Devin Townsend Refused To 'Tweak' Hit For Video Game

(Prog) Devin Townsend has revealed how he was approached to write the soundtrack for hit video game Fallout. The hardworking Canadian has his hands full with a string of musical projects, but says he would love to do a movie soundtrack one day.

However, he'd need guarantees that he'd not be tied down by bureaucracy before he agreed to get involved. Reflecting on his brief flirtation with writing music for video games, Townsend tells The Jasta Show: "When I was about 25, EA, Electronic Arts, said, 'Hey we've got a gig for you. We hear that you've done music.' I was like, 'Great. I could sit at home and write a bunch of video game music.'

"But the parameters for it were so contrary to the process that makes anything I do creatively of any value, that I failed in it in such a way that I realised right there I can either do it the way I do it, or it's not gonna happen at all.

"He was like, 'We can't get the rights to American Woman, the Lenny Kravitz version.' And I'm thinking in my head, 'I f***ing hate that song.'" The video game executive asked Townsend to rework the song to avoid coming up against any copyright issues, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Townsend adds: "I went home and I tried and I came back the next day and said, 'Dude, I'm out.'" Read more and stream the full interview here.

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