that happens every day for people,” he
tells us. “There have been other events
where Commodore 64 music, including
some of mine, has been performed- unfortunately I wasn’t involved, so I
didn’t really have much say as to what
they were doing.”
Rob’s response leads us to believe
that being involved at this level is
surely a good thing, then? “Oh yeah,
absolutely, because I have been in
control of my own orchestrations - my own arrangements, my own
orchestrations,” he replies. “So if
people don’t think it’s any good, they’ve
only got to blame me!”
We’re keen – and we are sure you
are, too – to learn which Rob’s tunes
will be performed at the concert. “I
think there’s about six pieces of mine
now,” we’re told. “There’s a Monty On
The Run expanded version that I did,
that has completely new sections that I
wrote added to it, and it’s still got most
of the old sections apart from the guitar
solo which is gone. Kentilla’s in there,
International Karate – that’s a complete
symphonic version and it’s based upon
the version that I did in 2005 for the
Prague orchestra, and there’s a medley
of high score tunes that I’ve done on
orchestras. WAR – there’s a version of
that [in there] I’ve done for orchestra,
and Flash Gordon.”
We’re keen to learn about Rob’s
thoughts as to why specifically those
tracks were chosen. “In a lot of ways,
the choice is dictated by the fact that
80 per cent of the stuff that I did backthen is not suitable,” Rob replies to
our pondering. “Sanxion and Knuckle
Busters and some of these crazy
things are just totally unsuitable for an
orchestra, and any attempt to do them
really wouldn’t be doing the orchestra
any justice, or the original version any
justice. Orchestras are not very good at
playing rock and roll, you know?”
With all this activity, we’re curious
about something Rob said in a previous
interview with Retro Gamer, way back
in issue 100. At that time, the musician
told us that he felt burned out on
composing due to his high work rate.
Has anything happened since then that
has changed that frame of mind?
“Yeah, I think that’s changed now,
because I don’t do any stuff for games
anymore,” he replies. “I’ve pretty much
retired from games, I’ll leave it to all
those other people who want to put up
with the industry. I don’t.” While that’s
something of a loss to videogames,
we’re pleased to hear that Rob Hubbard
is once again enjoying creating music- especially if it means the prospect of
more projects like this cropping up in
the future.
For more information on
Project Hubbard, visit
projecthubbard.com. To find out
more about 8-Bit Symphony, visit
8-bit-symphony.com.“It wasn’t part of the Kickstarter,
it was just something that we were
hoping to aspire to sometime in the
future. We didn’t really expect it to
happen,” says Rob. We have to ask
the musician, why not? ”It’s so difficult
to get it organised and to basically get
the costing done, and then to try to
promise people you’re going to deliver
it when there’s no guarantee that
you’re going to deliver it,” he explains.
“It’s been quite an enormous effort
so far, and it’s still ongoing, trying to
get everything together. Doing the
orchestrations, trying to get everything
scheduled in time, getting the parts
organised, getting the printing done –
it’s quite a huge effort.””D
espite the hard work
involved, Rob is looking
forward to the event.“It’s
really exciting, because it’s
not very often that you’re going to get
the chance to write for an orchestra- it’s something that most aspiring
musicians dream of, it’s not something
enI
rp
in
t c H h b a r t w s wis- m t F P p m
I have been in control of my
own orchestrations – my own
arrangements
Rob Hubbard» LOAD ”AUDIENCE”,8,1 [Photo by LA Production Studios]» The 8-Bit Symphony team assembles at Hull Cit y
Hall, ready to tickle your nostalgia gland with its sonic
delights. [Photo by LA Production Studios]» Here’s a score for Monty On The Run, as you’ll hear it
at 8-Bit Symphony.» As well as being the cover of the book, you can pick
up this stylised rendition of Rob on a mug! [Art by
Definite Designs]14 | RETRO GAMERSHOWING OFF COOL RETRO-THEMED STUFF THAT’S GOING ON
ROB HUBBARD