Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known as Junkie XL, 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 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as well as composing the scores for Zack Snyder's Justice League, Divergent, Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, Tomb Raider, Alita: Battle Angel, Terminator: Dark Fate, the Sonic the Hedgehog film series, Scoob!, Godzilla vs. Kong, Army of the Dead, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Rebel Moon, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Early life
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. 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 (1993)
Career
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. 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 as a sequencer programmer on Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. The film marks the fourth scoring collaboration between Holkenborg and Zimmer, including Megamind (2010), Inception (2010) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012). Since moving into Zimmer's Remote Control Productions studio, the two have worked together on many other musical projects, including a remix of that year's Academy Awards theme song. Holkenborg has provided music for the films Kingdom of Heaven, Domino, DOA: Dead or Alive, Shark Tale, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, The Animatrix, and Resident Evil, and has had his original music featured in a number of major motion pictures, including Blade ("Dealing with the Roster") and The Beach ("Synaesthesia"). In 2013, he composed the music for the Relativity Media film Paranoia. Shortly after, he was brought in by Zack Snyder, the producer of 300: Rise of an Empire, 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 (from The Smiths), Michael Einziger (from Incubus), Andrew Kawczynski, and Steve Mazzaro. The "supergroup" of artists ranging from diverse backgrounds teamed up to compose the score for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He was the primary composer for the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road and the 2016 film Deadpool, including the music for Wonder Woman which was later used in the film of the same name). Holkenborg was set to compose the music for the Snyder's 2017 film Justice League, but was replaced by Danny Elfman when director Joss Whedon was brought on to finish the film. Holkenborg composed the scores for the 2018 film Mortal Engines, the 2019 films Alita: Battle Angel and Terminator: Dark Fate, the 2020 films Sonic the Hedgehog and Scoob!, the 2021 releases Zack Snyder's Justice League, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Army of the Dead, and the 2022 releases The 355, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Three Thousand Years of Longing.
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 (Part 2)", "Synasthesia", and "Dance USA"—all taken from his album Big Sounds of the Drags—were licensed to the racing video game TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed (2002). 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' Need for Speed: ProStreet, 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 The Matrix: Path of Neo, Destroy All Humans!, The Sims 2: Nightlife, The Sims 3, Need for Speed: High Stakes, Need for Speed: Underground, Need for Speed: Carbon, FIFA 08, and FIFA Street 3, among others. He composed the soundtrack for EA's Darkspore.
Remixes
thumb|Junkie XL performing live in 2008
Holkenborg had made remixes—for both A-list pop superstars and lesser known artists. Highlights include work for Scissor Sisters ("Mary", "Land of a Thousand Words"), Depeche Mode ("Enjoy the Silence"), U.N.K.L.E. ("Burn My Shadow"), Justin Timberlake ("What Goes Around"), Fatboy Slim ("Weapon of Choice"), Coldplay ("Talk"), Bloc Party ("Sunday"), Michael Bublé ("Sway"), Avril Lavigne ("Girlfriend"), Daft Punk ("The Grid"), Madonna ("4 Minutes"), Fischerspooner ("Emerge"), and Hans Zimmer ("Inception" and "Bombers Over Ibiza"). 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 B in the Mix: The Remixes. 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 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.
In 2003, Holkenborg created the musical theme of Dutch television channel Nederland 3.
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. One example of this was with his biggest hit, a remix of the song "A Little Less Conversation" which was performed by Elvis Presley, a singer who toward the end of his life was addicted to prescription drugs and whose death in 1977 at the age of 42 was at least partially caused by them. 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
- Saturday Teenage Kick (1997)
- Big Sounds of the Drags (1999)
- Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin (2003)
- Today (2006)
- Booming Back at You (2008)
- Synthesized (2012)
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director(s)
! Note(s)
!
|-
| 1998
| Siberia
| Robert Jan Westdijk
|
|
|-
| Johan Primero
| Johan Kramer
|
|
|-
| New Kids Turbo
| Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|2011
| Bringing Up Bobby
| Famke Janssen
|
|
|-
| The Heineken Kidnapping
| Maarten Treurniet
|
|
|-
| New Kids Nitro
| Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil
|
|
|-
| 2013
|Paranoia
|Robert Luketic
|
|
|-
| Mad Max: Fury Road
| George Miller
|
|
|-
| Black Mass
| Scott Cooper
|
|
|-
| Point Break
| Ericson Core
|
|
|-
| rowspan="5"|2016
| Deadpool
| Tim Miller
|
|
|-
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
| Zack Snyder
| with Hans Zimmer
|
|-
| Brimstone
| Martin Koolhoven
|
|
|-
| Distance Between Dreams
| Rob Bruce
|
|
|-
| Spectral
| Nic Mathieu
|
|
|-
| 2017
| The Dark Tower
| Nikolaj Arcel
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|2018
| Tomb Raider
| Roar Uthaug
|
|
|-
| Godzilla vs. Kong
| Adam Wingard
|
|
|-
| rowspan=4|2024
| Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
| Adam Wingard
| with Antonio Di Iorio
|
|-
| Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver
| Zack Snyder
|
|
|-
| Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
| George Miller
|
|
|-
| Sonic the Hedgehog 3
| Jeff Fowler
|
|
|-
|}
Video game scores
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Developer(s)
! Publisher(s)
! Notes
|-
| 2002
| Quantum Redshift
| Curly Monsters
| Microsoft Game Studios
|
|-
|2003
|Need for Speed: Underground
|EA Black Box
|Electronic Arts
|"Action Radius"
|-
|2003
|SSX 3
|EA Canada
|EA Sports BIG
|"Emerge" JunkieXL Remix
|-
| rowspan="3" |2005
| Burnout Legends
| Criterion
| Electronic Arts
|
|-
| Forza Motorsport
|Turn 10 Studios
|Microsoft Game Studios|Microsoft Game Studios
|
|-
| The Sims 2: Nightlife
| Maxis
| Electronic Arts
| Neighborhood Theme remix
|-
|2005
| The Matrix: Path of Neo
| Shiny Entertainment
| Atari
| Composed with Tobias Enhus
|-
|2006
| Need for Speed: Carbon
| EA Black Box
| Electronic Arts
| Melody - Feel the Rush (Remix)Yonderboi - People Always Talk About The Weather (Remix)
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| SSX Blur
| EA Montreal
| EA Sports BIG
|
|-
| Need for Speed: ProStreet
| EA Black Box
| rowspan="4" | Electronic Arts
| Composed with Andre Ettema and Sam Estes
|-
| 2008
| Burnout Paradise
| Criterion
|
|-
| 2010
| The Sims 3 - Re-Imagined
| Maxis
|
|-
| 2011
| Darkspore
| Maxis
|
|-
| 2015
| Madden NFL 16
| EA Tiburon
| rowspan="2" | EA Sports
|
|-
| 2017
| FIFA 18
| EA Vancouver<br />EA Romania
|
|-
| 2024
| Skull and Bones
| Ubisoft Singapore
| Ubisoft
|
|}
Television scores
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Notes
|-
|2003
|Nederland 3
|Musical score for the channel
|-
| 2012
|Lijn 32
| 8 episodes
|-
|2019–present
|Love, Death & Robots
| 3 episodes
|-
|2019
|Chimerica
| 4 episodes<br>Composed with Shigeru Umebayashi
|-
| 2020
|White Lines
| 10 episodes
|}
References
External links
- Junkie XL on Discogs