This week's jam, which you've heard before if the song is not familiar to you:
From of an A.V. Club article on heavily sampled beats, this one made the list, and has been featured in a lot of songs on DJ Hero. Also that drum beat is the same one from Foster The People's song "Houdini".
KICKSTARTER/ALBUM NEWS:
6 days late, but...
STATUS QUO RADIO KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!!!
It has been a VERY long time coming, but little by little, we're making our way there to the final release date. In progress for about 5 and a half years, the project is coming to fruition, and I couldn't be happier.
There were a shitton of other things I wanted to write about right now, but it's late, and I want to get this out (technically) on time.
FUTURE CON NEWS:
It looks like fall will be very busy for me, with Umicon, Mizucon, Chibi Pa and Ultracon looking very likely to round out the year. I will provide details on all of them as they are confirmed and coming out.
PAST CON NEWS:
My set from Orlando Nerd Fest was made into a proper video on Twitch but I think I'll wait a bit before I feature it here on the site, since it might get uploaded to YouTube or something else.
As an aside:
Today was a big day for fake video game wrestling video game events:
"Live From The Gravel Pit" started in 1956 on TV station KQUO. There isn't really an actual club called "The Gravel Pit", it's just a room in the studio, named as such because the headquarters is on the edge of a quarry.
Originally started as a talent/variety show called "The Quarrymen's Variety Entertainment Hour", the show was comprised of mostly novelty acts and gentle comedy, meant to be a brief distraction for the evening. The acts were just local talent in the immediate area, however acts recommended by sponsors took higher priority.
However, the focus gradually shifted to music when both the radio and TV Station found that Rock Music was becoming popular amongst the young and used it as an opportunity to gain more, younger customers. So, the name changed to "Live At The Gravel Pit" to appear more "hip".
Usually when a band appeared on "Live at the Gravel Pit", they were close to making it big, as the radio station, WQUO, would be playing their music non-stop. However, it was quite common for the station to require the song changed its lyrics, whether for profanity or other "controversial" statements. Still, many bands went along with the station's request, because of the privilege it brought.
It's main competition at the time slot was "Live From The
Dustbowl", which was the same program, but with the acts rearranged and
aired on a different channel, seemingly keeping the same announcer. KQUO
did this to get more money from different sponsors. Everybody who
caught on to the ruse just turned off their TVs at their time slot.
Yeah, Rock Band 4 news came out Monday, which means we were late again. And be we, I mean me.
KICKSTARTER/ALBUM NEWS:
OK, so I know I said the Kickstarter would be ready by Monday, August 24th. That day is passed, and while I have the copy all written out, the best I can guarantee is that it is being worked on. It's a big deal for me, and trying to get people to proofread it is like pulling teeth. However, it's all set to release in time for NEXT weekend.
UPCOMING SHOWS:
Umicon Daytona! All I need is confirmation for When. The bands play Friday, and I'm going to see what time that all starts so I can let you know and make the arrangements. S.S. Hanami will also be playing, so you can look forward to that. Gonna have a couple more new songs added to the repertoire. I really liked the set I played at Orlando Nerd Fest, so I'm going to build on that, since I would presumably have more time than 30 minutes, but for me, I'd rather have an intense 30 minute set than an hour where a lot of stuff gets thrown in.
MORE MUSIC:
Stuff is being conceptualized and written, but nothing to talk about yet, since I want to get the Kickstarter off the ground first.
STREAMING? Been doing it more, actually! Last Saturday I played The Consuming Shadow (GREAT GAME, BTW) and Lovely Planet. I'm going to try and stream Wednesday once I receive my IndieBox for this month.
WARNING! WRESTLING TALK AHEAD!
NXT: Takeover was great, as usual. I'll probably have it in the BG while I stream Wednesday which is certainly not today. Bailey finally gets her due by winning the NXT Women's Title, Finn Balor remains top dog in an intense ladder match, and Blue Pants helped the Vaudevillains to victory.
Summerslam, less so. Cena/Rollins and Undertaker/Lesnar were great matches, and Stephen Amell, while a bit "off rhythm" did a way better job than I was expecting so good on him.
Jon Stewart became America's Greates Face by hitting John Cena with a chair, then Cena revealed himself as a puppet of Fox News and World Dirtiest Heel by giving Stewart an AA the night afterwards. Even Stephanie McMahon was like "Yeah, you beat up Jon Stewart who everyone loves, what the fuck is wrong with you". If this isn't indicative of a heel turn, then fuck wrestling. Or not. I'll still watch it.
-OK, let's go over the breakdown again:
I'm Deadpool. I started the analogy, and I'm usually behind 99% of the non-sequiters on the show.
