To Paradise and Back: Jupiter One Talks Burnout, Madden, FIFA and NHL
By Louis Bedigian

"Video games have been the most dominant press for us."

After years of acquiring soundtracks the old-fashioned way (by taking whatever songs were available), Electronic Arts decided it was time to make the music a top priority. It wasn't enough to have realistic sounds – games now had to have a killer soundtrack. Hence the formation of EA Trax, a division dedicated to the acquisition of superior music.

Its track record has been stellar. Several of the games – Madden, NHL, Burnout 3 – have featured worldwide premieres from bands like Blink-182, Barenaked Ladies, and Jimmy Eat World. Yellowcard received their big break in Madden before appearing on MTV and mainstream radio. At the same time, smaller and independent artists have increased their awareness and popularity by landing in games.

But unless you're a big-name artist, the odds of a double- or triple-game appearance are not very likely. That's what makes Jupiter One, whose music will appear in Burnout Paradise, so unique. Last year the band gave music to Madden 08, NHL 08, and FIFA 08. Itching to learn more about the band's video game proliferation, we spoke to Jupiter One’s drummer, Dave Heilman.

Burnout Paradise

Jupiter One is going to be in Burnout Paradise. How did that come together?

Dave Heilman: I think ours was more of a rare experience. Steve Schnur, head of worldwide music at EA – he heard our album a few months ago, really fell in love with it, contacted our manager, and we got on a conference call with him. He couldn't say enough nice things about it. He genuinely loved the band. It was different from, "Oh, we need a song, let's send 'em a check and get this in the game." It was more flattering because, unlike these other guys, like Sum 41, no one knew who we were. So they'd pick up the game and be like, "Hey, who are these guys?"

Did he request a specific track from one of your albums?

DH: No, he just talked about the record as a whole.

How did you decide which song to use?

DH: That is not up to us. EA has a whole music supervising team that decides the kinds of songs that go over better. They take a lot of time to figure out which kind of music [gamers] want to hear while playing the game.

Is this the first game you've been in?

DH: John Madden was the first game. Then NHL 08, then FIFA 08, and now Burnout Paradise.

Has it been a different song in each game?

DH: Yes. Steve Schnur really took a chance on us, in a way, because our album had just come out like a month prior to the game coming out, and people have responded well to it. A lot of people are discovering us.

FIFA 08

Have you noticed an increase in, say, hits to your Web site or album sales each time your music appears in a new game?

DH: We don't know. I'm sure our record label has a way of determining that. We do know that it has increased our fan base, absolutely. People have discovered us from the games. But the ratio of album sales to game releases, I don't know.

Has this been the main source of your mainstream press?

DH: Yeah. The podcasts and Internet radio have been really good to us. Video games have been the most dominant press for us. So the answer to that is yes.

Do you have another game lined up after Burnout?

DH: Maybe. Not that I know of yet.

How did it work last time? Were you aware that EA wanted to use your music in Burnout before FIFA, your last game, was released?

DH: We know with Madden that we'd appear in a couple other games, [which turned out to be] NHL and FIFA. Burnout came later.

It's interesting that Jupiter One has appeared in so many different kinds of games. The Madden soundtrack is usually mainstream, but Burnout tends to be more of a punk rock style. FIFA is a mixture of sounds from all over the world. NHL – it goes for more of a Canadian rock sound. Do you think that the band has a song that fits each one of those?

DH: I've never thought of it that way. Our album, the songs are all very Jupiter One, but they're all also very unique tracks. I think our songwriting lends itself to versatility. We have lots of different feelings and emotions that we write about, and a lot of different sounds to choose from.

NHL 08

Going back, what was it like pulling this album together? What was in your head -- did you think for a second that video games could be a venue for publicity?

DH: It [video games] came out of nowhere. This is music that we've been living with for a while. We recorded our stuff on a demo that we were selling at shows. And then our record label heard our demo and loved it and we recorded the full album.

We've talked to other artists and they say, "You've got to fit this song like you wear an old pair of jeans. Pitch it to the leads of companies and see how they want to license it." We just don't think on those terms. We weren't writing music for... Not to say they were either. But when we write music we aren't brainstorming to see where it should go. We don't concern ourselves with that.

Sounds like you’ve got the right idea. Thanks for your time Dave.

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