September 17, 2007 - Cris Velasco is no slouch when it comes to composing music for videogames.
Best known for his work on such titles as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, God of War, and God of War II, as well as for his long time collaborative efforts with fellow composer, Sascha Dikiciyan (the two have worked together on Splinter Cell 4, Dark Messiah, Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run, Hellgate: London), Velasco most recently went solo for Clive Barker's high profile Jericho project.
For Velasco working with Barker was something of a dream come true, as he holds the literary giant in the highest esteem and counts him as one of his biggest influences.
We caught up with Velasco recently and dug a little deeper into the musical realm of Jericho, as well as finding out what it's like working solo, and how simple themes can still be incredibly haunting.
Cris Velasco: As a composer I'm influenced by many things. Seeing other creative endeavors in any medium usually sparks something in my head and makes me want to write. For example, I was able to visit the Louvre this year and see my favorite sculpture, Winged Victory. This was sculpted around 200 BC and is able to inspire me thousands of years later! Now I'm not saying that I'm composing anything that will inspire future generations by any means. However, it does push me to try harder. In regards to Clive Barker and his work all I can say is that something just clicked with me when I was first introduced to his novels years ago. When I read his books I really believe in these characters and get wrapped up emotionally in what's happening to them. It's just a simple step to take these emotions he's elicited from me and translate them into music. I've always felt that the worlds he creates have been begging to have music written for them, and with Jericho I finally had the chance to try my hand at that.
IGN Music: I heard that you were hand-picked by Barker for Jericho. What exactly does that mean? Did Barker track you down and offer you the gig? Give us the full story.
Cris Velasco: It was really more about me tracking Clive down. As a fan of his I used to, and still do, go to his book signings. I'd get to meet him in person, say hi, and then go on my way until his next book came out. As I got more and more into music and composing I decided to tell him one time that it was my goal to eventually collaborate on a project together. He was very supportive and good humored about this and I'll always thank him for that. The next time I saw him in public I decided to give him my demo CD. I could barely contain my anxiety at having done this at the time. But his assistant emailed me days later to say that Clive enjoyed the music very much. This really gave me the confidence to push towards my goal of working with him. So I continued on with my writing, eventually got my composing career happening, and then approached him again a couple years ago now that I was armed with experience and some credits to my name. He was very open to the idea of working with me at that point and we were actually working on Demonik together until the game was cancelled. So now, probably 12 years from my first book signing, I heard about Jericho and gave Clive a call to ask him if he thought I'd be a good match for this project. Luckily for me he was very enthusiastic about it and personally requested that I be hired to score Jericho. It was really the best feeling to be working with him now not just as a fan, but as a friend.
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