The Make Believes, also known as Nick Lightbearer & the Make Believes are an in-universe boy band in We Happy Few.
Outside of that, the name is given to the primary makers of much of the game's unique music.
Production[]
Compulsion Games and the audio division of Signal Space Lab collaborated on bringing together some of Canada's most prominent names in the Montreal music scene to create The Make Believes.
- Murray A. Lightburn - Lead vocals, guitar, bass, composer of “I Have Seen Everything”. The Dears
- Brad Barr - Lead vocals, guitar. The Barr Brothers
- Andrew Barr - Drums, percussion, backing vocals. The Barr Brothers
- Patrick Watson - Lead vocals, keys. Patrick Watson
During recording, around late 2015 to April 2016, they kept to an analogue sound, along with vintage pre-amps and instruments. The lyric were created after being informed of the game world and the people inhabiting it.
The band created 10-12 tracks, though only 7 can be heard in the final game. There's an 8th song that can only be heard in the launch trailer, called "I Wanna Stay the Same.” As well, there is a 9th track that can exclusively be heard, with differing variations, throughout the Lightbearer DLC, this track is titled “I Have Seen Everything.”
Events of We Happy Few[]
The Make Believes are a popular band in Wellington Wells, once led by Nick Lightbearer as the lead singer and lead guitarist before he started a solo career. Morrie Memento was also a member, the keyboardist for the band before being kicked out by Nick.
Music Video[]
A trailer for the game hosted by Uncle Jack introduces The Make Believes singing the song, La La La.
The trailer gradually becomes darker as one of the band members goes off his Joy and sees that they are dressed in grimy clothing and their recording studio has fallen apart. As things get more and more disturbing, he is eventually given a Joy pill by one of his fellow band members and starts to see things in a positive way again.
The video was recorded by Gearbox.
Other Appearances[]
Other trailers prominently feature their music, showing chaos and forced conformity conflicting constantly with the main characters' goals.
Their music tends to show up in Stores, Cellars, Safe Houses, Nick's and Sally's Home. They also appear during special circumstances in the game, such as when Arthur is causing a riot in the Joy Doctors' hospital.
A song by The Make Believes, mentioned but never heard, can be found in The Unicorn Song quest.
Within the Nick Lightbearer Museum, found only in the Lightbearer DLC, framed gold records credit songs to The Make Believes such as “Girl, You Are My Joy” and “Have You Met Miss Boyle” — A third framed record can be seen, featuring a song credited solely to Nick, titled “Open My Eyes (But Not Too Wide)” — Later in the Lightbearer DLC, a minor character only known as Belinda, mentions that there’s a song by The Make Believes (or perhaps only Nick Lightbearer) titled “Give It a Twirl, Girl.”
Songs[]
- Dead of Winter (Lyrics)
- Out of the Blue (alternatively called You'll Never Change My Mind), (Lyrics)
- La La La (Lyrics) (Music Video)
- Smiling Crime (alternatively called Not a Crime to Smile), (Lyrics)
- When You're Gone (Only heard in-game during the Credits), (Lyrics)
- Georgie Joy (alternatively called Joy Time), (Lyrics)
- I Wanna Stay the Same (Only in the launch trailer) (Lyrics)
- Zombieland (alternatively called Cheer Up), (Lyrics)
- I Have Seen Everything (Heard in the Lightbearer DLC), (Lyrics)
Trivia[]
- If the player is on Joy, the songs will play at its normal tempo.
- Some of their songs mentions things that Wellies normally consider unpleasant topics.
- Joy Time becomes increasingly more and more disturbing as the song progresses, almost like a metaphor for a wellie going off of Joy.
- A line in Cheer Up and Smiling Crime mention children, as well as backing vocals in When You’re Gone.
- In The Dead of Winter refers to Uncle Jack as "the Madman on the telly".
- During the Lightbearer DLC, Nick is able to play short riffs on his guitar to swoon his rabid fans, these short riffs are parts taken from some of The Make Believes songs.
- The Make Believes was greatly inspired by popular British bands from the 60's, especially Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Nick Lightbearer was partially inspired by Mick Jagger, the lead singer and one of the founding members of The Rolling Stones.
- It is possible that some of the songs performed by The Make Believes were inspired by or sampled real songs from the 1960s. For example, "Joy Time" sounds similar to the song "Georgy Girl" released by The Seekers in 1966. This is further backed up by the fact that the alternative title for "Joy Time" is "Georgy Joy" which is a very similar title to Georgy Girl. Another possible similarity is the song I Wanna Stay The Same sounding similar in title and sonically to the song I Want To Hold Your Hand by The Beatles. This would fit, as the song was released in 1963.
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