In a recent episode of Tony Hawk's Hawk vs. Wolf podcast, Keanu Reeves stopped by with his band Dogstar to chat about a variety of music-related topics, including the iconic soundtrack to Hawkeye's video game series, Professional skater.
After congratulating Hawk on the upcoming 25th anniversary of the game's first installment, Reeves asked him who his favorite skate band was in the early days. “My favorite band, and everything else follows, is Gang of Four,” Hawk replied. “Everything revolves around that.”
Continuing, Hawk shed light on the creation of the Professional skater soundtrack, giving a bit of a history lesson in the process. “Music was a really big part of skating, especially in the formative years of the 70s and 80s,” he said. “So when it came to making a game, I wanted to represent the culture, including the music. So I was just picking bands that I listened to growing up. They were easy to get hold of.”
When Reeve's Dogstar bandmate Robert Mailhouse asked him if he would ever skate without music, Hawk explained: “It was just… [playing over] “The intercom at the skate parks. They were mostly playing K-Rock… K-Rock was that sound. Rodney at the ROQ, that was one of the first records I bought.”
“So, that was my contribution to the game in terms of the old-school music,” Hawk continued. “Then, they had their own pretty robust music department to get newer bands at the time, the stuff that people associate with [the Pro Skater series]like Goldfinger, Powerman 5000, Fu Manchu, stuff like that.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Dogstar spoke with Hawk and his co-host, Jason Ellis, about the band's origin, their music, their live shows, and more. Watch a clip from the Professional skater Discussion of the soundtrack below.
Meanwhile, Dogstar released their first new album in 20 years, Somewhere between the power lines and the palm treesLast year, they will embark on a North American tour in September 2024, with stops in Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas and more cities before wrapping up in Maricopa, Arizona on September 21. Buy your tickets here.
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