GT: Rumor has it that you're all big gamers in Hadouken, what are your favorite
types of games?
Hadouken: FIFA '10 gets hit pretty hard when we're on tour; setting up
a World Cup between the crew and band can definitely make the long drives from
London over to Europe fly past. We've just got back from a show over in Berlin
and Nick won the World Cup playing as England on the journey over. I'm not
holding my breath for their chances outside of the bus PS3 though! Off of tour
we're pretty into first person shoot 'em ups. The COD series got some pretty
heavy rotation, but it's been overcast by the release of Battlefield Bad Company
2 lately.
GT: With all the time it takes to make music, you still manage to find the
time to play games?
Hadouken: Absolutely. Being in a band involves a lot of sitting around
- there are short bursts of lots of activity, but a lot of dead time in between.
Once you're set up and soundchecked, there's normally a lot of waiting before
stage time. We have a PS3 on the bus which is normally in almost constant use
when we're killing time!
GT: What were some of the first games that got you into gaming?
Hadouken: Personally, the first game I remember playing was Pong on an
Atari. I was pretty young at that time though, so the first games I properly
played were on my Commodore 64, and later a Sega Megadrive II. I think the later
appeal of helicopters in games like Bad Company 2 and GTA 4 probably stems from
hours of playing Desert/Urban/Jungle Strike! I used to play Skitchin' and Road
Rash II a lot with my sister, too. My first memory of seeing a shoot 'em up was
going over to my best friend's house and loading up a copy of Wolfenstein 3D off
of a floppy disk. We played it right through to it's pretty controversial last
level.
GT: When you get together to play games, do you go for co-op or
competitive play?
Hadouken: Almost always competitive. The only time we play co-op is if
we're doing a split screen game with 4 players; even then things get pretty
competitive as it's 2 vs 2.
GT: How important do you think a game's soundtrack is to the overall
game experience?
Hadouken: Massively. I used to turn off my speakers when I was young
and playing some of levels on Half-Life because I couldn't handle the tension! I
also think that games with songs as opposed to FX can really be part of the full
experience of playing a game, and later become almost nostalgically linked to
memories of playing whatever game. I'm pretty sure if you asked any of the guys
in this band what the listing for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 soundtrack is,
you'd get an instant reply.
GT: Have games in any way influenced your music or do you keep the two
worlds separated?
Hadouken: The two worlds do tend to collide in a sense. Our music is
pretty fast-paced and almost the sonic equivalent of the amount of energy and
information that your eyes take on board when you're playing a fast game. James
and Dan chose to name the band Hadouken (after the Street Fighter move) because
they felt that it was a name that summed up how fast and furious the music we
make can be. Beyond that, there are a number of 8-bit/Gameboy samples going on
in the first record, and live we have used samples from Half-Life as a bit of a
nod to the culture which spawned us, in a musical sense.
GT: What was a bigger deal to you breaking the million hits barrier
on your YouTube videos or getting your music on game soundtracks?
Hadouken: Ultimately, they're both important to us as a band because
they mean our music is getting exposure. It's difficult for people to decide
whether or not they're into what we do if they've never heard us.
GT: Why do you think your music is particularly appealing to gamers?
Hadouken: It's fast-paced and aggressive, which I think can be said of
a lot of games. Video games let you do all sorts of things that you couldn't
possibly do in the real world .. drive every vehicle imaginable, destroy
buildings, throw fireballs. When I'm doing things like that I don't necessarily
want beautiful harmonies strumming my heart strings, I want up-tempo mayhem.
We're pretty good at that.
GT: What types of games do you think are the best fit for your music?
Hadouken: Anything fast, and with a lot of explosions.
GT: Is there anything else that you'd like our game-loving readers to
know about your band and music?
Hadouken: Our second album For The Masses was released earlier this
year. It's produced by a drum and bass outfit from Holland called Noisia and is
available on itunes/spotify/all the usual digital retailers. If you like what
you hear and want to check us out live then we're currently playing festivals
all over the UK and Europe. You can find out all of our live dates at
www.myspace.com/hadouken.
GT: Thank you for your time!
