Status Quo GODLIKE

OCT 9TH- STATUS QUO RADIO 5TH ANNIVERSARY

Oct. 9th is when I released "Status Quo Radio" in 2015, on the 8th Anniversary of the game that inspired it, Team Fortress 2. October 10th, apparently IS the release date for Team Fortress 2, so WTF.

I had a little listening party the other night, and while my vocals aren't as good as they are now, I was able to appreciate the vast majority of the album, and how precisent some of the things were. My main problem is that today some parts of it come off "Both Sides"-y, because over the process of writing the album I went from "left-libertarian" to "God I WISH Obama was a Socialist".

Somewhere on my Hard Drive is a script for a Status Quo Radio movie/long form music video because over the course of writing it, I got real into Janelle Monae and The Who, so you could see an emotion picture influenced by Quadrophenia at some point in the future.

VIRTUA ONGAKU 4

 

On September 26th, I played my first Ongaku Overdrive show, Virtua Ongaku 4! It was a great show overall, with the rest of the acts killing it.

Roborob snapped this photo in chat during "Think Geek Is Not Nerdcore", and it goes to show you that I can still run a crowd, even online.

NEW SINGLE! "Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!"

This past month's Patreon song is inspired by my RPG Pals Club character, Oi! the Punk Drow Monk. Also fitting as we returned to Waterdeep after 6 months.

Last month's song was supposed to be about Sett from League Of Legends, but it wasn't working out. When I was copying notes into my lyric notebook, I found this song more or less done.

Patrons will get the full character backstory, but everyone gets the TL;DR- Drow hears slaves play rock and roll, and he finds it so kick ass he helps them escape the underdark.

NEW SINGLE! "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza (1975)"

 

After the announcement for Five Nights At Freddys for the Playstation 5, I decided to drop a little something from my upcoming album Hardcore Nerdcore Punk Rock. This song is a live staple, and I love breaking this out to give myself some downtime after a really intense song. Fun Fact: Never played a single one of the games. AAHAHAHAHA!!!

JAM OF THE WEEK: "Cult Of Dionysus" by The Orion Experience

Thank GOD for Jim Sterling, otherwise I wouldn't have found this song in his review of the game Hades.

The Orion Experience has been buried for a while in the alt-rock boom of the mid 00's, having been on Laguna Beach and Zoey 101 and then sputtering out sometime around 2014.

"The Cult Of Dionysus" does so much right, that I think this band deserves a second look. The bass is the backbone of this song and gives the track a bouncy groove, especially when it came in at juuuuust the right time. I also like the production and the arrangement of the guitars, where they're at the lower end, but you notice them juuuuust enough to get that harmonic envelopment.

Also the song is about drunk polyamorous fucking and getting high.

Hades is an absolute blast to play, especially is you like hack-n-slash games and roguelikes, while getting rid of all the downsides of either genre. EASILY a strong contender for GOTY.

Status Quo Sunday Had A Very Busy Two Weeks

MY PATREON IS LIVE!

Yes, I finally made the jump into Patreon. I was waffling on it for a while, but I'm taking that step forward. Having a Patreon would help me be able to do more inbetween shows and releases, and motivate to keep working toward whatever that next step may be.

Even if you can't become a Patron, I always appreciate all of you who give me a like on Facebook or Twitter, or come out to my con shows. That's evergreen :)

"FIND THE IMMORTAL SUN" CAME OUT!




Oh yeah, THAT big thing that came out last week. Ixalan takes place on a plane with pirates, so I made the most pirate-y punk song I can think of, taking inspiration from Pirate Metal and Celtic Punk. The accoridion was a VST programmed by me, and Tsukino and Stanpai helped out on vocals. I would have liked to have more people joining in, but hopefully the awesomeness of this one is good enough.

Honestly, I feel like I've been hitting a real hot streak with my MtG songs lately. I just feel like the songs are coming out better, as I've learned more about production.


STATUS QUO RADIO IS NOW 2 YEARS OLD!




Yeah, the OTHER big thing that came out last week. Team Fortress 2 is 10 years old, and that means that Status Quo Radio is 2 years old. I put a lot of work into that album, and I'm of two minds about it: Part of me wants to do more in that setting, maybe a comic like My Chemical Romance's "Danger Days", or a movie like The Who's "Quadrophenia", while another part of me wants to move on and put together Album Number 3.

Status Quo Radio was and is a big milestone for me, and I feel bad that it didn't garner at least a little bit more attention. It was an ambitious project, and I saw it through to the end. 

Also, SO MANY THANKS to DJ Roborob for his mixing and mastering and production gewdness!

Would I do a similar thing with Overwatch? Thematically, a sequel MIGHT work. However, what made me to SQR in the first place was how different the 9 different classes in Team Fortress 2 felt and played. There's too much overlap between Overwatch's characters, and Blizzard is always adding more, so it wouldn't be as concrete. I love the game (see "Fire In The Hole"), but it might be a thing like my Magic The Gathering songs where it's constantly rolling forward.


JAM OF THE WEEK:"Rush" by Big Audio Dynamite



Oh Xenagos, this week isn't done yet?

Big Audio Dynamite was a band that Mick Jones, former guitarist of The Clash formed in the late 80's. This is one of their bigger songs, and it feels like if The Clash went even more Pop after the success of "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" ala Green Day.

I've liked the song since I was a kid, but OH MY GOD IS THIS VIDEO AWKWARD TO LOOK AT. It has all the hallmarks of a cheap 90's music video: Bad sync, shots of people outside at the beach, washed out slow mo, and MICK JONES GIVE BLOSSOM BACK HER HAT.


OFFICIAL RHYTHM BASTARD DISCORD 

As part of the stream and the Patreon. Yeah, lot of stuff for this week.

Wake Me Up Before You Status Quo Quo

IXILAN TRACK DROPS THURSDAY

Rejoice!

