Junkie XL

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Pseudonyms

Junkie XXL, JXL

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Junkie XL

Dutch 'super group' centred around producer and remixer Tom Holkenborg. Junkie XL is the most important Dutch representative of the triphop or big beats genre. Reduced to a solo artist he scored a global smash hit remixing Elvis Presley's A Little Less Conversation, released under the Elvis vs. JXL ...
Full biography

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Members

Tom Holkenborg   producer, toetsinstrumenten

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Former members

Frankie D   draaitafels
René van der Zee   gitaar
Patrick Tilon   rap
Henk Gubbels   gitaar
Marc Baronner   elektronica
Rudi de Graaff   percussie
Baz Mattie   drums
Full list... Summarized list

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News archive

Start Inschrijfperiode Dance/Producers Grote Prijs 2010 (4/29/10) 
ADE biedt nieuw platform voor talenten (9/2/09) 
Junkie XL genomineerd voor Grammy Award (12/4/08) 
50 jaar Nederpop op negen cd’s (9/26/08) 
More results Less results

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Biography Junkie XL

Dutch 'super group' centred around producer and remixer Tom Holkenborg. Junkie XL is the most important Dutch representative of the triphop or big beats genre. Reduced to a solo artist he scored a global smash hit remixing Elvis Presley's A Little Less Conversation, released under the Elvis vs. JXL tag in the summer of 2002.

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1996

After four years Tom Holkenborg breaks up with Phil Mills with who he formed Nerve. During his Nerve years Holkenborg already made a name for himself as producer for bands like Weekend At Waikiki, Kong, Cooper, Deinum, Dandruff!! and the Gathering. After the split with Mills Holkenborg continues working as a producer and remixer (Fear Factory). With flutist Chris Hinze he records under the name A Forest Called Mulu an ambient/triphop CD. Holkenborg wins the Grand Prix Of The Netherlands Talent Show in the category House Producer.

A Forest Called Mulu Chris Hinze Cooper Dandruff!! Deinum Kong Nerve The Gathering Weekend at Waikiki

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1997

At the age of 29 Holkenborg suffers a mild heart attack. On the advice of his doctor he has to take things slower. All this comes at the exact moment Tom's new project Junkie XL, with Urban Dance Squad rapper Rudeboy, gets off to a flying start. Junkie XL's new album, that guest stars Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, gets very positive reviews from the international music press. Junkie XL supports The Prodigy on their new tour and the band also wins a Heineken Crossover Award. The single Billy Club and the album Saturday Teenage Kick are very successful both in The Netherlands and abroad.

Urban Dance Squad

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1998

Holkenborg's ambient project A Forest Called Mulu receives an Edison Music Award. In March Junkie XL goes to the US for the first time. The band's successful gig at South By Southwest attracts the attention of the press and even leads to a front-page article in one of Holland's leading newspapers. Due to personal differences of opinion, Holkenborg fires DJ Frankie D. Junkie XL receives a Zilveren ('Silver') Harp music award for most promising new act.

A Forest Called Mulu

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1999

Junkie XL is awarded the Popprijs ('Pop Prize'). Guitarist Van Der Zee is replaced by Henk Gubbels from Weekend At Waikiki. Holkenborg and Rudeboy work on a new Junkie XL album. Holkenborg performs at the Lowlands festival under the name Junkie XXL. In October the album Big Sounds Of The Drags comes out. The album is slightly mellow and is influenced by both French techno and '60s music from the Byrds, the Beatles and Pink Floyd. The single Zerotinine is a minor hit.

Weekend at Waikiki

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2000

Rudeboy announces that he has left Junkie XL. The rapper says that things within the band have been going wrong for quite a while. Especially the fact that Holkenborg was planning to do the gigs alone, without the rest of the band, has set bad blood. Then Rudeboy was asked to join him anyway and finally all shows were cancelled. After that Rudeboy was told that of all major festivals (Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Pinkpop and Glastonbury) he would only be playing Pinkpop. Holkenborg, however, announces on his website that Rudeboy was of the opinion that Junkie XL was going too much into the direction of dance music. He also announces he will be working with guest vocalists. The band goes on tour in Japan with other Dutch acts Nits and Arling & Cameron. The track On The Edge is used for a Nike commercial during the Olympic Games in Australia. With Sander Kleinenberg he works on the song Venus And Mars, which will end up on the 12" Four Seasons (part 2). Vocalist on Venus and Mars is the singer of UK band Fluke. In November Junkie XL supports Underworld on three of their UK shows.

Arling & Cameron Nits

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2001

Holkenborg remixes the track Vogue by Japanese Ayumidi Hamasaki. He also works with DJ Tiësto on a song for Tiësto's new album and co-produces Mimezine's debut album and mixes the album Conjure 1, a project by Canadian Rhys Fulber (Delerium). Besides that he also records a track with DJ Sasha. In the meantime he is also one of the candidates for the soundtrack of the US film Bully by Larry Clark. The track Action Radius features in the horror film Ginger Snaps. Junkie XL plays at the South By South West festival in the US and the Gatecrasher festival in the UK. In May Junkie XL receive the Lucky Strike Dance Award for Best Live Act. The 12" Red Heat is scheduled for release in September.

