One of the less likely Easter eggs in gaming history is the appearance of instrumental guitar rock band Mogwai as a team in 1999’s Actua Ice Hockey 2. We talk to bassist Dominic Aitchison about his abiding passion for gaming and whether Mogwai might ever do a game soundtrack. Because they really should, you know.
As a member of an active touring band, how do you keep up with gaming?
It’s quite tough. You’ve got a lot of downtime, so a lot of your time is spent waiting to soundcheck or waiting to play the show. A couple of years ago I bought a laptop to take on the road. I got a Steam account and started playing Team Fortress 2, but it was such a massive pain in the arse because with one router the whole band and crew are all trying to get on the Internet and it just never works. I spent a lot of time on my DS when it first came out and that’s now transferred over to my iPad. Nothing ever really replaces sitting in front of your console, though. It’s pathetic because I have a great job, but I find myself itching to get back to my console. I hate reading about all my pals on forums and what they’re playing. Especially with multiplayer games – you know that even after two weeks everyone’s going to know the maps and you’re going to have a really tough introduction to it.
Are you interested in making the sort of dynamic music that works for games?
Yeah – it would be very different for us, but it would be really interesting. A lot of what we do involves layers and I like the thought that an action you’re carrying out on the screen triggers the next loop in the music. It would be a slight challenge, but I think we could do a good job on it. But it’s one of these things – it would be timeconsuming and we don’t really have the time. Outside of playing shows we’re either recording or writing another record.
Do the other members of the band share your interest in games?
Not really. Some of the guys I play Bad Company 2 with, but that’s about it. They like to play FIFA. When we recorded the last album we had an Xbox in the studio so we sat around playing Tiger Woods. Any sort of pass-the-pad game goes over well. There was a good tour where we had an Xbox with us on the bus and we all sat around playing Geometry Wars 2. That was fantastic. They’ve all got PlayStations, but they’re not quite as obsessive as I am.
What’s your opinion of game music? Do you admire much of it?
I think the soundtrack is frequently the most forgettable part of a game. There are games I have liked the music from, but it’s usually a lot of the downloadable titles, such as Everyday Shooter. It’s really rough and it sounds like a four-track demo, and a lot of people really hated it, but I really liked that because it was quite different. I usually like sparser-sounding things, when games have music as ambient noise. I think that works better. I find the bombastic orchestral soundtracks that a lot of games have are so forgettable. I almost weep if I read that Hans Zimmer’s collaborated on a new Modern Warfare soundtrack. I really like the music for Flower, too, because another loop or layer would kick in without any real dramatic changes and it would work really well. The Red Dead Redemption soundtrack was fantastic, and I was really surprised by the way the full Jose Gonzalez song came in when you went into Mexico. It was a great moment. Yeah, it’s one of the few games that I’ve ever bought the soundtrack for. I really like the music from Minecraft, as well. It’s fab that it only comes in occasionally; you get so used to hearing the pitterpatter of your footsteps and then a little bit of music will come in.
Here’s the question, then: what’s your favourite game?
Ocarina Of Time, because it was the first game that I sank months of my time into. It was my first experience of a huge world that you could explore. There was so much to discover and to enjoy. I suppose up to that point I’d been used to arcade games. I bought a 3DS and it’s the only game I’ve got for it. I’ve completed that game God knows how many times, and I’ve bought it yet again for full price! I knew as I went up to the counter: ‘This is the biggest waste of money. I’ve still got my N64, and I’ve got the version you got free with Wind Waker...’ It’s a great game.