For me, I'm the most inspired by concept and character art. It's such a joy when I'm brought in quite early on a project where they only have a few pieces of concept art and a very rough prototype. I'll write some concept music entirely based on the vibes the art is conveying to me along with major story beats and character arcs. In these early stages I have latitude to come up with ideas that could be unexpected by the directors/artists, and give them a knew perspective on how they interpret the art/story through music. If I hit the mark, the concept music then becomes vibe that artists and writers use to inspire them, and it becomes this interesting flywheel of shared creativity where we vibe off of each other's work.
 

I just really enjoy working with talented and people. I've been so fortunate to work on the projects that I have, and doubly fortunate that I've gotten to work with some of the kindest and and inspiring folks you can imagine. Making games is incredibly hard and so collaborative. From engineers to artists and audio directors, I just respect the work they do so much and I feel energised when we all come together to make something. Growing up as a huge X-MEN fan in the 90's, it would truly be a surreal moment for me to one day work within that franchise. 

Are there composers or any artists or music genres that have had a major influence on your work or inspire you with your career or motivations? 

I'm inspired by all sorts of music - I grew up listening to a wide variety of stuff. From Radiohead, Four Tet, Aphex Twin, MF Doom, Jerry Goldsmith, Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky. What I take and love to hear from artists is risk-taking, expansion, innovation etc. Music is a journey for me, it's never a stagnant set of rules and expectations. I am most inspired when I'm following that little voice that hears a note or timbre or mistake and thinks "ooo that sounded cool", and lets that inspiration guide me to each subsequent decision. I am also very lucky to call Will Roget a friend, and to get to work with him on Star Wars Outlaws and see his process. He's a super inspiring figure to me (don't tell him), his approach to scoring is always interesting to me.

What is your favorite piece you’ve composed on Star Wars Monopoly that has a special personal meaning to you? 

I created several different pieces of music for the heroes and the villains and had to write them in a way where they could seamlessly transition between one another at any point and still sound musical. In a way, it was like writing a 20 minute piece of orchestral music that could play out linearly, but also be able to jump from one to the other at any moment. It was an interesting challenge and a super fun way to create a constraint that fueled creativity. Ultimately, this is a game designed for young kids, so having fun with lightness and playfulness with the orchestra was incredibly fun. During this time I was also writing music for Harebrained Schemes sci-fi survival horror game GRAFT. And it was fun to have a day where'd I'd be hunched over my euro rack making the scariest noises you've ever heard and the next day I'd be writing these playful, bouncing and charming orchestral pieces for Star Wars Monopoly

What's next for Jon Everist?

A few awesome things I can't quite talk about yet, but as mentioned above I'm writing music for Harebrained Schemes (BattleTech, Lamplighters League) new game GRAFT. Which is a survival horror game set in a post-cyberpunk dystopian future. Really doing some interesting things with this one!