The story behind how Rockstar Games got a now-iconic song into GTA V’s main trailer and a game ending has been revealed by the artist who created the track.
The Chain Gang Of 1974 lead Kamtin Mohager took to the project’s social media channels this week to share the story on how he met Rockstar Games and the process of getting “Sleepwalking” in the game. Hearing insights from people that work on Rockstar Games titles and learning how it goes down for an artist is really cool so this will be certainly appreciated by Rockstar fans.
Before GTA V’s Reveal
The story starts in 2011 when the The Chain Gang Of 1974 were due to play at Lollapalooza. On the day before the band took to the stage, they attended a party for their then-booking agent. Mohager recalls getting a take on his shoulder and a man asked if he was Chain Gang. The musician assumed he was just a fan but the person who got his attention revealed he worked at Rockstar and that those at the company were fans of the band.
Without sharing much, the Rockstar employee told Mohager that they were busy working on something they can’t discuss. A business card was given to the singer which he later passed onto his manager. Now this took place in August 2011. This was before GTA V was officially announced with its first trailer that November so the band would not know what it was for.
Meeting With Rockstar
A few months after Lollapalooza, Kamtin recalls getting a from his manager. Rockstar rung to meet him at the Roosevelt Hotel so off he goes. A “super chill” team from Rockstar were there and told him the were currently making Grand Theft Auto V and would ” your music to be involved”. Rockstar nor Mohager did not know how his music would be used. Little did he know it was not just going to be a track on a radio station.
In that moment, The Chain Gang Of 1974 were working on an album. That would end up being named Daydream Forever and released in 2014; after GTA V’s release. Mohager played the Rockstar staff some demos he had already for that album including Sleepwalking and Lola Suzanne. Interestingly, Rockstar were more drawn to the latter according to the songwriter and they were throwing around ideas of using it.
Explosive Event
Some months later, Kamtin reveals Chain Gang Of 1974 were busy changing the tires on their tour van when they received a call from their manager. The band’s rep said that Sleepwalking was being tested for the GTA V ad and that it’s looking like it will be used. The manager did caution them to not get their hopes too high just in case Rockstar opt for a different track.
On August 26th, just a few days after that call, Mohager is told Sleepwalking has been chosen to be in the game’s adverts, radio station and one of the ending songs. 3 days later, Grand Theft Auto V: The Official Trailer released featuring Sleepwalking by The Chain Gang Of 1974 and the rest is history. It ended up being the song that played when gamers picked Ending B (The Time’s Come) leading to Michael’s death.
Sleepwalking became a huge hit for the band and has seen longevity thanks to GTA V’s near-13-year resilience. Mohager acknowledges the song is why most people know him:
“So that’s how it happened. It was simply just a tap on the shoulder. I’ve learned to accept the fact that I am most familiar to many for that song, and I’ve grown to love the song for what it is. But, yeah, I hope you enjoyed Story Time. We’ll do more of these.”
The artist revealed last year it had surpassed 100 million global streams and thanked supporters for continuing its success over a decade later. Chain Gang Of 1974 has recently released new music which you can check out here.
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