As JUNKIE XL, Dutch born musician, producer, remixer and one-man band Tom Holkenborg has become synonymous with electronic dance music. With the arrival of his fifth proper studio album, 2008's invigorating Booming Back at You, the club culture icon and L.A. transplant has crafted a disc that not only builds on his beloved back catalogue but is also inspired by today's vibrant new school of dance music and matches the momentum and enthusiasm of his notorious live performances. Musically never comfortable in one place, his new work highlights surprises for his fans.
Spearheaded by the disc's lead track, "Booming Right At You" paves the way for a simultaneously infectious and exhilarating song sequence. It boasts the guest vocals of Tommy Vext (who was introduced to Junkie XL by frequent collaborator Lucas Banker and sings in Divine Heresy with ex-Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares) and counts a snippet of Stetsasonic's 1988 hip-hop classic "DBC Let The Music Play" to make the track uplifting and soulful as it is inventive. "This time out, I wanted to capture the energy of my live shows," Junkie explains of the follow up to 2006's introspective, rock-influenced Today. "In the past, I always made conceptual records or tried to find a theme. But I'm such an energetic performer, very upbeat, and I wanted to capture that. "Booming Right At You" and the album as a whole, throws that vibe right back at the fans."
When he recently unveiled the album's first single "More" which will be featured in the new EA Need For Speed Pro Street game released this winter before an expansive Buenos Aires audience, the crowd offered the passionate reaction he was looking for. He partnered with vocalist Lauren Rocket, front-woman for emerging LA all-girl rock outfit Rocket, for the trackwhich has already taken on a number of names by fans, including its original moniker "Fuck More" and its unofficial title, "The PacMan Song." The song--replete with its chorus "Rock more/roll more/fuck more/Pacman is loving it"--is pleasurable, exciting and impossible to ignore.
In many ways Booming Back at You marks a return to Holkenborg's dance-rock roots, as evidenced by his Lauren Rocket propelled cover of Siouxsie & the Banshees modern rock classic "Cities In Dust." After performing it live to the delight of crowds at his gigs, and learning that it had never been reworked, Junkie was inspired to revive the song.
He discovered music by learning and playing most instruments, including guitar, bass, piano and drums. Although he was classically trained by his mother (herself an accredited violin teacher), it wasn't long until he discovered synths and joined the Dutch New Wave group Weekend at Waikiki as a multi-instrumentalist and producer. He then expanded his horizon further to form the industrial rock band Nerve with vocalist Phil Mills, and released 2 full-length albums in 1994 and 1995. During this period, Tom built his music repertoire by freelance producing and quickly landed projects for bands such as Sepultra, Fear Factory and Dog Eat Dog, as well as for video games, movies and TV spots.
On Booming Back at You, Junkie has also found joy by partnering with young up-and-coming talents like Rocket, Vext and Electrocute vocalist Nicole Morier, who had has three co-writing credits and had a significant role in shaping the disc. Lending her sultry delivery to the jazzy, gritty "Mad Pursuit," Junkie says, "Nicole did such a wonderful job on it. And it gives the record a different energy than it might otherwise possess. It reminds me of something that should be in a Tarantino film. It's nasty in a way. It's about a guy who fucks up with the wrong girl. He's pursuing her and in doing so he drives himself to pieces." Other tracks include "1967 Poem" with Hollywood DJ superstar Steve Aoki, the phenomenal "Clash" which seems like the ideal tune to supplant Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part II" at sporting events, a brilliant pop song "Not Enough" (which counts vocals by Gus Seyffert), the direct, irresistible melody "New Toy" and the amazingly funky "Stump" - which boasts a hook built around 1950s film dialogue.
The prolific, Venice, California-based Holkenborg's solo efforts also include 1998's Saturday Teenage Kick, 2000's Big Sounds of the Drags and 2003's Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin. The latter counted collaborations by Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Gary Numan, Robert Smith from The Cure, Public Enemy's Chuck D. and included his breakthrough collaboration with the late Elvis Presley. When he reworked The King's moderately successful 1968 single "A Little Less Conversation" for a 2002 Nike World Cup Commercial, the updated version unexpectedly catapulted Junkie into the spotlight. The song became a #1 hit in more than twenty countries.
An electronic music jack-of-all-trades, Junkie has established himself as a world famous club remixer who has turned out epic takes on tracks by the likes of Britney Spears, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Scissor Sisters, Rammstein, the aforementioned Fear Factory, Bloc Party, Sarah McLachlan and Avril Lavigne. With an unrivaled work ethic, which routinely includes fourteen-hour days in his home studio, Junkie XL keeps extremely busy creating the music for video games. He has contributed music to "The Sims 2: Nightlife," Xbox games "Forza Motorsport" and "Quantum Redshift," as well as Electronic Art's "Burnout" and "Need For Speed" series. He recently crafted the original soundtrack for SSX Blur, EA's snowboarding game for the Wii.
An extension of that affiliation, Booming Back at You marks a new partnership with Artwerk, the record label started by Electronic Arts in conjunction with Nettwerk Music. Although the video game scoring and record deals don't technically intertwine and the respective companies are separate, Junkie says he is ecstatic to be working for EA and Artwerk. "It's such a forward thinking arrangement," he says. "These guys are way more advanced and ahead of the game when it comes to thinking about what you can use music for these days. Aside from gaming, there's digital distribution, and just thinking how to market and approach getting my music out there in an untraditional way."
