MegaDriver
MegaDriver | |
|---|---|
| Origin | São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Genres | Heavy metal Instrumental rock Video game music |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Website | www.megadriver.com.br |
| Members | Nino MegaDriver Tura Rubão Jeff Allan The BigThunder |
| Past members | Ricardo Daniel Nettão "The Butcher" id9 KillerKeys |
MegaDriver is a Brazilian heavy metal and video game music cover band formed in 2003 by Antonio "Nino" Francisco Tornisiello, who uses the stage name "Nino Megadriver".
History
MegaDriver is a Brazilian 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 as soon as it gained attention from 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 on 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 so far as to create their own music videos featuring their songs, 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.
Appearances in the media
MegaDriver has made several appearances in the media, in both news articles and on music and tech channels (including G4 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 at the last Video Games Live Brazil, where many fans expected to see the band in concert; but as far as is known, there was no 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 is 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 the drummer, replaced by Jeff. This also applies to id9, who has left and been replaced by Daniel. At the end of 2007, Daniel left the band, replaced by Rubão. Ricardo, former rhythm guitar, left the band in 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's face. These console mods are unique and gave inspiration to several other console mods that are usually shown on YouTube as "new stuff" (a Sega Master System guitar, for instance).
Members
Current members
- Nino MegaDriver – lead guitar
- Rubão – bass
- Jeff – drums
- Allan - vocalist
- Tura - Rhythm guitar
Former members
- Ricardo – rhythm guitar
- Nettão "The Butcher" – drums
- Daniel – bass
- id9 – bass
- KillerKeys – keyboard
Discography
Studio albums
- Push Start Button (Round One) (2003)
- Metal Axe - The Golden Axe Remix Project (2004, rerecording of the whole soundtrack of Golden Axe)
- Metal Beast (2004, rerecording of Altered Beast)
- Action Metal (2005)
- Sword, Shurikins & Fists (A Tribute to Yuzo Koshiro) (2007)
- Top Gear (2007, rerecording of Top Gear)
- MetalHog (2008, based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series)
- Double K.O (2014)
Singles/EPs
- "Metal Contra" (2004)
- "Raging Metal" (2004)
- "Metal For Gamers" (2011)
See also
References
- Judao (in Portuguese)
- Game Master Magazine (in Portuguese)
- RetroGamer magazine (in English)
- Game One magazine (in Portuguese)
- EGM Brasil magazine (in Portuguese)
- Yahoo News (in Portuguese)
- Nintendo World (in Portuguese)
External links
This article "MegaDriver" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
