Site Contributors :: Joe Hammond

Biography

Compared to probably everyone else that contributes to SEMO, I am relatively new to the Video Game Music scene. I've always been a keen gamer and musician, and I've always noticed when I've particularly liked the music in a game, but I was never much interested in buying soundtracks. That is until I heard the music of Nobuo Uematsu (sorry, I realise that is extremely clichéd, but it's true) in the Final Fantasy series when I was about 17. I then started listening to loads of his music (in particular the live orchestral arrangements) and that's how I got properly into video game music in a nutshell. Since then, I've been revisiting some of my old games, bringing back their musical memories, and checking out whatever I can find in the game music scene.

Before all of this I've always been a keen gamer from an early age, starting out with the old Sega consoles and getting really into the old Sonic the Hedgehog games, but the game that probably defined my childhood the most was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Before Zelda, I had seen video games as just a fun, casual distraction but when I played Ocarina of Time I realised how amazing video games could be. From their incredible music to their engaging stories to their awesome depth and much more, it was like a whole new world had opened up to me. Since then, I've played a wide variety of games, discovering which genres I like and kind of getting transported to my own world. Some of my favourite series over the years include the Zelda series, Mario games, the Halo series, Final Fantasy, Golden Sun, Chrono Trigger, Shenmue, old school Sonic games, The Elder Scrolls, and Fire Emblem. The reason why I'm late to the party is probably because I've had to discover all of this for myself. Most of the people that are a part of my life aren't really very interested in all of this kind of stuff, and if they do play games it's usually not the ones that I'm into. Speaking of this, in the future I'd like to get more into anime.

Outside of gaming, I'm willing to give most things a try if presented the opportunities. At school, I did alright academically and threw myself full force into a lot of extra-curricular stuff like music (where I was the director of the boys choir for two years), acting in productions, being a house captain, taking part in the debating society, and being a prefect. Sports wise I'm pretty useless; I'm not bad at swimming, but even there I could never do it competitively (I entered a competition a few years ago and it did not go well).

What do I do? Well I'm currently in my final year studying music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Although I'm doing a performance-based degree, the dream is to write music for media (I hope to specialise in video games). To help me do this I'm planning on doing a Master's degree in composition for screen at somewhere like the National Film and Television School. I'm primarily a trombone player, but I also play the piano and guitar and have done some choir singing. Over the years I've mainly played in orchestras, but have had some experience playing in big bands, jazz ensembles, wind orchestras, brass bands, various chamber music ensembles, and even a ska band. While at the Guildhall, I've also been working on my production and electronic music skills, composition, and conducting.

My taste in music has gone through many stages over the years. As a kid I listened to a bit of everything really, from cheesy 90's pop to classical to jazz. Then in secondary school there was a very strong rock music scene and I joined that bandwagon. These days I'm, appropriately enough, into classical music, film and television soundtracks and, of course, video game music.

Site Role

In about June, I sent Chris my dissertation on the evolution of video game music and he liked it, so here I am now. I mainly write reviews, but I also write editorials and will be conducting some interviews. I'm also hoping to submit some of my own compositions to the forums in the future for all to critique. I think that reviewing soundtracks will definitely be good for me as it will help me find what I like and what I feel works, which should hopefully influence my own work in a positive way.

Contributed Reviews