Warframe 1999: Techrot Encore is out, and it’s a lot of fun. But, one thing you may not have noticed as a player or a far-flung spectator is that progressive metal band Periphery worked alongside Digital Extremes on a special guest track for the update. It all fits within the rock band vibe that came with Temple and the new defence mission.
But how did this actually come to be? How did Periphery end up working with DE on Techrot Encore, and what went into creating the track? To find out, I sent over a few questions to Periphery’s Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb, as well as Elliot Coleman from Good Tiger who worked alongside the group on lamenting the Days.
VG247: How exactly did this collaboration come about? When did work start on the track?
Holcomb: It came together very organically. I’ve known Megan, Rebb, and Steve since 2016 or so, and we had always discussed doing something together. Jake and I hung out with them at a Periphery gig back in 2024, and that’s when the wheels officially started turning on this project. We began working on the track in earnest during the summer of 2024.
Bowen: We have been friends with the Warframe team for a while, and it came up pretty casually, I think. It just started as a “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we collabed?” and it just started to coalesce from there. I know they were working on a music/guitar-based character and were looking for a band that might be able to contribute music and consult on what the character’s “sound” could be.
Coleman: Jake originally reached out to me to gauge my interest in working with them on an original song for the game. The three of us have worked on music together in the past, so it was a no-brainer for me. The three of us have great chemistry!
VG247: How long did you have to make this new song for the Warframe 1999 update?
Holcomb: We were given the opportunity of having months of runway to finish the song, but Jake and I met at his place in Jersey City to get the bulk of the song written and recorded only in a couple days. We spent months tweaking afterward, and that allowed us to have the Warframe team bounce ideas and suggestions off of us in no hurry, in order to mold the song even further into something they felt fit their vision.
Bowen: I don’t know much about video game development but it seems to me that you can’t make a video game, much less a video game on Warframes scale without lots of time and precision planning so we had a few calls with Rebb and Megan and they helped us lay out the plan and gave us ample time to come up with the best thing we could. So while the bulk of the song’s arrangement came together in about two days in the studio we had quite a bit of time to hone the track and get it sounding right.
Coleman: I had a lot of melodies come to my head pretty quickly when I heard the instrumental they were working on. I fired up the game and would listen to the song on repeat for a few days to get a feel of how I wanted the vocals to sound.
VG247: Periphery has composed for video games a few times, including a track for Deus Ex in 2016, the Halo 2 anniversary OST, and Homefront all the way back in 2011! What inspired this return to the medium? Is video game work something the band is always keen to do?
Holcomb: Since our bandmate Misha primarily handled the music lent to those aforementioned games, this was a golden opportunity for me to dip my toes into this world. I’ve done voice-acting in video games dating back to 2017, but I’ve never composed music for one, so I jumped at the chance to do this with Jake and Elliot. I’m a life-long gamer, and I’d climb mountains to be involved in that world, be it through voice-acting or music composition.
Bowen: The interesting thing about some of that previous work is that was all handled by one member of Periphery, Misha Mansoor, so for me this was a chance to really get into that side of things, I find the idea of composing for someone else’s project very intimidating but the Warframe team being fans of Periphery’s music gave a sense of comfort because at least I know they like this other thing I do.
VG247: What unique considerations are there for composing for a video game rather than creating a song for an album? What does the band have to keep in mind that differs from the regular process?
Holcomb: I’d say the biggest consideration is making sure you’re adhering 100% to the vision of the developer. When Periphery records an album, it’s an absolute free-for-all in that we are creating art for art’s sake, and priority number one is making something that makes us happy, with as few concessions as possible. For projects like this, we had boundaries within which we needed to stay in order to satisfy Digital Extremes’ vision. But that was supremely exciting in its own way since their vision was so specific and well-thought-out from the beginning.
Bowen: I think the number one thing I was thinking about when writing the music was “does this fit within a 1999 theme”, there was talk of touching on a lot of the more iconic musical voices from that era, bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Deftones were always in my head when trying to come up with the riffs. Other than that, I wanted to create a song an actual band might write, Verse/Chorus/Verse/Bridge/Outro, or something resembling that. I even added sound elements from the game to help it fit better within the game’s world.
