If you weren’t at this past MAGFest (and shame on you if that’s the case) and you missed out on the merch area where great artists like Kris Huber were selling their musical ware, you are in luck! Not only can you still purchase physical copies of Huber’s album BLADEMODE that also features fellow MAGFest attendees and stage maestros Grant “Stemage” Henry, Sean” Ailsean” Stone and our own George “Norg” Nowik, but you can get it FOR FREE!
With the purchase of any physical copy of any Scarlet Moon Records album, you will receive a physical numbered copy of BLADEMODE for free while supplies last! With unique arrangements of music from Sonic the Hedgehog, River City Ransom and Shantae, it’s a pretty sweet deal. Previews of all of Huber’s music can be found on his bandcamp page.
More details can be found on the Scarlet Moon Productions Facebook page, along with links to their own albums Dragon Fantasy Book II OST and Monarch: Heroes of a New Age OST.
A new year has begun and with it another MAGFest down in National Harbor, Maryland. This was my second year attending the annual Music and Game Festival. There’s always a ton of things to do, from attending panels to rocking out at the concerts. Now that I’ve had a chance to recover from the trip and gather my thoughts, it’s time for a recap of some of what I experienced at MAGFest 12.
Most of the panels I attended were focused on music. The first of these was the “Write Your Own Nintendo Music,” hosted by Brendan “Inverse Phase” Becker. His talk focused on the tools that he uses for creating 8-bit/chiptune tracks for his music projects. He explained the methods in which music on the Gameboy and Nintendo Entertainment System was generated and what the musical and technological limitations for each were. Since this year’s MAGFest was Zelda themed, he included a demonstration of 8-bit music writing by reconstructing the “Dungeon Theme” from The Legend of Zelda.
Brenden “Inverse Phase” Becker
Two of the other music panels that I attended were hosted by game composer Tommy Tallarico. He’s probably best known for his soundtracks for Earthworm Jim and his work as the head of Video Games Live. The first panel “Video Games Live: Behind the Scenes” focused on his work with the orchestra program that he tours with around the world. Tallarico spent a majority of the time telling the audience stories about his experiences performing videogame music and revealed some of his upcoming arrangements for the orchestra. (more…)
MAGfest has once again come and gone from our lives for another year. For the 12th year in a row, the music and gaming festival has managed to bring a variety of people, bands, and cultures all together in one place and blown the roof off the Gaylord National Harbor. New faces graced the stages, huge surprises were unveiled, and an excited energy permeated the halls of the convention center and hotel alike. Now that it’s over and things like PMD (post-MAG depression) and MAGPlague have settled into the hearts (and lungs) of many ‘fest-goers, it’s time to remember some of that excitement and good feelings that MAGFest always seems to create.
Some more “Know Your MAG” before the big shindig itself starts getting underway. We have to give our resident non-VG band some loving spotlight! Here’s what you need to know about Love Canon and why you should be in attendance for their debut at MAGFest 12.
Based out of Charlotteville Virginia, Love Canon is probably one of the most unique bands to grace the MAG venue in its 12 years. Firstly, they’re not video game related in any way, shape or form. The four-man ensemble of Jesse Harper (guitar/vocals), Adam Larrabee (banjo), Andy Thacker (mandolin) and Darrell Muller (bass/backing vocals)instead perform covers of 1980s pop songs. Songs like “Africa” by Toto and “She Blinded Me With Science” by Thomas Dolby are their bread and butter. Secondly, if you didn’t notice in the band lineup, they perform said classic ’80s in bluegrass style.
That’s right; ’80s bluegrass. Because why the heck not?
You can probably guess now why, despite not being VG-oriented like most of MAGFest’s other performers, Love Canon has the exception. This unconventional-yet-interesting style mashup lends to a rather unique listening experience, and the band has gained a following for their blend of music and overall ability to generate a lot of fun energy. This should prove to be perfect when they perform at this year’s first ever MAGProm. Ever try dancing to ’80s bluegrass, because I’m sure you won’t be alone. They’ve released two full-length albums of their music and have toured around the country playing, so you may want to check out the rest of their discography in order to not let yourself get caught off-guard. Believe me, it’s worth a couple minutes-worth of listening at least.
Will this be the first of a new wave of non-VG music bands to grace the MAGFest stages in years to come? I guess we’ll have to wait and see! Love Canon will debut at MAGFest 12 at MAGProm on Thursday at midnight after the main stage concerts.