Cable
and Wolverine are the most regularly featured characters in Deadpool
stories, and alternatively to what I said in the podcast, Jeff could be
Wolverine, since he's hairier and drinks a lot, and Arcanon would be
Cable since he's handled way more guns. Meaning he's handled at least
one gun. And he's younger, so it's technically like he's from the
future.
Owen is Blind Al, Deadpool's roomate/prisoner. She's always the butt
of his jokes, though she goes over way more often, representing how he
always ignores our request to put music in.
John would be Weasel, informant/arms dealer, but now that I think
about it, he'd probably be like the Great Lakes Avengers, since he only
showed up that one time.
Anime Cow would be Ajax: relevant long ago, and featured prominently in an important storyline, but is a non entity.
Mystakin would be Taskmaster, since he and Deadpool always make for good storylines (the Eric and Erich show)
Though as another addendum, my perfect Rock Band 4 song would be "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie.
Not exactly difficult to play, but imagine the energy in that room.
-Fall Out Boy going sample heavy is A. a thing that's been noticed,
and B. Not entirely unexpected in retrospect. They've frequently worked
with hip-hop producers, and they've been able to survive the Post-Hot
Topic-Emo Downfall by just being weird. Like, really, who else would
have a music video directed by the Happy Tree Friends studio?
THEY FUCKING KILLED THEMSELVES IN THEIR OWN MUSIC VIDEO!
Them, My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco, survived by just
happening to be in that niche. MCR went with concept albums with
completely opposite tones and premises and went like "FUCK YOU QUEEN!".
Panic! decided to play around with being Steampunk Beatles.
But yeah, if you don't like being called part of a particular genre, be really weird.
-Dynamite Hack's cover I found out about through AMV Hell. (1:42)
-thanks marobama "Maro" is Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic The Gathering, aka The Guy Who's Ruining Magic The Gathering
-There has been a disturbing trend among my Facebook Friends. I don't
necessarily like calling this stuff out for the sake of maintaining
peace, but I feel like I need to say it. These days, people seem to be
more polarized than ever, and I'm an even-keeled person, but I can only
take such an injustice for so long.
Namely, picking the WRONG SHIT ON SPLATFESTS!!! Seriously, fact that
I'm seeing people pick hotdogs and waterslides is A LITERAL CRIME ON
HUMANITY
-Rock Head should have its own Wiki Entry. Like, me and Paolo should
work together on a page on here that says "The Lore Of Rock Head" and
just start making shit up. Why am I telling you jerks about this? GO
AWAY!
So, as Status Quo Radio will be a concept album, and Alpha Riff, who I saw at ONF, is doing this grandiose concept album series thing (ala Janelle Monae) called "Digital Champions" it got my noodle ticking (because that metaphor makes sense), so, here's the first edition of my equivalent of Uncharted Realms, Worldbuilding Wednesday:
The Bastards formed a couple months before graduation at
Badlands Public High School. Four friends, bored with playing in the
marching band, put down their brass and woodwinds for guitars and drums.
Originally, they called themselves The Brawlers, the name of their school's sports team. However, one night, they were playing at fellow student's house as part of a graduation party. They were playing so loud, a neighbor complained, yelling across the street. "SHUT UP YOU FUCKIN' BASTARDS!" Hearing that, the band decided to call themselves The Bastards from that day forward. They then also decided to antagonize said neighbor by crank their music up louder.
After graduation, the band began playing more shows,packing bars and clubs, eventually earning the attention of record executive Paul Ling from the label "Rock Everyone Demands!"
Under Ling's suggestion, they all wore matching purple suits and had corporate logos on their instruments. He had also suggested that each member took on a persona with the group's namesake. The drummer was then known as Beat Bastard, the bassist would be Bass Bastard, lead
guitarist and piano player would be Lead Bastard, and the rhythm guitarist and
songwriter called himself Rhythm Bastard.
While the band thought it as a farce to mock other groups of the day, audiences everywhere ate up the gimmick and loved their music, playing bigger shows in bigger venues.
Their peak moment was when they were to perform their most popular song, "Status Quo Radio” on
the hottest music show on KQUO, “Live From The Gravel Pit”. Before the band was to go on stage, Ling had told Rhythm Bastard that the Administrator of the network had requested some changes to the lyrics.
During their performance, groupies rushed the stage causing a horrible
catastrophe, resulting in the deaths of Lead, Bass and Beat Bastard. Rhythm Bastard was presumed to be dead after jumping out the second floor of the studio.
Switchin up the format a little bit
MUSIC NEWS:
Before you think,
"HEY ASSHOLE! QUIT FUCKING ABOUT WITH YOUR QUEERMO FRIENDS AT ANIME FESTIVAL ORLANDO AND LET US
KNOW WHEN YOUR MAGIC: ORIGINS SONG IS COMING OUT!"
