If you're a gamer, then it's quite likely that you've played a game with a
track from Airbourne on the soundtrack. They're one of the heavy hitters
for EA Trax and are a favorite on
Rock Band. I had a chance to ask Ryan O'Keeffe a few questions on music
and games, and here's what he had to say...
Ned: Many bands would be happy to have one song featured in a game,
any game, but you've managed to land a number of tracks in a dozen or so
different games. Did you ever dream that you'd ever have a song appear in a
game?
Ryan:
I remember when we were younger we would make riffs to go with the game Road
Rash.
Ned: What do you think makes your music such a good match for game
soundtracks?
Ryan: Simple, good time rock n' roll.
Ned: All of the games that your music has appeared in have been
released in the past two years. How did so much happen so fast?
Ryan: We toured relentlessly around the release of Runnin' Wild, for
about 2 years straight so I think that may have helped. Plus we have met a lot
of people from the gaming world thanks to EA; all great people!
Ned: Looking at the list of games that your music has appeared in,
it's heavily slanted towards sports games, especially those involving people
hitting each other such as Madden NFL 10, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010, and NHL 09.
Just a coincidence? Or is it all somehow connected to your Australian pub rock
roots?
Ryan: Haha! Yeah, well I think rock n' roll can make you wanna do that
sometimes.
Ned: You've had tracks appear on the last three Madden NFL games,
which is a pretty impressive accomplishment. Were you surprised that your music
proved to be such a good match for American football?
Ryan: Well, there's a lot of hard hitting in that sport, I think the
two go together.
Ned: Are you secretly wishing for a Madden Rugby game to come out
soon?
Ryan: I would really like to see an AFL ( Aussie rules football )
game.
Ned: You've got a new album now, No Guts. No Glory. Do you think that
it will connect with videogames as well as your last album, Runnin' Wild? Are
you gamers yourself?
Ryan: I guess we'll have to wait and see. We do have a few game
machines on the bus including a custom built PC game machine (Modern Warfare 2
looked ten times better on it than any other console).
Ned: Have you tried playing your track Runnin' Wild in Rock Band? Can
you play it on Expert?
Ryan: Haha, not yet.
Ned: Anything else that you'd like to say to our videogame playing,
Airbourne loving readers?
Ryan: Games were looking forward too.
Deus ex 3
Just cause 2
Mafia 2
Crysis 2
Medal of Honor redux
Alpha protocol
