Backstage - Interviews - Rebecca Kneubuhl
Interview by: Ghakimx
Questions by: CM Forum community
The music in Crash Twinsanity was a bold experience for the series - new, stylized and entirely vocalized, it became a favourite for many players out there for its unique composition and catchiness. This is how Crash fans came to know Spiralmouth, the a capella band who came up with the zany soundtrack for Twinsanity. Two of its members, Rebecca Kneubuhl and Gabriel Mann, are still actively producing music for various projects, and we've talked to Rebecca about her musical experiences and the band's relationship.
Q: After Twinsanity, how did you and Gabe come up with the idea of writing music together?
A: it just happened naturally - we discovered that we could write together easily, without arguing too much :-)
usually writing music is a solitary process, and this was much more fun - not having to sit around alone all day holed up writing, etc.
Q: Was it a surprise to you about being chosen to compose for Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2, or did you apply for the job?
A: getting gigs is 99% of the work, so we're always making new connections and doing demos for projects, etc. the producers of the nitro kart game were people we'd worked with for many years, so they called us to do the project.
Q: What are your future plans or projects? Anything you'd like to do in particular?
A: gabe is in a band called "the rescues", and they're on tour a lot at the moment, and becky is doing some music for a social networking game and a few other things together, and raising a family, etc. :-)
Q: What are your favorite songs that you produced for Crash Bandicoot?
A: actually the funniest piece of music we did for the game never got used. it sounds like a crazy a cappella buddy holly song. too bad! :)
Q: Any plans to compile any game soundtracks/albums in the future?
A: we don't generally have any ownership in the music - usually game companies own everything & it's up to them if they want to release soundtracks, etc.
Q: What have been the best moments in your career?
A: not sure how to answer this one - probably different for each of us, but in terms of our work together, we probably had the most fun working on the twinsanity soundtrack. the most musically rewarding was probably recording the choir on the final legend of spyro game.
Q: How did you decide to form an a cappella group?
A: half of the group has known each other since we were kids, and sang together in school, etc.
Q: Is there a story behind the name 'Spiralmouth'?
A: the name we had before was pretty bad. honestly we went through so many name ideas that i think spiralmouth was the only thing that didn't stand out as being really stupid. :)
Q: What's it like to compose a song when you know it's going to have no instruments?
A: really, just like writing any other piece of music. we just think about it differently from the onset, knowing that the musical choices will be guided by what can be done with voices vs a band or orchestra, etc.
Q: In an average, how long does it take to produce your music?
A: depends on the project, how many tracks, etc.
Q: Could each of you tell us a bit about yourself, and which kind of instrument mimmicking you specialize in?
A: the various members are pretty much scattered about doing other things now, but we all have great memories about what we did together as a group.
we never really thought of ourselves as specifically mimicking instruments, and in the case of the crash twinsanity soundtrack, it was mostly just following instructions from the producers to be as weird/funny/wacky as possible.
Q: Do any of you play instruments?
A: yes, everyone, pretty much plays at least one instrument. piano, guitar, all kinds of keyboards, bass, etc.
Q: Do you watch or play the works you compose for?
A: most of us (except chris) are miserably bad at playing video games, actually!
Q: Did all of the songs you produced for the games make it to the final products?
A: no, not at all. lots of stuff gets thrown out during the process.
Q: What are you currently doing at the moment?
A: having kids, raising families, working...life! :)
Q: Pleeeease go back to performing?
A: we would LOVE to do a spiralmouth reunion concert some day. we'll keep you posted. :)
Q: Do you all hang out with each others?
A: we're all still very good friends and see each other often.
Q: What's your opinion about Crash Bandicoot?
A: crash is awesome & we would love to work on the games again!