STATUS QUO RADIO ANNIVERSARY STREAM SOON

The 10th Anniversary For Team Fortress 2 is coming up soon, which means it will be the second anniversary for Status Quo Radio. Most likely I'm probably going to do a listening party/concert, but I'll keep you all posted on the details. 
JAM OF THE WEEK: "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day



His name is Billie Joe Armstrong you fucking ingrates.


(Hopefully) it's October 1st when this gets out, but I've been seeing a lot of "WHUP! WE BETTER WAKE THAT GREEN DAY GUY UP"



I also say "And Also With You" on May The Fourth Be With You.

The song still gives me goosebumps every time. It was originally written about the death of Billie Joe Armstrong's father, as he died when BJA was only 10. Every time I hear it, I can't help but think of my own Dad, who got into Green Day around the time of 21st Century Breakdown and we went to both Madison Square Garden shows on that first tour. We also went both the Broadway showing of American Idiot, and the touring production when it came down here to Fort Lauderdale. So yeah, Green Day occupies a special place.

Despite all that, there's still  some problems. The music video sucks. The track doesn't fit in with the story of "American Idiot", although tonally it makes sense where it's placed on the album. The endless-

OK, this one is kinda neat.

Status Quo Wednesday Mentions Pokemon

STATUS QUO RADIO NOW ON iTUNES!

No concerts for a while, no music ready yet, and Thanksgiving this weekend, so this week's kinda low effort. 

POKEMON SUN AND MOON!


is a game I don't have yet. Art by art friend at god-bird-art. 

Instead I got Zero Time Dilemma off the eShop sale. Like most games in the Zero Escape series, they take a while to get started, but once the requisite "WE'RE STUCK SOMEWHERE?" and "ZERO IS ONE OF US?" questions end, the game gets really interesting filled with all that anime pseudoscience I know and love.

The one thing I'm not liking so far is that you can't play it through until you reach a fail state; everything is so compartmentalized. Instead of VLR's one long timeline, ZTD breaks them up into smaller sections.



THIS WEEK'S JAM: "POLKAMON" by Weird Al Yankovic


It's Weird Al, Pokemon is the clickbaity thing I'm going with here.

Status Quo Wednesday Is On El Radio

ULTRACON!



This was kind of out of nowhere (got the announcement last week?), and I won't be there on Saturday, but how can I turn down a show on the 1 year anniversary of Status Quo Radio?

Last year, the rooms got shuffled around and I wasn't able to get a show, hopefully the hurricane doesn't fuck with things.


THIS WEEK''S JAM:



Todd in the Shadows covered this on a recent episode of his series "One Hit Wonderland", and despite his opinion of song, I was into it when he did a piano rendition in the intro. The original version is right in that spot of more punk-y new wave, but Authority Zero did a version with the energy and bounce that I was looking for in the song.



1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF STATUS QUO RADIO
Status Quo Radio is out there. It took me 5 years from a concept of a Team Fortress 2 album to what we have today. It was this project that as it went along, I added more to it: my frustrations, my fears, my politics, and while I can still say it was influenced by the video game, it's not so obvious you could play on Nerdist as "#EPIC Team Fortress Song!", it'd get big for a week, and then fade out. That's not what I want.


I'm not a hack like Brentalfloss or Natewantstobattle* where I'm compelled to do something based on the HOT NEW THING because it's already an effort to bring myself to work on music in the first place because, hey, I went and got myself a real job and my free time is trying to hold on to my will to go in tomorrow. Since I can't be relevant, I'll work on being good.

Looking ahead, I'm still going to make music of course, and do the Magic The Gathering songs, and everything else, but I don't know if I can bring myself to do an album without a "point".

But for now, I'll be proud. I'll be thankful for DJ Roborob, who I met by chance at Omni Expo 2 years ago, and was a great partner in mixing, mastering, and getting this thing finished.

I'll be thankful for Arcanon who did the drums for a few songs and helped make the beats that much better.

I'll be thankful for David, Jesse, Rhythm Dadstard, who contributed vocals.

I'll be thankful for anyone who listened and liked it.

Thank you!

*No disrespect, both are very talented and most certainly not hacks, but I'm trying to get some heel heat.

Status Quo Wednesday Whoops And Whoa Ohs

MIZUCON RECAP? ALREADY?
Yeah, weird, right? First, I'd like to thank the con chair for being such a chill guy and hooking me up with a show!

After I got a monitor so I can hear myself, the show went well, and the new song I've been playing (so far) only at cons has been really fun to play, and has gone over big! I don't plan on keeping it "live only", but I think playing it first to a much smaller crowd (i.e. Not The Internet) helps work out some of the kinks.

A group of people I see at a lot of South Florida cons and events is/are The 3000 Brigade. I didn't know what they were for the longest time, whether they were a podcast, an indie studio, a creative collective ala Chaotic Neutral, etc. However, I was able to catch their stage show Saturday night, a Super Smash Bros themed Telethon.

I learned two things that night:
1. They only play once a year at Mizucon, which is why a lot of the jokes were about the stage quality and low ceiling
2. They put on a damn good show with music, choreography and costumes, for what is essentially gonzo crossover fanfiction.
3. #DicksOutForToad

Mega Ran also performed that night, and as a rare treat was joined on stage by YTCracker. My only regret is that I didn't have something silly on hand for Ran to freestyle rap about.

FUN FACT: While Mega Ran was the first rapper licensed by Capcom, who were the other two to come later?

THIS WEEK'S JAM:

How did I go so (12 days) long with out mentionin Green Day has a new song?

It's all right. Heavier than their usual fare, got a kinda Sex-Pistols thing going on.

Now, what I'd like to draw your attention to is the name of Green Day's new album: Revolution Radio, which comes out October 7th.

There was a similar album released October 9th last year with a similar title...

YOU DIRTY MOTHERFUCKERS.

