ORBITAL – “P.E.T.R.O.L” from the IN SIDES album
Written by Paul and Phil Hartnoll
Drums : Clune
Some facts about this track:-
Commissioned for one of the first PlayStation games – Wipeout. Orbital were sent a VHS of someone playing the game for 5 minutes. They then used this to create the track, as if they were creating a score.
All the weird percussion sounds and odd FX was made on the ARP 2600. This was then sampled so it could be played like a drum machine. Clune breaks were also used.
The whining stereo drone is from one of Paul’s favourite synths. The Oberheim Xpander
I asked Paul about the title, to see if the letters meant something. He explained:-
“Sadly it doesn’t mean anything, we wanted to call it “Petrol” to go along with the dirty fuel feel of the game but one of my favourites , Severed Heads had a track which I love called “Petrol” . So as a kind of tribute to the heads and to make it different, we put the dots in giving it a bit of a future retro feel. Like a Gerry Anderson show… Captain Scarlet and U.F.O.”
