“Virtuoso Musicianship via 80’s Nintendo Game Delivery System”
Long before I saw any live music or before I even owned an album on CD or cassette I listened to countless hours of Japanese composers that I didn’t know the names of as I fettered my preteen hours away playing video games on my Nintendo. To say that these songs had an impact on me would be an understatement. Experiencing Bit Brigade play two of the games I played the most often last Sunday night tapped into something more important to me and my development as a music listener than I can quite put into words.
Bit Brigade started in Athen, GA, in 2004 when the math rock band Cinemechanica teamed up with a friend and local speed runner named Noah McCarthy. Noah is what sets Bit Brigade apart from other video game music bands. He is the fifth member of the band and an integral part of the experience. He sits center stage and expertly plays through the games projected behind him, as a two-lead guitar, bass, and drums combo provides the often blistering-paced soundtrack.
Originally playing the game Contra and booking themselves as Contraband, then as MEGABAND playing through Mega Man 2, as they began to perform more material and broaden their horizons musically and game catalog-wise, they settled on the name Bit Brigade and ceased playing Cinemechanica as the relentless touring of Bit Brigade required more time and focus.
Now, some 21 years later, they’ve had several band member changes, have released 9 albums worth of different classic console games, and currently are touring two games that are brand new to them: Super Mario World and the racing game F-Zero. These are their first forays into 16-bit games, which is a new challenge for the band; Super Mario World boasts over 80 different music passages for them to play each. The evening I was seeing them they were sticking to their classic repertoire.
The last time Bit Brigade was in Seattle, they were playing at the gaming convention known as PAX. Super Mario World and F-Zero were new to them at the time, and while they’re still the newest part of their catalog, instead of repeating their previous show, they opted to play through two of their most well-known games in their repertoire: Capcom’s Ducktales and Mega Man 2.
The evening’s festivities were being held at Nectar Lounge, a venue known to any concert-going Seattleite for its focus on bands playing improvisational music, DJ nights, and post area and theater show after parties.
To start off the evening, local DJ Mirin Doja performed a set consisting of all remixed video game songs. She started with a number of songs from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time before transitioning into bits of Super Mario 64, segueing seamlessly from game to game and eliciting cheers from the audience that knew all the deep cuts being spun. James Bond: Golden Eye’s “Continue Screen Music” got some laughs before becoming mashed up with Ocarina Of Time’s “Fairy Fountain”.
She muted the music for a moment as “Hyrule Field” blasted from the speakers, yelling to the crowd, “No remix! Just the straight cuts, baby!!!” Mirin Doja closed with “Snake Eater,” a fully realized orchestral accompaniment and soaring vocalist James Bond movie-style song from the popular PlayStation franchise Metal Gear Solid 3. I often don’t know what to expect when a DJ is opening for a band, as there are frequently mixed results. The quality of her set was even acknowledged by Bit Brigade’s bass player, Luke Fields, before they started their set.
When Bit Brigade took the stage, Luke, who is the only member of the band with a microphone (this is a tradition within instrumental bands if you’re unfamiliar, intrepid reader), was in a jovial mood, cracking jokes and explaining the format of the show, Noah being a band member. Them being the band that was going to play the soundtracks to the games loudly and quickly.
Nectar Lounge has a balcony, which he was delighted by the novelty of, and instructed the audience on the floor to turn around and on the count of three point and yell “What do you think you’re better than me???” to which we did, to great effect. Luke went on to explain that they had not played Ducktales and Mega Man 2 for a while, so the evening “might get a little spicy. A little silly.” What followed was an almost instantaneous false start to the beginning of their set. With the entire band laughing, he stepped back to the mic, “See? Spicy.”
