Not sure I really had many ‘heroes’ to be honest, but I remember Spielberg movies having a huge affect on me.
- What was the first album you remember buying?
- Ha, I distinctively remember it being Metallica – …And Justice for All
- Was there any defining moment in your life when you knew that you wanted to write music?
- I remember being in love with the music to Final Fantasy VIII as a 13 year old. As a result, I started playing around with midi in a basic software package called Noteworthy composer.
- Who is your biggest influence in how you approach what you do today?
- The way I think about music in relation to narrative developed a lot whilst I attended The National Film and Television School. I couldn’t choose a single individual, but the process of working with like minded people in such a heightened and condensed way for 2 years was as influential as anything else.
- What is the proudest moment of your career so far?
- Probably all the positive the feedback I have received from people after playing Virginia.
- What is your favourite Book?
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- What is your favourite Album?
- Tough one. In terms of music that I keep coming back to, I suppose it could be something like The Beatles – Abbey Road. But ask me another day and it would probably be something different.
- What is your favourite Film?
- Again, very difficult. I could pick something obscure and meaningful, but instead I will choose something I have watched a million times and never fails to work it’s magic; E.T.
- What is your favourite TV Show?
- Something like Breaking Bad or House of Cards probably deserves this, but for all it’s faults, I still have a huge place in my heart for Lost.
- Do you have a favourite film/tv/game/musical soundtrack?
- For the way it works with the picture, I love stuff like Howard Shore’s score to Crash or Jonny Greenwood’s score to There will be blood. But then for listening purposes outside of the film, I dunno, I love The Lion King, and the recent arrangements of Final Fantasy VII in the Final Symphony album.
- Are there any new albums you are binge listening to at the moment?
- For no real reason in particular, I’ve been listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas a lot recently, ha.
- You’re walking somewhere and your mp3 player has only a little battery left; You’ve only got time for one more song. What song do you play?
- Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
- What advice would you give to your younger self?
- I’d tell younger self to concentrate on understanding form and structure before attempting any complex orchestration.
- If you could ask any person – living or passed – any question, who would it be and what would you ask them?
- I’m definitely throwing this question away, but I’d ask Stanley Kubrick if Eyes Wide Shut was his final cut
- Do you have any exciting new projects you are working on that you can tell us about?
- There are some things in the pipeline, but it’s too early to say anything at this time!
- Could you tell us a joke?
- “I’ve decided to sell my Hoover… well, it was just collecting dust.”
A big thank you to Lyndon
Thank you, Lyndon for taking the time to answer these questions.
If any of you need convincing to listen to his awesome music, then please do read my write up of the Virginia soundtrack. Or just go and buy it right now.
