Behind the Music interview: Alita’s Tom Holkenborg

The man largely behind the amazing tunes heard in the likes of Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, and now this year’s Alita: Battle Angel, Tom Holkenborg, is the latest musician in the Behind the Music series and a welcome one!

Behind the Music is an ongoing series that seeks to interview and gain an introspective on both established and up-and-coming composers. These composers, who have worked for everything from television to film to commercials, share their experiences, work ethic, and more. For this edition, we chat with Dutch composer and DJ, Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), about his work on the Robert Rodriguez-James Cameron blockbuster, Alita: Battle Angel.

A multi-instrumentalist with a 30+ year career to boast about, Tom Holkenborg has made it a focal point to use his talents on instruments like the guitar, drums, turntables, and keyboard to the best of his abilities. Holkenborg’s fondness for booming and commanding music can be clearly heard while listening to the musical scores of Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, Batman v. Superman.

If there’s anybody you’ve been wanting to thank for Wonder Woman’s battle cry of a theme song in the DCEU movies, it’s Holkenborg.

You also have Tom Holkenborg to thank for the booming soundtrack of the new Robert Rodriguez manga adaptation, Alita: Battle Angel. The Rodriguez/James Cameron collaboration recruited Holkenborg to contribute to the soundtrack and considering the effectiveness of his previous works, it really is a dream pairing to combine Holkenborg’s epic sound with the large-scale world of Alita.

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Despite the pressure of a huge film like Alita coming out this weekend in the United States, Tom Holkenborg didn’t let that stop him from taking time out of his day to chat with Hidden Remote about his work on the film, his inspiration behind the film’s music, his stance on science-fiction films, and more here in this Q&A!

Hidden Remote: How has the build-up for the release affected you these past few months?

Tom Holkenborg: Well, it’s always exciting when a movie comes out! You pickup reactions from the crowd and you do a lot of press. Yes it does take away from my working days but also a lot of fun to do!

Hidden Remote: Alita: Battle Angel is a film adapted from the graphic novel, Battle Angel Alita, making this the latest anime-to-live action interpretation. Were you familiar at all with the source material prior to working on the score?

Holkenborg: I was not familiar with the original material at all. It also means that I will not do any research as well. I have to work with the movie in front of me and cannot rely on what it was in the comics.

Hidden Remote: In that case, your signature epic-sounding musical style seems fitting for a sci-fi action film like Alita. Was it this sound that drew the producers to you or did you have to make your case on your own to get into the project?

Holkenborg: They picked me because I could give them a world that is unique in sound and approach. But the most important part was to create genuine music for Alita that made it possible to really follow her journey through out the story

Hidden Remote: Looking back on your discography, it’s obvious that you have a firm grasp on the sound of strange, sci-fi worlds, having composed the scores for films such as Deadpool, Mortal Engines, and the Oscar-winning blockbuster, Mad Max: Fury Road, in addition to collaborating with Hans Zimmer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. How did you get into the headspace of separating Alita from the other projects in terms of your musical approach?

Holkenborg: All I will say is that when you hear the score, it will all make sense. I didn’t want to repeat myself so I took influences from orchestral music in the 50’s and a lot of modern electronic sounds.

Hidden Remote: Having heard the film’s score, there’s definitely remnants of Mad Max: Fury Road applied in there with the booming, horror-style horns consuming the atmosphere. Considering that both Alita and Mad Max are films set in dystopian worlds, how else would you compare the two films, having worked on them personally?

Holkenborg: It’s hard to compare them outside the fact you point out and strong female leads. In Mad Max,  the world has gone, well, mad. In Alita, it’s very structured and maintained in detail. For me personally, they are both two completely different movies.

Hidden Remote:: Being a multi-instrumentalist, your task at providing many different sounds to the tracks on the soundtrack must be both difficult and exciting, especially after hearing the end result! Your experience on drums was heard loud and clear in Mad Max, but what did you want to emphasize the most in Alita?

Holkenborg: Alita’s theme was the most important. We all agreed that her theme needed to be very organic and acoustic in nature to emphasize her humanity. The audience needs to lean in to her, not lean back, which usually happens when you use purely electronic music.  It could have been a choice too! But we felt that would have been the wrong one.

Hidden Remote: Did you have any outside inspirations to help you craft the score for Alita or was all of your inspiration found within the film itself?

Holkenborg: Well…cooking always does wonders in my studio!!

Hidden Remote: Going from one big-name project to another must get to be exhausting after awhile. Looking back, what would you say was the most valuable lesson and/or nugget of experience you learned during your work on Alita?

Holkenborg: I always take little breaks from one project to another so that I’m pumped up when I start again. Music is just such a fantastic profession and I wonder myself sometimes: Will the ideas ever stop in my head?

Hidden Remote: Out of all of the tracks you composed for the film, what would you say was your personal favorite? To add to that, why was that track your favorite and what does it mean to you specifically? That is IF you have a favorite track?

Holkenborg: I would say the whole first 14 minutes of the film is all so great. We meet the main characters and their themes and it’s just such a pleasant ride!

Hidden Remote: The film’s protagonist, Alita, is the latest in a long line of advanced Artificial Intelligence machines that contain a beating heart and soul at their core. In your eyes, what makes Alita standout amongst the crop?

Holkenborg: It’s the vision of Robert and Jim that makes Alita so special for me. Always out in front of the rest, but always with a lot soul.

Hidden Remote: Science fiction films set in dystopian worlds often get a mixed reception when it comes to the general public, sometimes getting cited as being too weird and out-of-the-ordinary. How do you feel Alita: Battle Angel will place itself within the crop of sci-fi films? Is there something in here for everyone to chew on?

Holkenborg: Firstly, I love weird films and I feel it makes the world a better place. Second, the main story here is NOT the dystopian world, but the journey of a young girl coming of age with complex situations.

Hidden Remote: This perception of sci-fi films being to strange has often resulted in these films getting snubbed at huge awards shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes. Do you feel that there will always be a bias against innovative sci-fi films?

Holkenborg: I think it’s a pity because the time and energy put into these films is a whole different ballgame than some of the winners we’ve seen. Not that the time spent should be a factor, but it is the reality.

Hidden Remote: If you believe in the bias against sci-fi films, do you believe there is a chance that bias will change over time?

Holkenborg: It will come up and down in waves… When Star Wars was made in the 70s, everybody thought it would fail. Well, as we all know, it didn’t!

Hidden Remote: Your work in films, video games, and your own stand-alone work has netted you experience and work with some of Hollywood’s most prominent filmmakers and composers, such as Alita director, Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron, Hans Zimmer, Zack Snyder, and more. With your body of work and consistency, I would just like to ask if you have any words of wisdom to share with the readers of Hidden Remote? Another way to phrase this is asking what’s the most important lesson you have learned in your career and how might it help anybody who’s yearning to work in a career of music, much like yourself? Thank you!

Holkenborg: It’s very important to have your own voice. Since I had an artist career before becoming a film composer it wasn’t so hard for me to find my film-scoring voice. I feel it’s the most important aspect of developing yourself as an artist/composer.

And THANK YOU!!

Tom Holkenborg’s full score for Alita: Battle Angel is available on music and streaming platforms now! Have you seen the movie? If so, what did you think of the music in it? What’s your favorite score from Tom Holkenborg? Sound off in the comments below!