WHOOPING LIKE A MILLENIAL:
Normally any news article with Millenial in the title wants to make me punch my monitor and crack the spine of the old motherfucker who wrote it like I'm Bane:


However this article I think warrants some discussion, because the shift from the switch from the fifth to the third, or as the author calls it "The Millenial Whoop" is one of those things that once you notice it, you see everywhere.

"Whoa-oh Whoa-oh". Click the link to hear what I'm talking about, but it's a lot quicker than pop-punk whoa-ohs. Here's a supercut that's kinda what the author's talking about:




Though it's unfortunate that the example used is The Lonely Island's song, "Fuck Off" is the most clear (and catchiest) usage. There are a couple good examples he lists, like Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and Owl City/Carly Ray Jepsen's "Good Time", but the rest that come up aren't as solid. Some are songs made by people who came before millennials.

Overall, while it's an interesting trend, I'm not entirely convinced it's a Millennial Thing or a Whoop. It's more of a vocal HOPO (Rhythm Gamer term y'all!) then something that can be properly established.

Still, I'd love to see if there's something similar in previous generations where there's a similar vocal shift used in a lot of the same songs if there's any social externalities or influences from other popular genres outside the Top 40.

Status Quo Wednesday Is Born Depressed

AFO RUMBLE!11:15 AM on Saturday, July 30th!

This week's jam:


Thank God for Jim Sterling. Has anything happened with them outside of the Jimquisition theme.

My new job is leaving me sunburnt and suicidal so I've been late with a lot of stuff and in a bad mood right now. 

So that means no Status Quo Stream tonight, since I finished this later than I wanted to and therefore would be starting the stream later than I want to, but I will do a stream this Saturday. Honestly, I NEED this shit now more than ever.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE STATUS QUO STREAM:


I don't want to give any of this up because as I sit here typing, needing to go to bed to get up early for an hour-plus commute, I'm exhausted, and the thought that I have to go in there tomorrow, not knowing what time I come home, then having to repeat that process the next day, fills me with nothing but dread.

Just completing something music related right now fills me with DETERMINATION, and the fact that this is not the be all end all.

"WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO HOME EARLY? WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO DO?"
"You're only the first stop."

WHAT'S THERE TO BE HAPPY ABOUT THEN? 
Well for one, The Final Deletion exists in all of its confusing glory:



And after I finished watching it, another Nero got deleted, namely wordshitter for Briebart Milo Y. (Last name withheld to dissuade neo-nazis) got his account deleted from Twitter. Basically, he's yet another white guy who rants about "Teh SJWs" because he has no other redeeming qualities about himself.

For those of you further behind, Milo Y. finally got his account deleted for inciting a hate mob on Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones. This was only the most recent case of his usual routine of sicking his followers on a target who's not a white male, to harass and humiliate them. Then he'd deny any malicious behavior, saying that he was just "offering his opinion".  Most recently he's done this with GamerGate, joining them after, like most conservatives, found it a way to use young people and bring them over to the right.

In a nutshell: "It's not a PRANK, it's a SOCIAL EXPERIMENT"

Also, for something not likely to get me WELL ACTUALLYED by Neo-Nazis with Anime Avatars, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE IS DOING A THING!!!



AHHH!!!

Status Quo Sunday Is A Bad Bad Man

NEW CD:
While it's not quite a new album or a Greatest Hits, I am putting together a collection of some of my fandom related songs that I've done throughout the years. A couple of my Magic The Gathering Songs, a couple of my comic songs, one or two tracks from Status Quo Radio, maybe a couple new tracks?

There's still a lot I'm looking into, but leave a comment below for any songs you'd like to see.






THIS WEEK'S JAM:

AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA!

No joke, John Cena is actually pretty good on the mic and sometimes says cuss words. When John Cena wrestles I don't chant "Let's Go Cena!" or "Cena sucks!" I chant "John Cena, I appreciate all the hard work you do, however I feel that your position in the company as the number one guy and said company's dedication to feeling the need to push a number one is detrimental to the status of equally talented wrestlers lower on the card who can provide to be entertaining in other ways"



Really the reason this makes the jam of the week is the music video. All I've seen of the A-Team is through parodies and the movie that came out a couple years ago, so there's not real emotional attachment. Still, I love a group of guys that just says "Fuck it" and makes something 'cause it's fun.

Now, help me out here: John Cena is a bad man and likes the 80's, however, Gary Coleman, who declares himself as part of the 80's, is the real bad man, wanting to destroy the 80's which, keep in mind, he is a part of. I think this was part of his plan to destroy The Chain Gang

Yet, Coleman blows up the 80's, John Cena says "I love it when a plan comes together." But, if The Chain Gang wanted to save the 80's, then why did John Cena celebrate the 80's blowing up? He defeat the Bad Man Gary Coleman, but lost the 80's in the process.

Ask yourself this: WHO IS THE BAD, BAD MAN?

STATUS QUO STREAMING:
This week I'm starting a little bit earlier since now I have a job I'd need to wake up for. As suicide inducing as it is, at least my time will be worth something again.

The stream starts at 8 PM. Normally I won't put up the guitar playing part (unless there's something highlight worthy, but I'll usually put up the recap for the video games):

Status Quo Sunday Believes In A Thing Called Love

FLORIDA FANDOMANIA: 

Technically I'm scheduled for 3 PM on Sunday under the "Combat Musical". I haven't heard many details, and it does seem like a crowded hour, but hopefully I can let you know more soon. 

THIS WEEK'S JAM:


"But Rhythm Bastard, that song is so fucking awesome, why are you just getting to it now?"

Because Todd In The Shadows covered it, and you should know by now that I'm a huge mark for Todd In The Shadows.


Like another song he previously covered, "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, the band seemed to up and disappear after album number 2, and they seemed to go out on a really sad note. However, unlike The Vapors, I would go as far to say I think they'd do better in the YouTube Era.