DJ Tiësto Mimezine

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2002

Holkenborg remixes the Elvis Presley song A Little Less Conversation for a Nike television campaign. It's the first time in history that somebody gets the permission of the Presley estate to remix one of the King's tracks. As not to associate the name of the King with that of drugs, the song is released under the name JXL. Supported by the Nike campaign during the World Cup Football in South Korea and Japan, it is broadcast worldwide and becomes a global smash hit. A Little Less Conversation reaches the number one spot in countries such as Canada, Estonia, Norway, Sweden and Portugal and Holkenborg makes appearances in BBC's Top Of The Pops and the David Letterman Show. In July a new Junkie XL 12" is released. The band also plays at various international festivals. Holkenborg makes a 10-minute long remix of Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia's new single Beauty On Fire. Junkie XL's new album, originally scheduled for release in September, is postponed until early 2003 because his record company wants a simultaneous release worldwide. The Elvis remix is nominated for a dance award by UK Muzik Magazine. In November a large part of Junkie XL's equipment is stolen from Holkenborg's studio. Because of this several gigs have to be cancelled, including his live appearance at the Dutch Dimension house party at the Heineken Music Hall.

DJ Tiësto

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2003

In February V2 Records releases the DVD Op Weg Naar Stadskanaal. This DVD contains films that have been shot in 2001 for an online magazine called 3Voor12 broadcast by pubcaster VPRO. The Junkie XL DVD is released as a limited edition and can only be purchased via VPRO because the release does not fit in with the promotional activities surrounding Junkie XL's new album. On June 2 Junkie XL's long awaited third album is released worldwide. Radio JXL - A Broadcast From The Computer Hell Cabin consists of two CD's and its theme is 'radio.' The first CD is called 3pm and consists of a mixture of dance and pop. The second CD, 3am, is more like a DJ set. Guest musicians on the album include the late great Peter Tosh, Gary Numan, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Solomon Burke (on the single Catch Up To My Step), Terry Hall (ex-Specials), Anouk, Grant Nicholas (Feeder), Sasha, Robert Smith (The Cure) and Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode). Junkie XL makes a remix of the track Red Pill, Blue Pill for the film Matrix Reloaded and the Animatrix Soundtrack. The track contains samples from the Matrix film ('take the red pill, take the blue pill') and is released as a very limited edition on 12" vinyl to promote the film. As a promotional stunt Junkie XL plays an illegal, thirty-minute, set on the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam on May31. Prior to his gig on the Pinkpop festival Junkie XL plays a try out gig on June 5 in the Oosterpoort in the city of Groningen. His band includes Baz Mattie and Marc Baronner from Mimezine and Rudi de Graaff from OLaBOLA.

Anouk Mimezine OLaBOLA Thé Lau

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2004

A Little Less Conversation is nominated by The Dance Music Academy for a USA Dancestar Award in the category Best Use Of Music In A TV Show. The Elvis adaptation was used in the US TV-series Las Vegas. Holkenborg moves to the US where he starts producing music for commercials for various companies. A few of the artists who are remixed by Junkie XL this year include US/Japanese duo Ryukyu Underground, songstress Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer Michael Bublé plus pop star Britney Spears (her single Outrageous). Junkie XL composes and produces the music for the trailer along martial arts film Hero (by China's Zhang Yimou). Also, he is responsible for about a quarter of the theme music to box office hit Catwoman (featuring Halle Berry and Sharon Stone).

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2005

Along with Weezer, Cocteau Twins, Chemical Brothers, Keane, Nine Inch Nails, New Order and the Prodigy, Junkie XL performs live at LA's Coachella festival. In May computer game Forza Motorsport by Microsoft is launched, featuring music by Junkie XL. Junkie XL remixes And Then We Kiss by Britney Spears. The track can be found on Britney's album Remixed that is released on November 8 in the US. Junkie XL's music is also used in the promotion campaign for Britney's new Elizabeth Arden perfume Fantasy. Junkie XL is asked by British rock act Coldplay to remix their single Talk. The producer also contributes to the motion pictures Domino and Kingdom of Heaven.

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2006

Today is the title of Junkie XL's new single and new album. Vocals on the title track are sung by the unknown American singer Nathan Mader. At the Musicians Day on May 27 at Amsterdam's Melkweg, Junkie XL wins a Devil (musicians to musicians) Award (established by the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute) in the category Best DJ/Producer. In conjunction with Henny Vrienten Junkie XL writes the campaign song for Labour in the elections. Furthermore he provides a remix of the Scissor Sisters single Land Of A Thousand Words, which is released in the UK in December.

Henny Vrienten

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2007

Junkie XL writes the score for the (romantic) film Blind (February), the debut by director Tamar van den Dop. It marks the first time that he composes and arranges his music synchronously with the images of the film. Junkie XL also provides tracks for popular EA-games Madden NFL 07 and Need For Speed: Carbon. He is the first artist who signs with US record company Artwerk, a joint venture between games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) and record label Nettwerk.

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2008

Booming Back At You, Junkie XL's fifth studio album, comes out in March on Artwerk Music, a collaboration between Electronic Arts and Nettwerk Music Group. First single More (with vocals by Lauren Rocket) is the most prominent track with the computer game Need For Speed Pro Street. Other guests on the album include Tommy Vext, Dino Cazares, Nicole Morier (Electrocute), Gus Seyffert and Steve Aoki. The second track Cities In Dust is a cover of a Siouxsie & The Banshees song. Junkie XL does a remix for Madonna's single 4 Minutes To Save The World. His remix of the track Don't Speak by The Eagles Of Death Metal is used for a commercial by Nike which is directed by Guy Ritchie, husband of Madonna, and can be seen in June during the European football championships.

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2009

Junkie XL and Moke feature in a commercial for beer brewery Grolsch. In July both acts perform on top of a building in the city centre of Amsterdam. Junkie XL mixes the symphonic version of the album Elect The Dead by Serj Tankian, the Arminian-American vocalist of metal band System Of A Down.

Moke

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Discography Junkie XL

In the discography you will find all recordings that have been released listed chronologically. We restrict ourselves to the title, the type of audio, year of publication or recording, label, list of guest musicians, plus any comments on the issue.

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Photos Junkie XL

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Video Junkie XL

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