Normally, I would not respond to such a rude request, but I was going to mention that next THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Yeah,
I finished writing my verse tonight, will record it this week, and post
up a demo version with Gideon and Jace's verse ASAP.
Remember I'll be moving soon, so I'll try to
record some new songs once moving is done, but until then I'm going
to have a lot of concepts/demos. maybe even play one of these new songs
at UmiCon Daytona or whatever the next con I'm playing is.
ALBUM/KICKSTARTER NEWS:
I'm
finishing up the "libretto" (Lyrics and Spoken Word sections) to send
to someone special. I got a week until the 24th, SO I BETTER NOT FUCK IT
UP!
Which hopefully I get a good stretch of time to work on the Kickstarter copy.
Regardless, Status Quo Radio IS GOING TO BE THE REALEST THING YOU EVER SAW
this week's in jammitude:
TV on the Radio is one of those weird cases in the realm of indie bands, where their singles the only songs on that album with a pulse. Same with others, like Phoenix and Foster The People. (though those two represent the sliding scale of "1 car commercial song/11 plodding instrumentals" to "We're going to stay the speed limit").
Still, it doesn't take away from the energy, but be warned that while the album "Seeds" is well done, it's slooooooow goooooinggggg.
"Lazerray" is going to be in the upcoming Guitar Hero and, from the sound and looks of the music video, the next Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
SPEAKING OF SONGS IN TONY HAWK:
Yes, I went to Anime Festival Orlando, no I wasn't performing. It sucks, but it's still a really great con/music lineup. Random Encounter and Geekapella played, DJ Roborob and Ben Briggs DJed during the rave, which a lot of people from Orlando Nerd Fest helped out with. Also, Mervyn McCoy (who did the album cover for Status Quo Radio) and ZIppertan (artist and cosplayer) from Paperlab Studios, #SoFloConBros had a table in the artists alley, caught EyeQ and Rob from SS Hanami, cosplayers/other performers I've met before. Did some Brand Consulting for King Pheenix....
So, like, a solid third of my Facebook Friends were there :D
Didn't see any guests, but ran the tables at the Modern Magic The Gathering tourney and I finally got to get in a round of Arena Of The Planeswalker, the new Magic The Gathering Board Game:
It took three people to decipher the rules. Not because it was hard, or there were too many (any of the Magic The Gathering stuff plays more like Yu-Gi-Oh), but that the instructions were poorly written. It gave us Step 1 and Step 3, but no Step 2.
Once the game got going, every one seemed to like it, even though there were two people not really familiar with Magic.
Don't hate, knowing this rap won me and my team paintings in the trivia contest at Orlando Nerd Fest:
For those of you further behind, (from their site) Orlando Nerd Fest is an annual celebration of nerd music and
culture.I was there last year, this year was in the Orlando Science Center. Not the worst venue, but it was an interesting one. Like, it would make a great Rock Band/Guitar Hero level.
I performed at the day after show at The Geek Easy on Monday. Other than my pinky cramping up during one of my songs, it went pretty good. For me. Then Navi and Picnibus owned bones.
But yeah, it ruled.
I already posted up my impressions on Facebook, so I'll skip that for now.
Instead, I'll go to the two relevant things I announced at my show:
KICKSTARTER FOR STATUS QUO RADIO AUGUST 24th!
It'll be modest, to help with printing CDs and merch. Rewards will include the usual CDs, posters and T-Shirt, with hopefully the added playmat, and a private concert/MtG Draft.
I'm also setting up stretch goals where I can get a budget going for a music video and other things
For a $10,000 stretch goal, I will barge into Harmonix HQ to give them the entire album as DLC for Rock Band 4.
(I picked this date, as it's the date of the original release of the OG Team Fortress Mod)
That'll give me more than a month to finish things up for....
STATUS QUO RADIO RELEASES ON OCTOBER 9th!!!
The release of the Orange Box, aka the released date of Team Fortress 2.
"Status Quo Radio" is a concept album about a former rock star to tries to forge his own path in the world after his bandmates die. Originally inspired by the game Team Fortress 2, the concept goes beyond that into a tale of love and revenge.
END COPY
Orlando Nerd Fest was a motherfucking blast, and the fact that I'm only kind of tired from my long work day is just icing on the cake.
5 thoughts as I put together Status Quo Sunday and make sure my car is already unpacked
1. Different venue that kept things PG (I SCIENCE PEOPLE!), and less
HUGE HUGE names (MC Chris being the biggest), but it didn't really feel
like a step back, more like a step to the side. Keep in mind last year
was technically another side step as it came out of the ashes of Nerdapalooza.