If nothing else They've been succeeded by Ninja Sex Party, who haven't shown me that they can rock as hard as The Darkness, but are the most recent example of "Over The Top Stupidity + Talent = Success"

NEWSLETTER TIME! 
I'm going to be sending out my newsletter this week with a VERY special announcement for the summer, as well as all my future con apperances so you can have them all in one place. Expect it to go out by this week as I finish one last thing and try to get more confirmed for you all. You still got some time to sign up. 

Status Quo Sunday Got IN Trouble at OUT Con

It knocked over a lamp and it broke all over the floor. I spent an hour cleaning it up.

THIS WEEK'S JAM:

Particularly "Obsidian".

I was listening to A Fox In Space's Dev Stream.and he's big on 80's music and instrumental scores. This was in the background and thought I was listening to FTL's soundtrack, but it was actually from John Carpenter's "Lost Themes" album, aka stuff he never really used in his movies. Whereas his themes for Halloween and the like were tense and creepy, these are scary on another level. Spacemen all alone on a station when they hear a door opening in the middle of the night. Bioweapons escaped in the underground facility. A quick breath before the alarm goes off. This is the sound of the calm before the storm completely cut off from the rest of the world.

OUTCON?
OUTCon (which I do not know how to capitalise/write) did well for a con in its first year catering to a demographic (South Florida's first LGBT+ con) outside "nerdy shit". Plenty of familiar faces were there as well!

Most of my time was spent jamming out at my table, so I missed some opportunities to play some games and see some panels, but I got to make plenty of new friends and fans.

No matter how many times I have a con at the MACC, I ALWAYS have trouble getting to it, mainly because my phone decided overheat and I made the wrong turn on my way there. My phone is haunted.

Before my show, however, I was also a part of VundaBlog's Podcast panel where we talked about various shit and I expressed enthusiasm over a documentary series about aircraft. I'll link you when it's online.

I did my two amp setup at my show, but a lot of the crowd in the back said it sounded good, so I'm not complaining. Played a couple regular songs, played a couple new ones, including "Think Geek Is Not Nerdcore" and played my Original Five Nights at Freddys song, both going over well. SoFloConBro Chris of his movie (now on IndieGoGo) "Cosplay and Me" was the star of the night, filming live footage for his movie. I had my trusty camcorder on me as well, and recorded some footage off that.

Sandwich luggage, yo.

NEXT CON IS...?
FLORIDA FANDOMANIA!
June 17th-19th!
Hopefully I can get more updates on that.... soon...?

Until next time!

Status Quo Sunday Can't See Me!

This week's jam:


So Slacker Radio has this thing I've been listening to where Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum list the Top 101 New Wave songs of all time. Me and my Dad have been bonding over that list, especially since New Wave is the perfect intersection between his prog and my punk. We're still working our way to #1 (I think we last left off with "I Will Follow" by U2 at #12), but so far there's been a lot of great stuff.

This song, "See No Evil" by Television is all about living in New York during the late 70's, and has the sickest guitar work from that era.

NEW SONG THIS THURSDAY!
I was waylaid by family bullshit, so that threw off the recording schedule. The song is ready to be mixed and mastered, save for the vocals. I know I'm posting this on Monday, and Wednesday is a long ways off, but I put a lot into this song and want to have it done right.

In the meantime, here's the art work done by God-Bird:


















He did a great job on it, even though the song focuses on Sorin, it's a great example of the anguish felt in the song. Actually, it can be told from the perspective of Nahiri as well...

Though it's a big kick in the pants since this is the artwork available at his store:

DAMN IT! WHY DO I CHOOSE THE PATH OF THEMATIC RESONANCE?

WHATCHABEEN UP TO THEN?
Like Richie Branson, I've been noodling around with some programming, learning to make a FPS in Unity. Not that far in, but I'm learning a bit about Blender and C# coding, so at least I have some transferable skills. Mystakin of Echo Chamber Fame recommended me to this Quill18's Tutorial, so maybe you can check it out too!

I dabbled a bit in programming years ago, and I regret not going into it as a career choice. Still, while the particularities of a language vary, the major logistics, are still there. The tutorial is very good, and Microsoft Visual Studio does a good job of explaining what a function does when it's mentioned in the tutorial.


I've also been getting into voice acting, trying to work on some paid gigs and stuff, or at the very least some interesting projects.

But all I've seen is "My Little X Abridge (Original Series, Do Not Steal)"

Hopefully it all works out. I'm always down to collaborate on pretty much anything, and if you want to help out on any projects whatsoever, send me an e-mail at rhythmbastard@gmail.com!

UPDATES!
Pulled Arlinn Kord (aka Werewolf Mom) in my Innistrad Booster Box, and the #1 New Wave Song of All Time was "Cars" by Gary Numan.

Status Quo Sunday Thinks Out Loud

This week's jam:

I've been having Mega64's Twitch Stream on in the BG while I work and I caught this on the stream one day. There's a lot of older stuff they show sometimes that either I forgot about or never made it to the website proper.

For example, Rocco being super awkward at last year's E3.

This song was in the original Rock Band with a special mix where the lead synth was also matched with some kickin' rad guitars, and while that version's good (and clearly better), I loves me some Mega64. For the record this is the video they were referencing.



NEW SONG!
THE HERO (One Puunch Man Theme) Cover


Originally I wanted to do a cover so I had a sample project to work on when I was learning how to do mixing/mastering, but then I loved the song so much I decided to make a proper version. Still need to finish the rest of the episodes, but for all intents and purposes, GO WATCH ONE PUNCH MAN!

There might be another thing coming this week, but HHC practice comes first. I will be streaming that at least once this week.

HERO HYPE CON!
This weekend! I don't know if I'll have a table, but I will put on one hell of a show. Still want to check out some of the other cons though.

