Before Cyberpunk 2077's Johnny Silverhand (as played by Keanu Reeves) was a digital ghost living in your character's head, he was the frontman of the chrome rock group Samurai. Rather than trying to create their own in-house future punk sound for Samurai, CD Projekt Red decided to consult some experts. Swedish punk band Refused are supplying the sounds of Samurai, and you can listen to their first public track "Chippin' In" right now - it's the full version of the song that started playing at the end of the Cyberpunk 2077 E3 2019 trailer.
“Like us, Samurai is a group of rebels, albeit in a different time and place,” lead vocalist Dennis Lyxzén said in a press release.
As an aside, I don't know if there is any less punk-sounding phrase than "said in a press release," but I ain't gonna give him grief for taking a paycheck that includes doing songs about cool sci-fi stuff.
“Working together with CD Projekt Red, writing music and song lyrics for Cyberpunk’s chrome rock icon was fun, but also very different in the creative sense. It was an unexpected challenge that turned out to be right up our alley and really got us going. The songs turned out great and the game looks insane."
I am amused by the idea that gruff surfer dude Keanu Reeves is supposed to sound like Swedish punk icon Dennis Lyxzén when he starts singing. I'm also eager to hear what other kinds of tracks Refused made for Cyberpunk 2077 because Chippin' In sounds pretty traditional as punk goes. This is the band that put out The Shape of Punk to Come, an album that was panned in 1998 for mixing in jazz and techno sounds but has been hailed as influential and forward-thinking in the years since. I'm hoping Refused takes the opportunity of embodying a band that is literally from the future to get real weird.
You know what else is pretty punk? Saving lots of money with our preview of the best Amazon Prime Day game deals, that's what!
