His second LP, Big Sounds of the Drags, was released in 1999, once again with Tilon providing vocal work to most of the album's songs, as in "Action Radius", "Power of Big Slacks", "Zerotonine", "Love Like Razorblade", "Legion", and "Next Plateau". After a brief tour with The Prodigy and festival dates at Fuji Rock and Roskilde, Holkenborg made a name for himself in the upcoming U.S. Much of the album's songs featured lyrics and vocals by Patrick "Rude Boy" Tilon, vocalist for the Dutch rap rock band Urban Dance Squad.
Featuring singles such as "Billy Club", "Def Beat", and "Dealing with the Roster", the album combined pounding breakbeat rhythms with elements of rock and psychedelia. In 1997, Holkenborg released Saturday Teenage Kick, his first album under the "Junkie XL" moniker. Netherlands.ġ997–99: Saturday Teenage Kick and Big Sounds of the Drags It was during this time that he also began scoring the Dutch feature film Siberia, which would be released by Warner Bros. After signing with label Play It Again Sam in 1992 and releasing two LPs – Cancer of Choice (1993) and Blood & Gold (1994) – he continued as a producer, working with hardcore punk and metal bands like Sepultura, Fear Factory, and Dog Eat Dog, while simultaneously licensing some of his instrumental electronic tracks for racing video games like The Need For Speed and Test Drive 5. In 1993, Holkenborg produced Almost a Dance by Dutch metal band The Gathering, and later that year went on to form the industrial rock band Nerve with Phil Mills. He also produced and played on their 1994 album, Sputnik. It was shortly after he discovered synthesizers that he joined the Dutch new wave ensemble Weekend at Waikiki as a multi-instrumentalist and producer, touring extensively with the band, including through Poland and parts of the Soviet Union, from 1988 to 1991. After moving to Leeuwarden, at the age of 17, he decided to take a job at a local music store selling keyboards and other digital gear, and began to have an appreciation for the combination of electronic and organic sounds. Influenced by the psychedelic pop of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, he took up the bass by age 14.
Classically trained by his mother – herself an accredited music teacher – Holkenborg started playing piano when he was three years old, drums when he was eight, and guitar at 12. Holkenborg was born in Lichtenvoorde, Gelderland, Netherlands. 1.5 2004–08: Today and Booming Back at You.1.4 2003: Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin.1.2 1997–99: Saturday Teenage Kick and Big Sounds of the Drags.