Junkie XL


Thomas Holkenborg, also known by his stage name Junkie XL or occasionally JXL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer.
Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing electronica and big beat music and film scores. His remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" became a worldwide hit in 2002.
In film scores, he has worked with Hans Zimmer and his company Remote Control Productions on Man of Steel and ', as well as composing the scores for ', Run All Night, ', Deadpool, The Dark Tower, Tomb Raider, Mortal Engines, ', , Sonic the Hedgehog, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Life and career

Early years

Holkenborg was born in Lichtenvoorde, Gelderland, Netherlands. Classically trained by his mother – herself an accredited music teacher – Holkenborg started playing piano when he was three years old, drums when he was eight, and guitar at 12. Influenced by the psychedelic pop of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, he took up the bass by age 14. After moving to Leeuwarden, at the age of 17, he decided to take a job at a local music store selling keyboards and other digital gear, and began to have an appreciation for the combination of electronic and organic sounds. It was shortly after he discovered synthesizers that he joined the Dutch new wave ensemble Weekend at Waikiki as a multi-instrumentalist and producer, touring extensively with the band, including through Poland and parts of the Soviet Union, from 1988 to 1991. He also produced and played at their 1994 album, Sputnik. In 1993, Holkenborg produced Almost a Dance by Dutch metal band The Gathering, and later that year went on to form the industrial rock band Nerve with Phil Mills. After signing with label Play It Again Sam in 1992 and releasing two LPs – Cancer of Choice and Blood & Gold – he continued as a producer, working with hardcore punk and metal bands like Sepultura, Fear Factory, and Dog Eat Dog, while simultaneously licensing some of his instrumental electronic tracks for racing video games like The Need For Speed and Test Drive 5. It was during this time that he also began scoring the Dutch feature film Siberia, which would be released by Warner Bros. Netherlands.

1997–99: ''Saturday Teenage Kick'' and ''Big Sounds of the Drags''

In 1997, Holkenborg released Saturday Teenage Kick, his first album under the "Junkie XL" moniker. Featuring singles such as "Billy Club", "Def Beat", and "Dealing with the Roster", the album combined pounding breakbeat rhythms with elements of rock and psychedelia. Many of the album's songs featured lyrics and vocals by Patrick "Rude Boy" Tilon, vocalist for the Dutch rap rock band Urban Dance Squad. After a brief tour with The Prodigy and festival dates at Fuji Rock and Roskilde, Holkenborg made a name for himself in the upcoming U.S. rave scene. His second LP, Big Sounds of the Drags, was released in 1999, and also featured a number of collaborations with Tilon, including "Action Radius", "Power of Big Slacks", "Zerotonine", "Love Like a Razorblade", "Legion", and "Next Plateau". "Future in Computer Hell ", the last track on the album, was featured prominently on Welsh DJ and producer Sasha's mix album Global Underground 013: Ibiza.

2002: "A Little Less Conversation"

While making inroads as a film composer – contributing to movies like Blade and The Beach – Holkenborg was asked to remix Elvis Presley's 1968 single "A Little Less Conversation" for a 2002 Nike World Cup commercial, titled "Secret Tournament". The occasion marked the first time Presley's estate had granted permission for any of Presley's materiel to be remixed. The song reached No. 1 in 24 countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and Mexico, and was released as a single under the name "Elvis vs. JXL". The song was also featured as the title song to the NBC TV series Las Vegas, and in feature films like Shark Tale, , MegaMind, and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows".

2003: ''Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin''

The success of "A Little Less Conversation" set the stage for his 2003 double-disc album, Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin. The name "Computer Hell" referred to Holkenborg's Amsterdam studio and headquarters. Loosely based around the concept of a dreamlike pirate radio station, the album's 3PM side features collaborations with The Cure's Robert Smith, Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Peter Tosh, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Gary Numan, Solomon Burke, and Saffron, along with the famed Elvis Presley remix. The 3AM side consists mostly of progressive house instrumentals, including "Breezer", a collaboration with Sasha. The album was to be launched simultaneously with a fully functioning internet radio station at RadioJXL.com, which was to feature exclusive shows and mixes with top EDM producers and DJs, but the undertaking proved to be too expensive and time-consuming to continue. Subsequently, two downloadable albums were released from the site: 7AM Ambient and 7AM Dance.

2004–08: ''Today'' and ''Booming Back at You''

Holkenborg decided to relocate to Los Angeles in 2003, and in April 2006, released his fourth full-length album, Today, an album that reflected the personal and professional changes that were occurring in his life. Today features only one guest vocalist, Nathan Mader, and reverts to the more guitar-based sound of his first two albums. His fifth album, Booming Back at You, saw Holkenborg cultivate a stronger club sound punctuated by tracks like "1967 Poem", featuring Steve Aoki. Many of the lyrics on the album were written in collaboration with Electrocute's Nicole Morier, who appears in "Mad Pursuit", "Not Enough", and "New Toy". The album was released on Artwerk Music, a joint venture between Nettwerk Music and video game company Electronic Arts, and peaked at 11 on Billboard's Top Electronic Album chart. It was the first Junkie XL full-length to chart in the U.S., and featured the hit single, "More", with Lauren Rocket. Rocket also contributed vocals to the Siouxsie and the Banshees' cover "Cities in Dust".