More “Know Your MAG” for MAGFest 12, and it’s time to touch upon some of the new Main Stage bands! This time around we have the almost exclusively Sega-oriented metal band, MegaDrivermaking their MAGFest debut.
Believe it or not, Megadriver has been around for a decade. Based out of Brazil, the band was created by Antonio “Nino Megadriver” Francisco Tornisiello and focuses on two things: Sega Genesis (aka: Megadrive) game music, and performing as metal as possible. In fact, Nino Megadriver boasts that the band was the progenitor of the “game metal” mold that many bands have since adopted as their style of choice. Whether this rings true or not, most would agree that having more Sega Genesis/Megadrive music is never a bad thing.
MegaDriver and it’s five-man crew of metalheads have released nine albums to date, with several recent updates to older tunes. Though almost solely Genesis/Megadrive based, they have been known to throw in some renditions of songs from other consoles, such as tracks from Batman for the NES and Starcraft II. However, expect a heavy dose of Golden Axe and Sonic the Hedgehog music that hopefully isn’t just “Green Hill Zone”. (Surprisingly, despite how prolific “Ice Cap Zone” is in the video game arrangement scene, to the point of being obscene, not one MAGFest band has performed it live. Could MegaDriver be the first?)
MegaDriver hits the Main Stage on Friday night at 10:30pm.
It’s time for more “Know Your MAG” with another brand new Stage 2 band gracing MAGFest 12 with the most glorious name – Lonely Rolling Stars!
LRS could be considered what is commonly known as a “super band”, and with good reason, as four of its five members are no strangers to the MAGFest stage. Pulling double-duty in his performance schedule this year is Grant “Stemage” Henry of Metroid Metal (also appearing with the previously mentioned Viking Guitar band), while also featuring George “Norg” Nowik and Sean “Ailsean” Stone from The Smash Brothers, Chris “cubosh” Dlugosz of Armcannon, and some guy named Chuck “finbeard” Simpson. How did this much awesome manage to come together to create such a menagerie of metal? If asked, the most probably answer would most likely boil down to “It seemed like a good idea at the time”, and I doubt anybody would be apt to disagree.
So what can you expect should you decide to take a moment and attend their debut MAGFest performance? Well, a healthy variety of game and pop culture music that rarely graces the MAG stage, for starters. Since the band’s name is based off the colorfully-odd puzzle game Katamari Damacy, it makes sense that their teaser track released prior to MAG to entice concert-goers would be steeped in such.
Based on the group’s Facebook, much ass was busted in order to produce the band’s first album, Carnivortex, in time to be sold at MAGFest alongside their concert performance. The majority of the rest of the album is masked in shadow and will have to be heard live at the band’s show (Sneak previews can be heard on the SML podcast with Stemage, Norg & Ailsean being interviewed). However, if the above taste of what’s to be expected from their debut is to be believed, the album should help alleviate any PMD or “Post-MAG Depression” sufferers after the melodious weekend is all wrapped up.
We’re officially under two weeks away from MAGFest 12, and as such it’s that time again for another annual round of “Know Your MAG”, where we introduce you to some of the musical performers of the upcoming MAGFest and start enticing you with the myriad of music available for your auditory enjoyment.
First up, we have one of the several new bands to grace MAGFest’s Stage 2 – Viking Guitar! (or Viking Guitar Live, or Viking Guitar Band; I’m not really sure what the official naming scheme is) This band originally started as the one-man arrangement team of Erik ‘Viking Guitar’ Peabody, who got his start participating in the Dwelling of Duels competitions and releasing his own albums of video game arrangements. Dedicated to spreading his own brand of metal melodies, he went on to creating a modest Kickstarter campaign with the idea of helping others learn how to arrange and record their own music – dubbing the project Viking Guitar University. Achieving full funding, the Viking continued producing his own arrangements, creating tutorials and learning aids through VGU, and participating in various community arrangements projects such as the recent Spectrum of Mana album.
However, there were limits to what one man could do, so Peabody began colluding with other arrangers in the community to expand to the stage. Combining the talents of Grant “Stemage” Henry, Ryan “Mega Beardo” Postlethwait, Adam Henry and Travis Morgan, the Viking Guitar (band?) was now packed with so much metal power it’d be insulting not to give it a spot on MAGFest 12’s stage.
What can you expect from the VG crew? In their own words, “Their premiere performance at MAGFest XII will crush your bones, burn your village, and put a damn beard on your face. KEEP THE WORLD METAL!“
Viking Guitar will debut at MAGFest on Stage 2, Friday at noon.
