
The soundtrack for the film is a collaboration of multiple musicians from all across the globe as well as a bunch of homegrown talent from right here in Australia. It combines retro synth, rock and orchestral score into one glorious concoction that really drives the film, especially in the action scenes. Every artist involved gave their time or donated their music free of charge.
The first artist involved was French composer Jupiter-8, who made multiple music cues for the film, most notably the Lieutenant Jangles theme song which plays during the opening credits. He has an extensive back catalogue of great movie theme inspired synth albums available online.
Scottish synth rockers The Van Dammage joined up next, several of their songs from their amazing first LP “Neon & Noisy” were used as temp tracks during the original edit of the film, and the band generously gave their permission to use them. The energetic melodies and pulsating vocals really stand out.
Timecop1983 is a synthwave legend from The Netherlands, a name who most people in the scene recognise as a pioneer of the sound. He happily gave permission to use his music and made a completely original song for the film as well. Combined with the ethereal vocals of Italian singer Oscar, the track “My Room” is a really special part of the soundtrack that audiences always point out as a highlight in the film.
Another Scottish lad, who makes music under the name of Absinth3, was already punching out albums while he was still in high school. Now living on the Gold Coast in Australia, he made a few original music cues for the film, all while doing his final exams and completing year 12. Now he’s expanding his sound and is making music under both aliases Absinth3 and Class Jordan.
Nick Archer is a musician from Jangles’ hometown of Brisbane in Australia. He was making music for local video game development company, Team Deathmatch, and still found time to make some music for the film. He managed to recreate some very familiar music cues in scenes that homaged classic films which is some of the many great easter eggs in the film for fans of the genre.
An 80’s film wouldn’t be complete without some authentic hair metal to accompany the soundtrack. A rock star in his own right, Gold Coast boy Lachi James is a man born in the wrong decade, at 21 he was rocking a mullet and making synth metal that legitimately sounded like it was from the 1980’s. His tracks were used as if they were real songs by the fake hair metal band featured in the film Winged Scorpion.
Executive Producer, Vince Sheather, also found time to make a few musical cues in between recording the films ADR and also working on his own LP with his band Anomara.
Irish music Producer Red Marker was another discovery from the synthwave archives of youtube. He made the music for the opening shoot-out scene, his pulsating synth on top of the banging drums makes a gunfight with plastic guns intense.
A very late, but very great, addition to the soundtrack was the summer synthwave hit “Pleasure Operator” by German artist Volt Age collaborating with guitarist Michael Wagner and featuring the insane vocals of Maram El Dsoki and Jacky Kanlop. The song is an instant classic which finishes the film perfectly carrying on into the end credits and keeping you in your seat nodding your head to the beat.
Melbourne music producer Dominic Altamore made some of the orchestral score for the scenes featuring the film’s villain. The music builds tension brilliantly while being menacing at the same time, and it’s a great juxtaposition to how ridiculous what’s happening on screen is. Apart from film scoring, Dominic also makes his own experimental lo-fi music which is available online.
The film’s main score was composed by Jon Reilly from America. Jon has an insane back catalogue of over 17 albums, has scored for tv shows, movies, video games as well as playing in live bands. His work ethic is matched only by his enthusiasm for music. There was a lot of different emotional tones throughout the film that needed to be matched musically, and every single track gets it right. His record label and development company Scythe Saga is currently expanding their brand into video game development as well as music.
You can follow all of the artists by clicking the links below