I'm also on the verge of confirming a show elsewhere and working on new material, so plenty more to come!


NEW MENTION?
Not quite.... It's from over a ,onth ago, but I got mention on The Cli3nt's show GeekOut! for my release of "Think Geek Is Not Nerdcore"!

Status Quo At The Expo

This week's jam:


My favorite non-Megalovania song. The game's Pacifist Run was a very emotional experience and this song provided the right mix of desparation and uplifting to fill me with... DETERMINATION.

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
Fuckin' Omni Expo was this weekend! which is why I didn't post up any recap shit on Saturday. Let me run through the whipdash of that day.


OMNI EXPO!
Left home at around 10-ish and got to the convention center at around 1. The shitty thing is that ConJure, another convention was taking place not too far away, so I think Omni Expo mioght have been a little more full, but it had good attendance.

Most of the afternoon was spent bumming around, taking pictures and the like. I bought some Magic cards to throw into the audience since I left my Fat Pack at home, and in one of my packs, I pull out this guy:


For those of you rolling your eyes and thinking "Oh fuck, he's talking about Magic again, nobody cares", guess what? As of March 6th, 2016, it costs:
$91.52


That's not a typo, I pulled almost $100 out of a pack of Origins. 

After that, I went to play a quick game of Remain Calm, an Zombie-themed RPG that involves surviving in the Zombie Apocalypse.  It's based on the D20 system used by Dungeons and Dragons, so if you're familiar with that, then you should be fine. 

One interesting thing about it is that it also uses your smart phone to log into a website where you get your character sheets and can set up your equipment. The pros of this system is that you can modify the game almost immediately and gives plenty of opportunity for expansion. The con is that the site isn't the best optimized for mobile phones. 

The scenario we played out was very straight forward: we're a group of survivors looking to get to the other side of a road. Fresh off the RP-heavy FATE Campaign I was involved in with [insert quest here], it was a nice break to see something with numbers. 

Two mechanics that help set it apart and make a lot of sense in the setting are infection and noise. If there is any contact with a zombie, you need to roll probability for how likely it is that you are infected with the zombie virus, an event that can take it's toll in a campaign. Noise came in to play a lot more frequently: As we performed actions and as the GM took his turn, there was a possibility that zombies can moan and attract more zombies, screwing us over more. At one point we summoned 83 zombies in a single turn.

Our team barely made it across, but it was a fun time.

However, it wasn't very streamlined, so a bunch of crazy combinations were able to take place, like a slingshot that threw lawn darts covered in spikes. There were a lot of options that weren't practical for a beta release, or wouldn't come into play during a con game. Also a lot of the pieces we were using we laminated stand ins. So a lot of stuff is still in beta.

With more time and money, the game can get a worthwhile package to sell to the masses. In the mean time, you can find out more from their website.

After that, I went to my show and drew a pretty decent crowd. I played some new stuff, some old stuff, and added older songs back into the fold. 

I also did the Stone Cold beer smash before I did "Hell Yeah" which is what I always wanted to do!



Aside from the technical issue of not having a PA System, I think it went over well.

Still thinking I might need a liason or someone in the back to collect e-mails for the mailing list and sell merch.

Just an idea I had. 

After that, while I didn't manage to have my post show booze, I did run into Frosted Gaming who hosted an impromptu panel in the middle of the hall. So in response, I threw a mini-concert playing a couple of my MtG songs, and they went over big! I should host more guerilla concerts in the future....

WHATCHA DOIN' NOW?
Setting up for Hero Hype Con, maybe working on a couple cover songs, some to release, some for "back pocket" reasons, I dunno. Also some arts and crafts for the future stuff.

Finally, getting everything ready for PAX East. That's going to be fun.

Status Quo Sunday Destroys Oppressive Overlords

Everything's beem thrown off this week because my Dad was hit by a car a couple weeks ago and I've been running around taking him to doctor's offices and he just went into surgery today. Everything's fine, he made it out OK! They're keeping him overnight for observation and to have him rest.

This week's jam:

#FreeKesha

Recently, she has been embroiled in a lawsuit with Sony, trying to break off her contract because Dr. Luke, a producer she's worked extensively with, abused her. A recent court decision stated that she couldn't break the contract due to a lack of evidence and protecting the contract law of Sony.

Thankfully, many are showing their support, with Taylor Swift donating $250,000.


Best of luck to her, I'll talk more extensively about this outside the Status Quo Sunday.

MUSIC NEWS!
About time asshat...

WHAT?
Nothing...

ALL RIGHT THEN.
"TAKE THE OATH" IS NOW OUT ON SOUNDCLOUD AND YOUTUBE!

I have a new song out, called "Take The Oath" inspired by the Oath of the Gatewatch set for Magic The Gathering.




This was a difficult, but also very rewarding song to work on. It's definitely one I had the longest streak of writer's block for, since everything was so pressured to have it out "on time" I just had trouble wrapping my head around it.

I like having the blocks work out to be these miniature concept albums where the Khans block went fast-slow-fast and was about loving dragons, this was about being a group of dorks who fight against Cthulu. At the very least it takes away some of the thematic guesswork out and I have somewhat of an idea where my next steps are going to be.

The next block is Shadows Over Innistrad which takes place in a realm inspired by gothic horror, so either alt-metal or Tom Waits style habberdashery.

NEW DEAL ON BANDCAMP!
Giving away MtG Cards with every tangible order. I have a shitton of some left over promos, and a bunch of commons and uncommons I cracked open from Oath of the Gatewatch. I'm not promising anything spectacular, but some of you out there who are curious about this game I talk about pretty much every week, or you don't keep up with the game regularly, it's a neat little bonus.

CON NEWS!
Omni Expo is still happening! I haven't been promoting it, because I'm too busy finishing up the song, but I'll get to practicing this week!

Hero Hype Con has been confirmed, I just need the time so I can set up the events.