There are few songs as familiar to people who grew up in the 80’s as the theme song to Ducktales. Opening a show with this song’s instrumental rock band arrangement energized the crowd for what was about to follow. Video game music is not simple music. It’s harmonically and rhythmically dense, catchy, exciting, and has to loop at the end, so when you’re stuck playing a level for too long, there isn’t a jarring skipping feeling whenever it repeats. DuckTales’ music is some of the most catchy Nintendo music ever written, and when the TV show was rebooted several years ago, the creators of the show acknowledged how important the game was by making the “Moon Theme” an important part of the show. The guitar players Bryant Williamson, who is an original member of the band, and newcomer Taylor Washington work incredibly well with and off of each other. Their ability to harmonize and not step on each other’s tone while trading intricate passages is phenomenal. Any prog, math, or metal rock band could take lessons from these two on how to not get in each other’s way from these two. While Taylor has been with the band for just about two years and he told me “came into the band having to learn nine games worth of material,” he is a shining force in the band and not a fly by night replacement member as some bands may find themselves with.
I cannot understate how phenomenal Noah is. Most gamers of any kind who have spent any real time with the game Ducktales are not going to finish the game in under 13 minutes. There were moments during the course of the night where the musicians on stage would play through the game level less than twice before having to launch into the game’s “boss battle” song. Anyone in the audience who has played these games was standing in awe, and the tricks Noah pulled off often garnished loud audience reactions. At the end their performance of Ducktales when Scrooge McDuck has to go back to the Transylvania level, instead of playing the “Transylvania” level music again they played their first alternate music insertion of the evening, making a little joke by playing the Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest game song “Bloody Tear” leading up to the battle with Dracula Duck where they replaced the Ducktales “Boss Battle” music with the first Castlevania game’s end “Dracula Battle” theme. Finishing up their “first set” by reprising “The Moon” theme for the closing credits, Bit Brigade took a 3 min breather on stage while tuning up and exchanging some quick banter with the audience before launching into their final music set. While joking again with the audience, Luke replied to someone at the front of the stage, “You can come up here and play, and I’ll go out there and watch. I have to play bass on Mega Man 2!” getting some last minute laughs before the main attraction.
I first became familiar with Bit Brigade because of a video of them playing Mega Man 2 at the gaming convention Magfest X in 2012 with their previous guitar player Jace Bartet and I watched it over and over again. Full disclosure, I’m a fan of what they do and this is what made me a fan. Watching Noah’s playing took large chunks of time off of my ability to play Mega Man 2 quickly and efficiently. I found myself holed up in front of Taylor and watched the show from the same angle as most of the Magfest X video. Noah plays Mega Man 2 in about 35 minutes.
During the course of the 35 minutes, the band plays through 28 musical themes; some of the themes are seconds long and repeated over and over, while other longer levels get insertions played from other Mega Man games. There were moments where, all of a sudden, a song from Mega Man 3 or 9 would become the music for the rest of the level to keep things as interesting and as tight as possible. Sometimes, they are so on point in their delivery that the 2nd inserted song would be coming to an end just as it was being required to get played. Drummer Mike Albanese really shined throughout each time the “Boss Battle” theme kicked in and he had to perform the big snare roll followed by a gigantic fill, he kept everything dialed in tempo wise and by the end of the set was so drenched in sweat from the hard work he was doing that I feel he must live off of Gatorade between shows.
The music in Mega Man 2 is all over the place, and with the musical insertions to make the “Wily’s Castle” levels more interesting and less repetitive, “Quick Man” and its Latin feel really showed how tight this band is. Getting to hear Luke tear through the bass parts with definition and warmth in a live room really mad eme appreciate how complicated and relentless the bass parts to the soundtrack are. The music is harmonically and rhythmically dense and unrelenting, non-stop hook after hook after hook. The entire band fires on all cylinders the entire time they’re on stage, and when a single note mistake happened at one point, the entire band caught it and laughed it off. “Spicy.”
Some of this article is as informed as it is because I was lucky enough to talk to Taylor after the show. He gave me the time to answer a few questions so I could know what I was talking about. I also emailed with Bryant, who answered a few questions. When I asked him if they performed encores, his response was, “ Haha. No encores for us. Maybe one day, but for now, there are basically 2 options for an encore. Either an entire additional game, which’ll be another 20 mins or we just play a couple songs without gameplay accompaniment, which is not what we do and also quite anti-climactic.”
If you have a chance to see Bit Brigade the next time they come to town, don’t miss it. It’s the most fun this journalist has had with his clothes on in quite some time.
