Sandy Cressman interview by Ryoga Masaki (September 2001)

This is an interview conducted by Ryoga Masaki, with Sandy Cressman, the vocalist for Sonic the Hedgehog CD's theme song, Sonic Boom. This is a pretty short interview as it was conducted through a single e-mail. It has been reformatted for better readability.

The Interview

Ryoga Masaki: I just have a couple quick questions for you, if that's alright. Now, I'm not 100% sure I have the right person, so I'd better as this first: Are you the same Sandy Cressman who was part of the vocal trio "Pastiche"? If not, then just ignore this.

Anyway, there was a game released several years ago for the Sega CD game system called Sonic CD. According to the credits, the title song "Sonic Boom" was sung by you, Jenny Meltzer, and Becky West, in the trio called "Pastiche."

If you'd be so kind, could you explain how Sega approached you/Pastiche with this opportunity, what happened during recording, if there was any "extra" music that was not put in the game, or anything else that may seem interesting. Also, if you happen to know the email address of Jenny Meltzer and Becky West, that would be helpful too.

Of course, if you don't want to, that's fine too. I'm just a fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog game genre, and I like to learn as much as possible behind every aspect of the games. ANY info you can give us at all about the part of the game you were involved in would be VERY appreciated!

Sandy Cressman: Yes, you have the right person, I am the same Sandy Cressman who is part of Pastiche. And yes, we did record the title song for "Sonic CD" ("Sonic Boom") as well as quite a lot of the game music itself.

I can't recall exactly how we were referred to the music producer at SEGA, probably through some backing vocal work we had done with major rock bands in the San Francisco area at one point; in any case, the producer called us and proposed that we help create some game music as well as co-write the theme song. We collaborated on the game music by working out vocal parts to music tracks that the producer (Spencer) had created. A lot of the vocal parts were improvised based on experimentation we had done using the instrumental tracks Spencer had prepared.

As for the theme song, we tossed ideas back and forth with Spencer to come up with the Sonic Boom song. I don't recall there being any extra music that wasn't used but it is possible.

Glad you enjoyed the game music. We are releasing a new CD this October on Summit Records that should be available at stores and on amazon.com.

External links

• Original Interview at Sonic Cult.