I do not have any concert set up, but I will have a table at Out Con. It was very reasonable, profits go to a good cause, it's only one day. My music is awesome, so I think I can manage. Even better if I have a concert!

Florida Fandomania is shaping up to be HUGE, and I'm listed as a musical guest, so YAY FOR ME!

The best part is I'm going to have a bunch of new material to play for you all, so GET HYPED!

Status Quo Sunday Is Dead, Long Live The Status Quo Sunday

This week's jam is in no way influenced by the passing of very regressive Supreme Court Justice Scalia:


Instead it was influenced by two things:
The first one, and most prevalent to someone who would be visiting the website of someone who bills himself as a Nerdcore Punk: DEADPOOL! While it has been 7 years since Origins and as long since I've been reading up on DP and wanting this movie. I even read the leaked script from 2010.

However, both me as a person and Deadpool's portrayal in pop culture have changed significantly those past 7 years. I've seen a shitton of cosplayers at cons, his being wedged into every intersection of things that are "nerdy" and "funny" with memes of him everywhere, and the idiotic videogame, at some point along the line, I was like "OK, this is too stupid for me". The ad campaign leading up to the movie didn't help either, and at certain point I was dreading the movie. Basically, I was going in expecting this:


The Ugly: Deadpool's face. Kudos to the makeup artists and the effects people for really going hardcore on some of the body horror stuff.

The Bad: The villain was really lackluster. Like, he could have just worn a white morphsuit that just said "BAD GUY" on it and the effect would be the same. It's also not as weird as I was hoping for. It's failry standard plot for an action movie, just with everything shifted around a little.

Also, remember two paragraphs ago when I said I read the leaked script? Yeah, it spoiled some of the bigger jokes for me.

The Good: Despite all of that, Ryan Reynolds's delivery sold me on everything. It was a superhero movie with small stakes made interesting, a romantic subplot where the couple got to know each other over a year, 

Also there was a lot of shit in that script that thankfully got cut out. Spoiler: Running joke where Amy Winehouse almost dies. 

ANYTHING ELSE?
The big news this week was that I was interviewed for FandomMania's Geek Music podcast. Seriously, look how fucking rogueish I look in that picture.


YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

COOL STORY BRO.
Yeah, it was.

YOU KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR.
About?

THE MAGIC THING.
Oh yeah! I went 2-1 at Game Day. and got a crapton of spare promos they had. Abzan did fairly well, my only loss was against a Black/Red Dragons deck. On top of that, there's a special offer when-

NO, DIPSHIT. THE SONG, WHERE'S THE SONG?!?!?
Coming this Wednesday. I have everything written, and it's mixed, but there's some cuts I wanted to make, I want to get little production sounds decent, and make sure everything rolls along.

In the meantime, here's a preview of the god-tier cover art by the God Tier artist, God-Bird and you can find him at God-Bird.com:

Status Quo Sunday However Is Nerdcore

STATUS QUO RADIO AVAILABLE ON BANDCAMP!

This week's jam is a new song!


The cover got Lars' blessing, so I'm happy!

For those of you further behind, this is a cover I did of MC Lars's song "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock". Part of it spawned from the rumor that Hot Topic was buying out ThinkGeek, and thought "This makes 100% of all the sense."

Now, MC Lars, in his email to be after I sent him this said, "Yeah, but Think Geek is more punk rock than Hot Topic". That's true, ThinkGeek sells tools, and creativity toys. Hot Topic sells, well...




Mostly though this song was born out of the idea that after all I've been through, I'd rather see more creation than consumption when it comes to nerd stuff.

Lemme break it down for you like this:
"Turning your passions into something tangible is nerdcore...":
I'm talking about making stuff: music, fanart/fiction,  cosplay, whatever. Do something other than buying a thing and waiting for those on high to make more. Learn something in the process.

At all the cons I play at, I always try to buy at least one homemade thing from somebody whether it's a comic, a print, a CD, etc. because it feels good when you put yourself out there, and someone says "YES!", even it's fan art, because someone had to learn a skill.

 "Representing marginalized groups is nerdcore..."
I'm seeing more and more women and POC at cons and making music in the nerdcore scene AND THIS IS A GOOD THING. Some of this shit's pretty fun, and it's fun to see other people joining in.

Also, tying in to the first point, it's easier than ever to have your work published and made your voices heard, a lot of voices people haven't considered before.

"MC Lars is nerdcore..."
Well he did make the song...

The point of all this is, as Neil Gaiman put it:
MAKE GOOD ART

This come right off the heels of the Fine Bros. annoncing their licensing of their "_____ REACT" videos. The Fine Bros. don't make anything, they just show people stuff and film their reactions, and then they act like they're changing the world.




"You know that open platform we have for people to submit their creative works? Fuck that, make it more like every other media"

WHAT ELSE YOU GOT?
Omni Expo in less than a month! Suuuper hyped!

From Parts Unknown, It's The Status Quo Sunday!

Brock Lesnar is doing the Mega Knee on everyone right now, so this week's jam is:


Also apropos, because Ben Briggs, fellow Florida music type dude hosted a stream this weekend to help raise money to get his life back on track, and I managed to catch some of it. Mainly the highlight was Hot Pepper Fan Fiction: Eating a habanero, then reading through shitty garbage fanfics, including one so bad, it made, as Ben put it "forgot to get high".



And what a goddamn trooper, still throwing shade when he's dying.

OMNI EXPO EVENT NOW ON FACEBOOK!  
There it is! First convention show of the year!

NEW MERCH IN THE BANDCAMP!
First off, the cover for the album:

 
Another shout out to the incredible Mervyn McKoy, all I did was stretch it out a bit. I've had it for sale at conventions, but never thought to put it on the Bandcamp.