Coleman: When I’m working on a Good Tiger record, the overall tone of the album usually takes shape pretty quickly. We know what our band sounds like and what its strengths are. Working on this song, I had to keep in mind the vision Rebb and Megan had for it, and that was easy because they gave great direction!
VG247: In Warframe 1999 the audio team has established the setting firmly in the late 90’s grunge era music-wise. Periphery was founded back in the early 2000’s! Can we expect a music style more aligned to the band’s original sound, more aligned to your contemporary work, or something vastly different?
Holcomb: I think by nature of Jake and I being in Periphery, you’re bound to get a bit more of that modern metal sound, but yes, we really tried to get that ‘90s sound captured in the song. It was a natural fit since I grew up on ‘90s-era grunge.
Bowen: I think that was the other half of the song’s equation, in addition to paying tribute to our ‘90s inspirations we also had to make room for some of that Periphery sound which can sound a bit more modern. To me, that was the most fun part of this project. I loved music from the ‘90s, so being able to channel that while doing a style that is naturally more current was a lot of fun.
VG247: In an interview with Tuonela Mag last year, Misha stated that “musical motifs and abstract concepts from just a purely musical standpoint” and that the process of making new music for you guys is largely intuitive. Was the creation process for this song the same? Did Digital Extremes provide any guidelines or requirements that made you approach this song differently?
Holcomb: I would say it was still largely intuitive, and it didn’t differ too much from how I operate in Periphery, but the main difference was the set of criteria Digital Extremes laid out for us. The idea of writing a song that would feel at home in the late ‘90s was the overarching idea behind every detail in the song, so we had to throw some of that raw, unfiltered thread-chasing we do so much in Periphery. But I have to say, it was rewarding because we rarely ever get to write within guidelines in Periphery, so it was a fun exercise in creativity.
Bowen: We’ve definitely tried to constrain this process with the guidelines set forth by Digital Extremes. When Periphery is in the studio, we get to call all the shots, and that’s a lot of fun. But when someone is asking you to write a song for their video game you obviously have to make sure you’re in line with their vision and this is exactly why I found this process so much fun – it made me approach the writing and production in a different way, but it wasn’t at all unfamiliar. If you’re a musician, you might relate to this. It’s always scary to try new things and be in new musical projects, but once it gets rolling and it feels like you know what to do, it feels really good.
Coleman: I wasn’t given any hard guidelines to follow, but they did reference a few different singers for vibe. Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, Eddie Vedder, etc. They weren’t looking for an exact copy, so I was still able to be myself.
VG247: In that same interview Misha stated that the band doesn’t get many chances to play together (aside from tours) as you all live far apart. How challenging is it to create a song on deadline without being able to sit in the same room and figure it out?
Holcomb: It definitely isn’t ideal, but as a band, we spend a lot of time on planes and Zoom calls, haha. It wasn’t too difficult this time since Jake and I were able to write and arrange the song in person, and then we were able to do most of the tweaking remotely.
Bowen: It certainly presents a few challenges for the band to be spread out all over the United States. Usually, we all will just fly to one place for a few weeks and craft what we need in that time. When it comes to touring, we usually will rehearse together a few days before a tour starts.
Coleman: One of the most important things when collaborating with your bandmates, or peers, or friends, is that you all agree that you’re working towards the same goal. I have a lot of trust in their constructive criticisms.
VG247: Mark, you’re also a voice actor in video games! Can we expect your voice to pop up in a future Warframe update?
Holcomb: Yes! I voiced Flare in the new update. It was insanely fun getting to explore that character and tread some ground I’ve never tread in my voice-acting career. A massive thank you to Digital Extremes for writing such an interesting, fun character for this and trusting me to help bring him to life.
Bowen: I know this question isn’t directed at me, but I also did some voice work for Warframe as a new villain character, you’ll be hearing some pretty brutal sounding stuff!
Warframe 1999: Techrot Encore is out right now, and while Periphery’s track Lamenting the days isn’t out on Spotify as of writing, you can check it out on YouTube right now!
