Simon Viklund facts for kids

Simon Viklund (born Simon Wiklund, December 1, 1979) is a talented Swedish artist. He creates music, designs sounds, and even designs video games! He works on his own (freelance) and is known for his amazing work on games like Bionic Commando Rearmed (2008). In this game, he was both the creative director and the composer.

Simon Viklund is also famous for his music in the Payday game series. Plus, he voices a popular character named Bain in those games. He started his career in 2000 at a company called Grin. Later, he helped start Overkill Software and then 10 Chambers Collective.

Simon Viklund's Early Life

Simon Viklund was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 1, 1979. He started learning music when he was very young. First, he played the violin. Then, he took classical piano lessons for about seven years.

He also taught himself to play the guitar and bass guitar. As a teenager, Simon sang in his local church choir. For a short time, he was even a singer in a high school band with his friends. He studied art in high school, but music soon became his main passion. In the late 1990s, he began writing music using a computer program called FastTracker 2. He didn't release any of this early music, as he wasn't fully happy with it yet.

Simon Viklund's Career Journey

Starting Out: Grin and Freelance Work (2000–2009)

Simon joined a company called Grin in 2000. Here, he worked as a composer and sound designer for many of their games. His first project was Grin's very first game, Ballistics.

Later, Simon changed his last name from Wiklund to Viklund. This was because people outside Sweden often mispronounced "Wiklund." The 'W' and 'V' sounds are similar in Swedish. Simon also helped develop the PC versions of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2006) and its sequel in 2007. These games were published by Ubisoft.

He then led the creation of Bionic Commando Rearmed. This game was a new version of the old 1988 NES game. Simon also wrote the music for it. People loved his soundtrack because it sounded just like the original 8-bit music, but updated. Parts of his Bionic Commando Rearmed music were also used in the 2009 Bionic Commando game. Simon worked as the sound designer for that game. Besides his work at Grin, he also composed music for Wasteland Racers 2071 (2006).

In 2009, Simon started working on Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 as its creative director. However, Grin went out of business (bankrupt) four months into the game's development. The game's creation then moved to another company called Fatshark. Simon was hired there as a creative advisor and composer. He also composed music for Capcom's Final Fight: Double Impact (2010) and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition (2011).

Creating Payday: Overkill Software (2009–2015)

In 2009, Simon Viklund teamed up with the Andersson brothers and other former Grin employees. Together, they started a new company called Overkill Software. For Overkill's first game, Payday: The Heist, Simon was the creative director and sound designer. He also composed the game's music, taking ideas from the 1995 crime movie Heat.

Simon also provided the voice for Bain, who is the main narrator and mission giver in the game. He continued to be the composer and the voice of Bain in Payday 2, which came out in 2013.

On August 18, 2015, Simon decided to leave Overkill. He wanted to focus more on his own music projects and freelance work. However, he still continued to voice Bain and create music for Payday 2 as a freelancer.

New Beginnings: 10 Chambers Collective (2016–Present)

In 2016, Simon Viklund co-founded a new company called 10 Chambers Collective with Ulf Andersson. He also kept working on his own freelance projects. In the same year, he signed a special agreement with BMG to write songs.

Simon composed the music for Robonauts in 2017. He also worked as a game designer, story director, and composer for 10 Chambers' first big game, GTFO.

Simon Viklund's Musical Style

Simon Viklund's music often uses sounds from electronic music. This includes styles like techno, big beat, electro-funk, and dubstep. But he also uses rock, industrial music, and rap in some of his songs.

In 2008, a Swedish magazine called Nöjesguiden described his music as "chip house." Simon himself said his music comes from many different ideas. He calls it "8-bit-inspired dance music." He explains that his music is a mix of what fits the game, what he likes, and what he's good at making.

For his early games like Ballistics, he was inspired by the Quake III soundtrack, Fatboy Slim, and The Chemical Brothers. These influences led to his rock, techno, and industrial sounds. When he made the music for Bionic Commando Rearmed, he was influenced by groups like The Crystal Method and Justice.

The Payday 2 soundtrack has a very wide range of music. For example, a trailer for the "The Big Bank" game update featured an opera piece. Simon composed this piece and wrote the lyrics in Swedish. Then, they were translated into Italian for opera singers to perform!

How He Makes Music

For his first two projects, Ballistics and Bandits: Phoenix Rising, Simon used a program called FastTracker 2. For the Bionic Commando series and Payday: The Heist, he used Jeskola Buzz.

In 2013, when working on Payday 2, he started using Ableton Live. He also used a Native Instruments Komplete keyboard and a special sound plug-in called reFX Nexus 2 Synthesizer.

Simon Viklund's Works

Video Games

Music Albums and Singles

Simon Viklund has released many of his songs as albums and singles. Some were on his own, and some were with Overkill Software.

Albums

Singles