Next up is the Kickstarter Poster:

Artwork by Lancelot Richardson at clockodile.com.
I found out about him through a TF2 Fandom Secret Santa, and he does incredible fantasy work, which you can find on his site.

MUSIC UPDATE- NO WAIT, LEMME GUESS NOTHING?
I've been getting work done, with a couple songs are in progress. Nothing concrete yet, but at least I'm at the point where I can focus on putting stuff in Reaper again. There's been a lot of other projects that crossed my mind and I'm in the habit where I have my guitar accessible and Reaper open.

My headspace in a post-album/in-between album world is all about getting over the little psychological things. If I focus less on lyrics, I can focus on other areas to move the song forward. If I finish songs, I don't need to worry that all of this is shouting in the void, because I'll always have something going on. If I build a Reaper File, even if it's just the basic drum beat, then I have a place to put all my song ideas.

There's still the big psychological things: stress from work, worried I'm going to lose it, always being "on call" for my family be it chores or anytime a fight goes down, it's nuts.

Being a millennial with any kind of stability or success is like shelter in a zombie apocalypse: you're OK for now, you might even have people to watch your back, and maybe some food and water, but there's the lingering threat that any second, zombies can burst through the barricade, or the asshole who runs a fascist society could come along and curb stomp your ass.

All I can do now is try to work in between fighting off the hordes.

The First Rule Of Status Quo Sunday Is

For Fucks Sake Talk About It, Because I'd Like The Promotion.

Anyway, this week's jam:


Another GHTV discovery. I'm kind of glad Guitar Hero doesn't make a big deal about their new songs the same way Rock Band and Rocksmith do, so you forget about it for a while, then come back and say "Huh,, didn't know they added this" on top of the fact that the stations keep everything random so it doesn't get repetitive.

The Mowgli's are a real life version of the Portland Cloud Orchestra from Guitar Hero Live: A big alternative/folk group that is involved with many charities, and "San Francisico"'s message carries that to a T. It's peppy, and it makes me happy. I know my musical writing vocabulary is very limited, and it's another jangly alt/folk song, but it made my workday suck less when I had it on repeat, fuck you.

MUSIC UPDATES:
Nothing.

WHAT?
Nope. I've been trying to finish up my Oath Of The Gatewatch Song, but progress has been slow on that. I went 3-3 on the prerelease though, so that's cool.

WAIT, WHAT?
Yeah, I didn't pull any big money cards, but I had a pretty sweet colorless-

WHY?
They're random booster packs. I'm not guaranteed to-

NO I MEAN WHY NO MUSIC?
Reason 1: I'm polishing up Think Geek Is Not Nerdcore

Reason 2:
Punch Club:

I've never played a game that made me love it, then hate it, love it again, hate the ending, and now I want to replay it.

Truth be told, I have a fondness for all the dumb, grindy "simulator" type browser games, and Punch Club is no different in the framework.

Where it makes up for it is the fact that it's more ambitious: the fighting system, while automated, is faily deep and allows you to switch which moves your fighter can use based upon your opponent. The story is suprisingly interesting, and branches depending on what choices you make. It's no Until Dawn, but it's an appreciated extra for a game that I wouldn't expect to make for. It's nothing you haven't seen before: train and fight for reasons, There's even a section where you go to Russia and fight a fighter named Ivangief.

Pop culture references are everywhere, and you'll either find them cute and charming (Jay and Silent Bob outside a convenience store, Jules and Verne from Pulp Fiction in a diner) or obnoxious and overdone (you fight Teenage Mutant Ninja Alligators, convenience store cleck is an Indian Guy named Apu, aforementioned Ivangief, girlfriend character named Adrian, manager named Ding King). All of this makes it feel like the game doesn't have an identity of its own and is screaming PLEASE LOVE ME!.

Would I recommend it? Depends on your tolerance on the grind and if you would plan on replaying it. I wouldn't have paid the full $10, though, at least as my initial playthrough stands. There's other avenues you can take with fighting styles and storylines, but there is a bit you have to put up with for an ending that's unsatisfactory.

Then again, I'm a crazy person.

For a video game with a slightly better price, you can download "Omnikron: The Nomad Soul" for free until the 22nd.

Anyway, I should have more for you next week, life's a little like Tetris right now: clear one thing, more keeps piling up. 

STATUS QUO STATE OF THE BASTARD 2016!?!?!?

Yup!

1. I MADE A GODDAMN ALBUM AND RELEASED IT!



2. As many of you had heard of by now, musician David Bowie passed away this morning, and his amazing singing voice, daring showmanship and eagerness to innovate, and I'm glad he was able to give us so much in his last few days.

He is one of my major influences, because every facet of his career, every phase, has had something I can take from it and say "This. This Is Where I Want To Go With My Music". He was a man that embraced the new and different with open arms and said "Challenge Accepted".

He made being weird cool, because he pulled it off better than anyone else could.

"Everyone Says Hi" was the first song I remember associating with David Bowie, as it was off of the video game Amplitude. While I've heard his other stuff before, most of it was part of the Classic Rock Radio White Noise. The Metro Mix included with the game mixed the song in a way that made it sound more upbeat, but also more lonely and distant, like a child's voice lost in the din.

The song is about (to me at least) someone in denial that a loved on died, that they're on a trip instead, so that it doesn't sound like that person is gone forever. Which makes it the perfect fit for this occassion.

 

 

 

3. I'm 28 now. It's not quite old, but the "YOU CAN TOTALLY!"s become "You could....". It's an odd feeling because I'm now starting to get things stable, but it's not a life of my own yet, and it's become even more crowded since my brother's fiance moved in. That's compounded by these weird in-between feelings I've had and all the missed deadlines like too old to make it in music, not married/having kids at my age, etc. 

Thank Xenagos I've had such a strong support network of family and friends to keep me going but man am I just feeling awkward 150% of the time. 

Even stranger, I'm OK with it, because it's better than where I was.

