MegaDriver
Encyclopedia
MegaDriver is a Brazil
ian heavy metal
and video game music cover band
formed in 2003
by Antonio "Nino" Francisco Tornisiello, who uses the stage name "Nino Megadriver".
ian heavy metal
cover band
. Their covers consist almost entirely of video game music, especially from the Mega Drive system (called Genesis in North America). Because of this focus, the band's style has been termed "game metal". In fact, MegaDriver's founder, Nino Megadriver, claims that MegaDriver is the first "video game metal" band and that others started copying the style soon as it got attention by the media and on the emulation and gaming scene.
The band considers itself to be a "non-profit independent project" and does not charge for its music. Their stated goal is to "pay homage to classic video games." To this end, they have made their entire repertoire available for free download at their website.
They have released six CDs titled Action Metal, Push Start Button (Round One) (a demo CD), Top Gear, Swords, Shurikins & Fists and, more recently, MetalHog, as well as several singles. In addition, the band has released four full soundtracks for the Metal MAME project, which reprograms MAME
images using heavy metal remixes of the games' original music. They have even gone as far as to making their own music videos with their songs in the background, i.e., the video for "Raging Storm" is a tribute to Geese Howard
, using various footage from Fatal Fury
games, artwork of Geese, and also footage from the Fatal Fury anime.
and MTV
). MegaDriver also appeared at the Arena Gamer Experience 2006, performing some of their remixes of well-known game tracks.
In late 2007, controversy arose in the last Video Games Live Brazil, where many fans expected to see the band in concert; but as far as it's known, there wasn't any contact between the VGL staff and the band members. Surprisingly, a new, relatively unknown band "8 bit instrumental" (8bitvgm for short - link), from the Minas Gerais
state, was invited to perform at the Brasília
VGL presentation, where they gathered many fans. There still ongoing debate as to why Megadriver was not invited; however, the band did return to open Video Games Live 2008 and 2009.
, left the band on January 2010.
face. These console mods are unique and gave inspiration to several other console mods that are usually shown at Youtube as "new stuff" (a Sega Master System Guitar by instance).
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and video game music cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
formed in 2003
2003 in music
-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...
by Antonio "Nino" Francisco Tornisiello, who uses the stage name "Nino Megadriver".
History
MegaDriver is a BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
. Their covers consist almost entirely of video game music, especially from the Mega Drive system (called Genesis in North America). Because of this focus, the band's style has been termed "game metal". In fact, MegaDriver's founder, Nino Megadriver, claims that MegaDriver is the first "video game metal" band and that others started copying the style soon as it got attention by the media and on the emulation and gaming scene.
The band considers itself to be a "non-profit independent project" and does not charge for its music. Their stated goal is to "pay homage to classic video games." To this end, they have made their entire repertoire available for free download at their website.
They have released six CDs titled Action Metal, Push Start Button (Round One) (a demo CD), Top Gear, Swords, Shurikins & Fists and, more recently, MetalHog, as well as several singles. In addition, the band has released four full soundtracks for the Metal MAME project, which reprograms MAME
MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
images using heavy metal remixes of the games' original music. They have even gone as far as to making their own music videos with their songs in the background, i.e., the video for "Raging Storm" is a tribute to Geese Howard
Geese Howard
is a fictional video game character appearing in SNK Playmore's Fatal Fury fighting games series. Debuting in Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, Geese is the local crime boss of the fictional city of South Town. Geese hosts a fighting tournament named "The King of Fighters", in which he faces the...
, using various footage from Fatal Fury
Fatal Fury
is a fighting game series developed by SNK for the Neo Geo system.Producers Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, who were the producers of the series from Fatal Fury 3 and onward, were the planners of the original Street Fighter...
games, artwork of Geese, and also footage from the Fatal Fury anime.
Appearances in the media
MegaDriver has made several appearances in the media, in both news articles and on music and tech channels (including G4G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
). MegaDriver also appeared at the Arena Gamer Experience 2006, performing some of their remixes of well-known game tracks.
In late 2007, controversy arose in the last Video Games Live Brazil, where many fans expected to see the band in concert; but as far as it's known, there wasn't any contact between the VGL staff and the band members. Surprisingly, a new, relatively unknown band "8 bit instrumental" (8bitvgm for short - link), from the Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
state, was invited to perform at the Brasília
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
VGL presentation, where they gathered many fans. There still ongoing debate as to why Megadriver was not invited; however, the band did return to open Video Games Live 2008 and 2009.
Line-up history
The band is made up of four members: guitarist, founder and frontman Nino MegaDriver (born Antonio Francisco Tornisiello); Rubão, the bassist of the band; Jeff, the drummer; and finally, Allan, the new vocalist. There were also a small number of other members, such as Nettão (also known as "The Butcher") who was once drummer, replaced by Jeff. This also applies to id9, who has left and been replaced by Daniel. At the end of 2007 Daniel has left the band, replaced by Rubão. Ricardo, former rhythm guitarRhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, left the band on January 2010.
Customization of guitars
One point of interest is two of the lead guitarist Nino's instruments: a guitar made from an original Mega Drive, and a guitar made in the shape and image of Sonic the Hedgehog'sSonic the Hedgehog (character)
, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's...
face. These console mods are unique and gave inspiration to several other console mods that are usually shown at Youtube as "new stuff" (a Sega Master System Guitar by instance).
Current members
- Nino MegaDriver – lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
- Rubão – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Jeff – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Allan - vocalist
- Tura - Rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
Former members
- Ricardo – rhythm guitar
- Nettão "The Butcher" – drums
- Daniel – bass
- id9 – bass
- KillerKeys – keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
Studio albums
- Push Start Button (Round One) (2003)
- Metal Axe - The Golden Axe Remix Project (2004, rerecording of the whole soundtrack of Golden AxeGolden AxeGolden Axe is a side-scrolling beat 'em up and hack & slash arcade video game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the Golden Axe series....
) - Metal Beast (2004, rerecording of Altered BeastAltered BeastAltered Beast is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who is resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena, and to do so become able to turn into beasts such as the werewolf with usage of power-ups...
) - Action Metal (2005)
- Sword, Shurikins & Fists (A Tribute to Yuzo KoshiroYuzo Koshirois a Japanese video game music composer and audio programmer. He is regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune music and video game sound design...
) (2007) - Top Gear (2007, rerecording of Top GearTop Gear (video game)Top Gear , is a 1992 racing video game for the Super NES, published by Kemco and developed by Gremlin Graphics. Not only does it mark first game in the Top Gear racing game franchise, but it is also one of the first racing games to be released on the Super NES...
) - MetalHog (2008, based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series)
External links
- MegaDriver
- MegaDriver at Metal MAMEMAMEMAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
- MegaDriver at MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....