It may be one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time but Borderlands has always had a scrappy, punk edge that belies its mainstream appeal. Across four standalone entries and a number of beloved spin-offs, the cartoonish looter-shooter sends gamers hurtling across the galaxy to hunt down bounty with an astonishing array of weaponry and the occasional fart joke thrown in. It’s basically a cross between Star Wars, Call Of Duty and Beavis And Butthead.
Borderlands 4 was released last month and audio director Mark Petty leaned heavily into the “chaotic” nature of the series for the soundtrack. In the run-up to release, teaser videos were rolled out alongside snotty, brash bangers from Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg and Joey Valence & Brae while the game’s one and only needle drop came from rock & roll revivalist Des Rocs. “We wanted something more raucous than we’ve done previously,” Petty tells NME via Zoom.
If that wasn’t rebellious enough, he threw open the doors to the in-game radio for any member of developers from the team at Gearbox Studios to submit an original song for the soundtrack. “The alternative would have been to just pull existing tracks from different playlists… that just seems really uninteresting to me,” says Petty.
Below, he talks about challenging the legacy of the Borderlands series, taking inspiration from old school punk acts and the game’s surprise collab with former One Direction star Zayn Malik.
Borderlands 4 is bigger, badder and more cinematic
Mark Petty has been the brains behind the Borderlands music since the 2009 original, after joining Gearbox as a sound designer in 2004. “The combination of aggressive four-on-the-floor EDM and beautiful orchestral pieces gave the franchise a pulse from the start,” he says. The original game featured Cage The Elephant’s rattling indie rock anthem ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ and the 2012 sequel had ‘Short Change Hero’ and ‘How Do You Like Me Now?’ from English rock group The Heavy. Those organic, guitar-driven anthems “helped sell the abandoned, survivalist vibe”.
Both groups returned for 2019’s Borderlands 3 but Petty wanted to change things up for this latest entry. “I know people really enjoyed the music of those three games but I wanted to pull back from that [sound]. There are these questions about what people are used to from the series versus where it’s at now,” he explains. Borderlands 4 is the most ambitious entry in the long-running series with a proper open-world environment to play in. The story and combat have also been streamlined for maximum impact – as well as the music.
“Before, it was one piece that played over the top – but now, there are segments of intensity that will signify danger increasing or decreasing. We just wanted it to feel like it was scored to each person’s experience,” says Petty. “I treat music like comedy – if it’s all the time, then it stops being [impactful].”
The soundtrack is built around the game’s snarling foes
The music of Borderlands 4 was also shaped by the different enemy factions that try to blast your block off when you boot up the game. Encounters with steampunk bandits The Rippers are soundtracked by original music inspired by American punk rockers The Ataris and experimental German electronic artist Alec Empire. “We looked at loose punk bands because I’ve always imagined those guys would make music with whatever they found around them,” Petty says. Elsewhere, the synthetic followers of The Order saw music production group Finishing Move (Doom: The Dark Ages) look at early Nine Inch Nails.
It’s not a complete reinvention though. Various boss battles feature deliberate callbacks to older, EDM-influenced scores and the more isolated areas of the map feature serious, dynamic orchestral music from frequent Gearbox collaborator Cris Velasco. “There were a lot of different avenues for the music, but that plays into the fact Borderlands 4 has expanded the universe,” says Petty.
The in-game radio came together with a little help from some friends…
The more expansive Borderlands 4 also features an in-game radio with an eclectic playlist. Originally designed as a simple tool to give players plot information, it now includes fictional DJs playing more than 30 tracks created by Gearbox developers. There’s the thrashing arena rock ‘Drifters’ from Global Creative Executive Officer Andrew Reiner and the proggy ‘Space Race’ from programmer Philip Hebert. Then there’s UX designer Ali Martin, who created a number of lush, folksy tracks to go alongside the chirpy synth music of programmer Jack Myers.
“It’s pretty simple,” says Petty, who’s been tapping up his co-workers for radio tracks since Borderlands 2. While the game is still being created, he sends out a company-wide email saying he’s looking for songs for the different station remits he needs to fill.
“The thing that has gotten complicated over time is the size of the team increasing,” says Petty. For Borderlands 2, around 250 people worked at Gearbox. Now, that’s anywhere between 500 and 700. “It’s a lot of work to navigate the logistics of collecting the songs, but also [knowing] when to ask. You don’t want to start when [the team is] incredibly busy.” If Petty clocks in at the right moment, it means the music department (who typically are left waiting until the game’s nearly finished to get involved) can start work sooner, making for a more fluid process.
“All of the submissions are in the game. We also didn’t remix or remaster anything because we want to celebrate the artistry [of the contributors].” The only rule was avoiding things that would bump their ‘Mature 17+’ ESBR rating up to ‘Adults Only’.
You won’t believe some songs were written by amateurs
Considering the 30 radio tracks weren’t written, performed or produced by professional musicians, none of them sound amateurish. The slick rock, experimental pop and gorgeous, instrumental soundscapes created by the Gearbox staff only enhance the deliberately chaotic world of Borderlands 4. They are the ones that built it from the ground up, after all.
Inclusion on the in-game radio is voluntary but Petty is currently toying with the idea of releasing a second soundtrack on streaming that would just feature the radio songs. “Borderlands really has no rails. You can be as crazy as you want so everything fits.”
Des Rocs brings fiery rock & roll to Borderlands 4
Mark Petty spent hours scouring through various Spotify playlists before eventually discovering the music of Des Rocs. He quickly reached out about creating the main theme song. “The tone of the Borderlands universe is very specific so you need to get the chemistry right. We wanted something that felt new in a more raucous, organic way,” he explains. And ‘This Land’ delivers.
Des Rocs, AKA Danny Rocco, makes what he calls “bedroom arena rock”. He’d been working on an Audioslave-inspired riff when he got the call about Borderlands 4. As developers started explaining the vision of the game, ‘This Land’ quickly fell into place.
“Sonically, I wanted it to feel enormous but also capture real energy,” says Rocco, so he recorded the entire thing live without any studio trickery. “Most bands leave that live energy on the table but you can feel my frustration in the take we used. I was pissed and tired of recording. I wanted to go home.”
“My favourite records are born when chaos is focused into a concise laser beam of rock insanity,” he continues. “Harnessing that chaos is always the mission. Borderlands is a game with a really similar operating system to mine. It’s rooted in madness but it’s all wrapped into this incredibly immersive and cohesive experience.”
Teaming up with Zayn Malik was a brilliant surprise
Petty was heavily inspired by the world of punk for Borderlands 4, which makes a collab with former One Direction star Zayn Malik seem like a left-field decision – especially given his post 1D career has been dominated by sleek, R&B inspired tracks.
“To be honest, I thought the same thing when I heard about it,” admits Petty, with the crossover originally organised by Gearbox higher-ups. “It’s not where I would have gone but the track ‘Break Free’ came out so well, it opened my eyes. Maybe sometimes we are too surgical about genre and tone when there are a lot of people who [fit into our world], just in a different way.”
After 16 years of Borderlands, he’s still surprised by who is a fan of the game. “I guess that speaks to the franchise as a whole. It’s not this military shooter that appeals to one type of person, it has something for everybody.”
‘Borderlands 4’ is out now and the official soundtrack is available to stream here