Early life Haslinger was born and raised in
Linz, Austria. He attended high school at Kollegium Aloisianum, a Jesuit school near Linz. After graduating, he decided to pursue music professionally and studied at both the
Vienna's Academy of Music and the
University of Vienna. During this time he developed a career as a session player in Vienna and performed with local bands and artists.
Tangerine Dream (1986–1991) In 1986, Haslinger joined the German electronic music group
Tangerine Dream. During his 5 years with the group, he recorded a total of 15 albums, participated in 4 international tours, and collaborated on a number of soundtracks including
Miracle Mile,
Near Dark,
Shy People and Miramar's
Canyon Dreams directed by
Jan Nickman. The soundtrack for Canyon Dreams earned Haslinger his first
Grammy nomination in 1991.
Solo work in music In 1991, Haslinger left Tangerine Dream and relocated to Los Angeles. At the time, he was signed to Private Music. While under contract, he worked on a joint project with
Peter Baumann, called Blue Room (unreleased). In 1994 Haslinger released his first solo record,
Future Primitive (Wildcat), followed by
World Without Rules (1996, RGB) and Score (1999, RGB).
Collaborations Through the 1990s, Haslinger collaborated on a number of projects with a variety of artists, among them: French Electronic band
Lightwave, dark-ambient icon Brian Williams, aka
Lustmord, singers
Anna Homler &
Nona Hendryx, as well as
Jon Hassell. In 1998, Haslinger was asked to join the team around film composer
Graeme Revell. He worked as a music programmer and arranger on films such as
Chinese Box (1999),
The Negotiator (1998),
The Siege (1998),
Pitch Black (2000),
Blow (2001), and
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Haslinger has always favored a collaborative approach to film scoring, and has worked with many studio musicians and performers, such as
Steve Tavaglione, George Doering,
Greg Ellis,
Diego Stocco, Charlie Campagna. In recent years he also started returning to some of his earlier work in experimental music, collaborating with
Christian Fennesz and other artists related to British Avantgarde label Touch.
Music for film Haslinger's first solo feature film credit came with
Crazy/Beautiful, his second collaboration with director
John Stockwell. They continued to work together on projects including
Blue Crush,
Into the Blue,
Turistas, and
In The Blood. Haslinger has provided scores to several indie and studio features including
The Girl Next Door,
Crank,
Turistas, ''
Shoot 'Em Up, Death Race, Takers, The Three Musketeers, and Mysteries of the Unseen World'', among others. In 2003, Haslinger scored his first film to open at number 1 at the U.S. box office,
Underworld, directed by
Len Wiseman. He returned to the popular franchise, scoring both
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and Underworld: Awakening. Haslinger's most popular track, "Eternity and a Day," has been used repeatedly throughout the franchise, and the score to
Underworld: Awakening received a 2012
BMI Film Music Award. Haslinger composed the music for
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and in theaters in 2017. A Resident Evil Soundtrack will be released in conjunction with the film. In November 2009, Haslinger was hired to compose a new score for
The Wolfman, replacing
Danny Elfman. However, the studio reverted to Elfman's previously completed score a month before the film's release after finding Haslinger's electronic-based score unsuitable.
Music for television Haslinger's first solo composer credit came in 2000 with the HBO Films television movie,
Cheaters, which began his relationship with director
John Stockwell. Taking a break from film scoring, he returned to television from 2005-2006 to score
Showtime's
Golden Globe-nominated series
Sleeper Cell which resulted in Haslinger's first
Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special. In 2014, Haslinger was hired to score the AMC series
Halt and Catch Fire. The show is set in the 1980s and has received much critical acclaim for its use of period-specific music. A
Halt and Catch Fire soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records in 2016. Expanding his work with AMC, in 2015 Haslinger was asked to write the music for AMC's spin-off series to
The Walking Dead, entitled
Fear the Walking Dead.
Music for video games In 2005, Haslinger was approached by
Ubisoft to score the video game
Far Cry Instincts. Since then, he has scored a string of game releases, including
Rainbow Six: Vegas,
Wolverine,
Need for Speed. Most recently he collaborated with
Ben Frost on the score for the latest installment in the
Rainbow Six series, entitled
Siege. ==Works==