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(Jonathan Wiggs/Boston Globe) |
On the Hot seat
Eran Egozy plays clarinet in the critically acclaimed Radius Ensemble and has performed in a Balinese gamelan group, but his biggest impact on the world of music may be putting fake instruments into the hands of millions of wannabe rock stars as chief technology officer of Harmonix Music Systems, a company he cofounded with Alex Rigopulos. The Cambridge company broke into the spotlight with the first two Guitar Hero video games, and this holiday season released Rock Band - turning gamers into rock gods. Egozy spoke with Globe reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson.
Q. How does your background as a clarinet player connect to Rock Band? Why not Ultimate String Quartet?
A. Because how many people would buy Ultimate String Quartet? Maybe four. Our idea all along has been to let nonmusicians experience the great power of playing and performing music. It's something that few people get to attain, and it can be very difficult and frustrating to take music lessons for a long time and to practice. Because Alex and I have been performing music, we know what it feels like to perform it, and it's an amazing feeling. Not just playing music, but playing together in a band.
Q. How has the company evolved?
A. Our very first product was called the Axe, which was not even a game. It let you basically improvise on an instrument by using a joystick. That flopped. We couldn't really figure out how to sell it. We struggled through a few other revisions, and where we ended up in 2000 was making a music game for Sony, and that was called Frequency.
Q. It's a big swing from the Axe to Guitar Hero, the game that catapulted Harmonix into the spotlight. What's the difference?
A. We essentially created a category [of game], and now it's a multimillion-dollar category. In Rock Band, you're on stage. You get to create your own character. You are actually feeling like you're part of the band, like you're on stage performing for thousands of people with them cheering and screaming and clapping and the lights are going off, and the pyrotechnics are exploding, and you get to do stage-diving and all this crazy stuff that happens in real rock shows. And so you're just immediately sucked into the game.
Q. What do your colleagues who are classically trained musicians think of your job and your game?
A. They're really jealous of me, actually. A few have tried our products before and they totally love it. Some people think it's not like a real instrument; it's fake and we're making people not have to play a real instrument to enjoy it - kind of like selling out. I think it's quite the opposite. I've heard plenty of stories of people getting so excited about music because they're playing our games that they go out and they buy real instruments and start taking lessons. Unlike listening to music, when you actually play Rock Band you get to see how all the parts fit together. You get to play the guitar line by itself, the bass line by itself, the drum line by itself, you get to sing. You get to see how all these elements come together.
Q. How do you choose the repertoire?
A. When it came to Rock Band, we had the challenge of finding songs that worked well for everyone. We don't want just [songs with] killer guitar licks, but the drum part is boring, or the bass part doesn't exist. We were focused on real, true "band" songs - so when you think about the amazing band legends of all time, you think of the Rolling Stones and The Who and, a little later, Nirvana.
Q. Are you particularly good at any particular instrument in Rock Band?
A. Me, personally, I love the drums. I've never played the drums before. With drums, people can learn to play our fake drums and if they become good enough they can learn to play real drums.
Q. Some people have reported injuries playing Guitar Hero. Do you have any medical tips for Rock Band players?
A. Oh, definitely. You have to take breaks. You're playing and playing. It's hard work, so you have to take breaks even though it's addicting. A lot of people, when the fast notes come up, they get very tense. You need to be relaxed. It's true for all musical instruments.
Q. If your company were a band, who's the lead singer, who's the lead guitarist, who plays the cowbell?
A. I haven't thought of it that literally before, but maybe the engineers are the drummers because they're keeping the beat, they're the foundation. The artists are probably the guitarists, because they're adding a lot of flourish, the pizzazz of the game. The producers are the bass line because they just kind of help keep everything together.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
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