For some, the music in Quake III: Team Arena will strike a familiar chord because it's from the same guys who did the Quake III music. For others, though, the music will strike a familiar chord because the pioneering industrial band Front Line Assembly did it. Like their brethren in KMFDM and nine inch nails, the guys in F.L.A. – Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson – have found that their tech-rock sounds are the perfect compliment to adrenaline-fueled digital carnage, and have gone beyond just letting a game feature their latest single as the theme song. But if doing music for both their own group and other people’s video games wasn’t enough to make the rest of us feel lazy, Leeb and Petersen also have a second band, the less-video game appropriate Delerium, whose sound they describe as being electronic world music. It’s enough to make you grab a shotgun and run through a maze, shooting monsters.

When you were first approached to do the music for Quake III, did they ask you as Front Line Assembly, or did they ask you as individuals, and when it was done you realized the music was more F.L.A. than Delerium?

Bill: I think they liked the last Front Line album, Implode, and thought we were the best group for the job -- though they are Delerium fans as well. In fact, we were initially only going to do half the music [for Quake III], but they weren’t very happy with the other party’s contributions so they used everything we gave them. And because of that, they asked us to do all the music for the add-on.

Have you taken any of the music you’ve done for Quake III or the add-on and released it on a F.L.A. album?

Bill: We’re not allowed to. We signed an exclusive contract, so that music is theirs. We got a flat sum, and they own the music lock, stock, and barrel.

Chris: Though what happens when you do stuff like this is you learn how to expand your horizons, which affects everything you do from then on in a positive way.

Have they discussed the idea of releasing a soundtrack album?

Chris: No, though there’s MP3s of some of the stuff on some Front Line Assembly websites.

Are you guys into video games yourselves

Chris: I’m hugely into them. I’ve got a Mac at home, and I’ve been playing Quake III online and Unreal Tournament, as well as Command & Conquer and a lot of hockey, NHL 2000.

Bill: I used to play lots, but now I just watch Chris over his shoulder. I’m just too busy. 

What do you think of the music you’ve heard in other games?

Chris: Actually, I’m one of those guys who turns it down and plays my own music.