4. NEWEST SONG: Not ready yet, but my most recent one is my "Battle For Zenidkar" song "ATTACK ON ELDRAZI!"

5. FAVORITE SONG I DID AT 27: "Bastards Reunion" BY FAR

It was the culmination of so many things WORKING. I was taking voice lessons so my singing was better than ever, I had a strict goal mind when writing it, and it's been FUN to play at every show I've done.

6. CON GIGS? 

I remember last year I said I want to do less, but this year feels like I've been doing more cons:
Miami Hurricon, Omni Expo, Hero Hype Con, Mizucon, Chibi Pa Victory, Chibi Pa Sampler, Holiday Matsuri, Orlando Nerd Fest....

Well, at least I liked the ones I went to more. 

CONFIRMED FOR OMNI EXPO 2016!!!!

6. 28 YEAR OLD RESOLUTIONS?
-A music video. The concept I had for the Status Quo Radio album as film ala The Wall or Quadrophenia isn't feasible, but there are a couple stand alone songs I can do both on and outside the album. 

-More presence and making myself more accessible.. I've always done this stuff for fun, and for the experience of meeting new people and just having that "ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!" feeling of living in the city. The post I made about cons was just about expanding my horizons. I'm trying to reach out, 'cause if you like my music, or my writing, or my podcasting, then I like you :D

-Stream more, be it gaming or music making. I love games, and I want to have you all along for the ride. Also biweekly Twitch concerts would keep me in practice for bigger shows.

7.PODCAST STUFF!

ECHO CHAMBER- Music, video games, and More?

INSERT QUEST HERE- Part of a campaign called "Slayers Of Decadence" 

8. OK NOW GO OUTSIDE THE BOX-

GAME OF THE YEAR- "Undertale" 

I've said it on Echo Chamber, and I'll sum it up here:
Everything in Undertale is intentional. Toby Fox knows what you will do, what you have done, and expects it to deliver memorable moments and an intriguing world that will stick with you for hours after you finish.

WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS BEFORE AWARD?- League Of Legends

The most popular game on Twitch and I just bothered to play it this year.

BIGGEST ASSHOLES- Rich white people. No shit.

GREEDIEST MOFO WHO IS NOT A VICTIM OF CAPITALISM- God

You kill Rock Legends such as David Bowie and Lemmy so YOU can jam with a supergroup? THANKS A LOT!

Also you let these assholes continue to live:

MOVIE I WAS WATCHING WITH GREAT TREPIDATION- Star Wars:: The Force Awakens

Was expecting to go in underwhelmed, came out charmed. Good job!

MOVIE I AM GOING TO BE WATCHING WITH GREAT TREPIDATION- Deadpool

Hopefully we get Joe Kelly/Gail Simone Deadpool and not Daniel Way/4chan Deadpool

TOP 40 SONG I HATED THE LEAST- "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk The Moon

I found this one out last year on Tumblr before it made its rounds on the alternative and later pop stations, and I'm glad I got into it BEFORE it was cool. 80's throwback songs are nothing new in the alt rock landscape, but everything about it invites ENERGY from the clap-friendly into to being able to yell SHUT UP in public without Mom getting mad at you.

Whether or not "Different Colours" will be a big follow up hit or if they have one at all is yet to be seen, but I hope they stick around for a little while, since we need more rock in the charts.

"Exes and Oh's"by Elle King

Runner up for this one, because I always manage to catch the chorus, which has a lot of OHs like a lot of music seems to have instead of an actual chorus these days, but it's a fun song to play in Rock Band, and a dusky voiced female who can write a good breakup story is always a plus in my book. 

9. ANNUAL STUPID REMINDER THAT I SHARE A BIRTHDAY WITH MC BAT COMMANDER

 

Status Quo Sunday Has Some Sick Strats

 STATUS QUO RADIO NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!

AGDQ is back on for 2016! 
I forgot Kirby gets to be Darth Maul in the Crystal Shards game

And this week's jam is...

SPEED METAL!!!

Another song I found off of GH:TV. This sounds like a Sonic The Hedgehog theme song before Sonic the Hedgehog was even birthed. While normally I don't like a lot of metal, since at a point a lot of it runs together, Anthrax is a band I was able to get into, because they're a punk band whose testicles dropped.

MUSIC?
A LOT of stuff got backed up on my end, but there are a shitton of pages in my notebook, and this weekend was the genesis of a lot of tracks. I even hosted a songwriting stream. I made some progress, but I think they might be a little boring to watch. Still, it's an hour a week where I can sit down and dedicate myself to writing and hashing things out.

SO....?
My next song will be a cover of MC Lars' "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock", I just need gang vocals for that one. Other than that I'm in various planning stages, including my song for Oath Of The Gatewatch, the next Magic The Gathering set.

WHEN'S YOUR NEXT CON?
I'm working on a full post for that... soon.... but I'm going to save that for it's own post because there IS something cool for that. Right now I'm doing a large sweep of upcoming cons.

ANYTHING ELSE?
Yeah. I've been reading 33 1/3's take on the Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack.



Very interesting read so far, especially if you're well versed in either music theory or how the NES sound files work. There's a lot of unpacking to do here, since I'm not terribly well versed in either. It's very indepth, making much of what was going on with what is essentially a 3 minute long sound tracks, (4 songs: "Overworld", "Underworld", "Underwater" and "Castle" are the only 4 non-incidental tracks) even going into detail about the sound files. I'm not 100% finished yet, but this kind of stuff had to be created in an era before things like foley work and sound mixing were easily done.

At the very least it's gotten me to look at my Super Mario Series Guitar Tab Book.







Three observations:
1. These songs are awkward to play on the guitar, at least how their tabbed, or maybe my skill level.
2. Considering that technology that primitive would have troubling dealing with something like "thirds", it's impressive how much he managed to do.
3. I forgot a lot about how to read proper sheet music.