By Daniel Deza
Music has infiltrated the video gaming world, sending the sounds of Pac Man and Mario into virtual yesteryear.
Since the release of music-driven games like FreQuency, Amplitude, Guitar Hero and Rock Band, amateur musicians have found a new way to find a fan base without having to promote a CD.
Music professor Ava Lawrence, faculty advisor for the Northeastern chapter of Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA), said any outlet for music is a good one whether it is in a video game or not.
“If you look back in history, a lot of times the important thing is not the music but the product that the music is used for. It used to be the record player and now it’s the iPod,” she said. “I think it’s great that companies are selling music and getting people really interested. It’s helping people focus on music and go find out more about bands.”
Last night, a concert sponsored by the MEISA and the Council for University Programs (CUP) brought Freezepop, an Allston-based indie electro-pop band, to afterHOURS.
Freezepop launched a career and earned fans through its work in video games, making a name for itself in the virtual world and promoting music through the strum of a fake guitar.
The band’s rise to fame has only increased since the release of FreQuency, the first game Freezepop’s music was used in, said Freezepop vocalist Liz Enthusiasm.
According to a video games sales chart for October, just six days after the release date of “Guitar Hero III,” it had already sold a total of 1.4 million copies for game systems Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 2, giving Guitar Hero the second, third and fourth spots on the sale charts.
With sales continuing to rise, many gamers say the “Guitar Hero” craze is here to stay, and recommend musicians use the medium to promote their music.
Music industry alumnus Greg Case played in the first campus “Guitar Hero” tournament in 2005, and came in first place in an NU competition of 30 people. Case’s love for “Guitar Hero,” “Amplitude” and “FreQuency” led him to discover not only Freezepop but also other bands like Bang Camaro and Marrow.
“If you like a song, you’re more apt to play that song and over time you will start to think that it’s so good, so I went out and bought all their albums,” Case said. “It’s kind of like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and how people, after reading it, went out and bought all of Dan Brown’s books.”
Harmonix, a video development company based in Cambridge, created video game hits like “Guitar Hero,” “Dance Dance Revolution” and, its most recent release, “Rock Band.” With gamers demanding a variety of instruments rather than just a guitar, Harmonix created “Rock Band” to allow the player to create a full band, with drums, guitar, bass and vocals.
“People want more and want to sing now and all of a sudden you’re playing a powerhouse game like ‘Rock Band,'” Case said. “Not only do you have a whole band now, but you can download other music to the game.”
Gamers and non-gamers alike came to afterHOURS last night to support opening Northeastern band Red Red Rockit and to see Freezepop.
While eating a free strawberry freezepop provided by CUP before the show, middler music industry major Sam Coren sat and waited to see Freezepop in action.
“I heard of them through ‘Guitar Hero’ and they just were a local electronic band that caught my attention,” Coren said. “I think they are better produced since the ‘Guitar Hero’ craze, but their quality hasn’t changed. It has only gotten better.”
More than 150 people came to afterHOURS to watch Freezepop band members Enthusiasm, Sean Drinkwater (keytar player and vocalist) and Seth Damascus-Kennedy (self-described “live performer”) take over the stage. Freezepop played new songs from their album Future, Future, Perfect, with subject matter that ranged from ninjas to dancing.
“We realized the fame of what the video games have gotten us when a huge section of people had us sign the cases of the video games rather then the CDs,” Enthusiasm said.
Drinkwater said he feels fortunate to have joined the craze at the right time.
“It definitely is a big thing now and we were lucky to get our music in video games when we did,” he said. “It is a lot more difficult for bands to get music in games now and the music as a whole has really caught onto it. Now having exclusive deals for an unknown band is pretty much next to impossible.”