2012: ''Synthesized''

On 27 November 2012, Junkie XL released his sixth full-length album, entitled Synthesized. The album was preceded by a single EP for "Molly's E", which was released on September 6 and features remixes by Azari & III and Canblaster. A second single, "Gloria", was released on 23 October. Stylistically, Synthesized strikes a balance between the introspective sound of Today and the club-heavy sound of Booming Back at You, and features collaborations with Isis Salam, Tears for Fears' Curt Smith, and Tommie Sunshine. The album also features a spoken word excerpt from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience, read by Leary, on the song "Leave Behind Your Ego". A video for "Off the Dancefloor" was created by Japanese electro-pop band Trippple Nippples. The videos for "Gloria" and "Leave Behind Your Ego" were directed by John Christopher Pina for Clean Sweep.

Composing for film

In collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams, he contributed additional music to the Tony Scott film Domino, and served as the composer on the Dutch film Blind, which was nominated for Best Original Music Score at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2007 and received the Grand Prix award for Best Original Music Score at the 2008 Aubagne International Film Festival. Holkenborg continues to work in the film and television industry, collaborating with composer Hans Zimmer on Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. The film marks the fourth scoring collaboration between Holkenborg and Zimmer, including Megamind, Inception and '. Since moving into Zimmer's Remote Control Productions studio, the two have worked together on many other musical projects, including Man of Steel, the reboot of the Superman franchise, and a remix of that year's Academy Awards theme song. Holkenborg has provided music for the films Kingdom of Heaven, Domino, ', Shark Tale, ', The Animatrix, and Resident Evil, and has had his original music featured in a number of major motion pictures, including Blade and The Beach. In 2013, he composed the music for the Relativity Media film Paranoia. Shortly after, he was brought in by Zack Snyder, the producer of ', to create the score for the film. He is credited as the composer for the 2014 film Divergent, with Hans Zimmer credited as "Executive Producer" for the soundtrack. He is a member of the Magnificent Six, a collaborative group of five other musicians, consisting of Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr, Michael Einziger, Andrew Kawczynski, and Steve Mazzaro. The "supergroup" of artists ranging from diverse backgrounds teamed up to compose the score for the Marvel comic reboot's second feature film of the original Spider-Man trilogy The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He was the primary composer for the 2015 film ' and the 2016 film Deadpool, and was co-composer for the film ', along with Zimmer. Zimmer was replaced by Junkie XL to write and compose the music for Justice League released in 2017. Holkenborg was later replaced by Danny Elfman, brought up by Joss Whedon. Holkenborg composed the scores for the 2018 film Mortal Engines, the 2019 films ' and ', the 2020 film Sonic the Hedgehog and the upcoming 2021 film Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Composing for video games

To go along with his numerous artist albums and EPs, Holkenborg has been creating original music for video games since the mid-1990s. In addition to composing the soundtrack for Xbox racing games Forza Motorsport and Quantum Redshift, Holkenborg is responsible for the SSX Blur soundtrack. He has also licensed a number of his album tracks for video game use. "Future in Computer Hell ", "Synasthesia", and "Dance USA"—all taken from his album Big Sounds of the Drags—were licensed to the racing video game '. The title track for Today is featured on the soundtrack for the video games Burnout Legends and Burnout Revenge, while "More"—taken from his fifth album, Booming Back at You—is featured on the soundtrack to EA Games' ', which also includes a full score from Holkenborg. His cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Cities in Dust" is featured on Electronic Arts' Burnout Paradise. He has written additional music for and licensed music to ', Destroy All Humans!, ', The Sims 3, ', ', FIFA 08, and FIFA Street 3, among others. He composed the soundtrack for EA's Darkspore.

Remixes

Holkenborg had made remixes—for both A-list pop superstars and lesser known artists. Highlights include work for Scissor Sisters, Depeche Mode, U.N.K.L.E., Justin Timberlake, Fatboy Slim, Coldplay, Bloc Party, Michael Bublé, Avril Lavigne, Daft Punk, Madonna, and Hans Zimmer. His remix for Britney Spears' "Outrageous" was used in the 2004 film Catwoman, and his remix of "And Then We Kiss" was featured on Spears' 2005 remix album . In 2008, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remix of Madonna's "4 Minutes". His remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" has gone to No. 1 in 24 different countries.

Commercial work

Holkenborg's music has also been featured in a number of international ad campaigns for major brands like Nike, Adidas, Heineken, and Cadillac. His remix of Eagles of Death Metal's "Don't Speak" was used in the 2008 Nike "Take it to the Next Level" commercial, which was directed by Guy Ritchie. "Today" was featured on ESPN commercials for Major League Soccer, while "A Little Less Conversation" provided the soundtrack to Nike's 2002 World Cup campaign.

Personal life

Holkenborg is an associate professor at the ArtEZ Conservatorium, one of the major art institutes in the Netherlands, where he teaches producing, remixing, and music composition. He resides in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California.
He uses the name JXL in cases where the term "Junkie" might cause offense. Holkenborg says of his name: "I called myself Junkie XL from the point of view that once you're completely overworked, you never want to go there again. The 'XL' stands for expanding limits; broadening up your vision."

Discography

Studio albums

Video game scores