If Chozo Ninpo and the rest of the ONF crew use this year as a base to build on for 2016, then it can grow into something really special.
2. Not as many big names left a lot of other people to impress, with Rapper SkyBlew and Psychadelic Punk Hop group Navi + Picnibus (who also played with EyeQ and Dj RoboRob during their sets) probably being the breakout stars of the show. Also Askmeificare
propmted a "DUDE WHERE DID YOU FIND THESE GUYS?" in Chozo's direction.
Navi described them as "Bad Brains meets ODB" which is pretty apt.
Also, finally saw Mega Ran in concert, and preordered #RNDM on the spot.
3. This scene is diverse! So many different kinds of people CREATING so
many different kinds of art and music, all who consider themselves
"nerds". In a world where that's defined by consumption, creation and
contribution is, at least in my opinion, a sign of maturity.
"I'm not a nerd, but apparently these nerds are going to making their
nerd shit at NerdPlaceLand, they got all kinds of nerds, from door nerds
to butt nerds, maybe you hot anchor ladies I want to bang are too cool
for this gay baby nerd shit, but STEAMPUNK? VICTORIAN ERA? THAT'S WEIRD
HAHAHAHA! It's weird how nerds are infesting- I mean taking over Orlando
with their cooties- I mean nerd germs! Laser shows are fucking corny."
That guy probably thinks you take pot via needle.
Gamergate has NOTHING to bitch about: "Wah, cultural critics and marginalized groups are finding our medium of entertainment relevant enough to have opinions on it, and instead of making gaming better and more interesting with their feedback, we're going to be acting like dickbags and whine about framerates. WE'RE SO PERSECUTED!!!!"
ONF was like: "Hey, here's something within nerd culture that celebrates creation instead of consumption!"
"PFFT. fuck that"
4. Time for some negatives: The video game sellers leaving before 4 PM. I was all set to purchase some stuff after RPG-Unit's set (and see if they had Buck Bumble), but then BAM, left without a trace.
5. I've got a loooooong way to go as far as just about everything, especially after seeing Navi's and Random Encounter's sets.That should be the attitude, right?
-The lead singer is Odieus Urungus. Also in the band is Nermalus Erectus, Pookielus Maximus and Jonmak the Gusha.
That's ricotta cheese shooting out of Odie's nose.
-Guacamelee is a very fun game so far. Even when though I'm not that
far in, the aestechtic is enough to give me plenty to look at.
-In this week's edition of "I swear I'm not crazy, this exists", Pearls Before Swine:
This could be a dope rap.
For newspaper comics, you take what you can get, and Pearls Behind
Swine did the impossible by eliciting a sensible chuckle every now and
then. Oddly enough, there was enough a Rugrats daily strip around the
time the first movie came out. It wasn't terrible, and I was old enough
to still like the cartoon.
But the comics even 8 year old me hated qualify for the worst, like
we can agree Family Circus is grade-A bullshit, right? FUCK YOU JEFFY!!!
-I could spent HOURS talk about all the memes and nuances in the
Garfandom and the most popular Garfiction writers and ships (NERDIE
(Nermal/Odie) OTP (One True Pairing) 4 (for) LIFE!!! (the period in
which a being is considered alive (not dead))), but a true Garfiend like
me knows that the best place to start would be LASAGNA CAT.
-SNOOD is basically Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move. You launch shit at
same colored shit and you gotta do it before they go down. The website
says that it's for the GBA and PDA. Yeah...
-GIANT BOMB PLAYS... ROCKET LEAGUE!
West coast = Best coast?
-And last, but not least, the Buck Bumble theme, part of my mixtape called "Booty Jams To Fuck To Vol. 7"
Yeah, it's unfortunate, and the WWE could use more "out there" characters.
ARE YOU READY?
STATUS QUO RADIO UPDATE:
SOON.
Me and Roborob finished up mastering the tracks this past weekend.
I got the print back from my artist, who's doing an EXCLUSIVE print for the Kickstarter, and it looks AWESOME.
Everything's been budgeted out.
All I need to do is shoot the video, finish the copy and we're good to go! GUARANTEE by the end of the month. The family's moving by September, so in between all my preparation for that and ONF, I want to get this done ASAP.
Speaking of which:
ORLANDO NERD FEST!!!
I'll be there on Sunday, and playing on Monday at the Day After Show at 7 PM! Really looking forward to it, and getting my set-list ready now. I go on after SkyBlue, and before MagiTek.
I've only got half an hour, but it's thirty minutes of all the best, so the show will have a mosh-heavy intermission.
DEADPOOL TRAILER:
Yo, I'm down, but if I hear the word "Chimichangas" my hype goes from a 10 to a 5.
