Gain Over Interview: Monkeying Around
This past Halloween, GameGrooves hosted a cover contest where entrants were invited to dress up in their favorite costumes. Several of you entered with some interesting costumes, ranging from the King of the Koopas to a farmer from Stardew Valley. Choosing the top entry was no easy job, but there was one cover that outshined the rest—“Hot Head Bop” from Donkey Kong Country 2 featuring Kain White, RichGC, Dacian Grada, and Prjz Calavera.
What compelled you to enter the contest?
Kain: We'd been working on this cover for a little while before, and with the costume theme, it seemed like a perfect excuse for us to all dress up as the DK crew for it.
Why “Hot Head Bop”?
Kain: As a group, we've been doing songs from Banjo-Kazooie and Yooka-Laylee, so doing something from Donkey Kong seemed like a logical progression, and “Hot Head Bop” seemed like it would be fun to arrange for our group’s collective sound.
Kain, why did you choose to make this a collaborative effort?
Kain: Well, Rich, Dacian, Prjz, and I have decided to make our collabs into a band called Gain Over, which we hadn't announced until now, so, surprise?
Describe the arrangement process.
Kain: First, I had to figure out a basic arrangement which let people play to their skills—Dacian keeping a tight rhythm section on bass and cajon, Prjz doing steel lead, and Rich doubling up with nylon lead and glockenspiel. Then, I let them expand or change their parts from there.
How did you decide who would wear what costume?
Kain: Just chatting on Discord, Rich found his beautiful DK costume, and Dacian was Diddy because of his love of baseball caps and other headwear. Who else but Prjz could realistically be Funky Kong/Ricardo? Since I had long hair, I got to rock the Dixie Kong look, and I’ve already said I’ll step it up and wear the pink crop top for the next DK cover we do
Was filming in-costume difficult?
Kain: I'll just leave this one for Rich...
Rich: I would say this costume (DK) was the worse I had to film lol. You get hot freaking quickly in full body costumes, and I am not just saying that because of the track title.
Basically, I kept my head down to hide my face from the camera, but I could see my playing perfectly.
Prjz: It has been difficult for my beard and my self-esteem. I have never filmed myself so “naked”, but duty called, and I had to do it for the memes. The occasion to imitate Funky Kong (who casually happens to look very similar to Ricardo Milos) doesn't happen everyday!
Who edited the video? How did you decide to layer the different characters?
Rich: That would be me! In fact, I seem to be the main video editor for Gain Over from now on! For the style, I wanted to make it a really cozy-paced video to fit Kain’s chill style, so only slow-paced horizontal-panned shots all along. Having background “ghosts” is just something I figured out, like most of my ideas, when I started editing. It was possible thanks to the fact that this cover was the first we filmed entirely in green screen! I liked the effect, so I decided to revolve all of the video around that idea.
This is your third cover together as a group. What has changed over the past few collabs?
Kain: Every cover so far has been arranged by a different person—Dacian first, Rich second, myself third, so the arrangements have been fairly different. We've got plenty more covers planned too, so it'll be interesting to see how the band progresses.
Rich: One thing I see improving is the video side of our covers. For example, we now all have green screens, and we take more time going, “Ok, let’s plan some funny stuff on camera”.
Prjz: We are growing up, getting experienced, and enhancing our affinity. Love to see how my fellow VGMers are putting all their efforts into this project.
Favorite Donkey Kong character?
Kain: Cranky, he just sasses people and chills in a rocking chair all day.
Rich: Well, of course, the one and only King K. Rool!
Dacian: Funky Kong’s got STYLE!
Prjz: Diddy badass Kong.
Any final thoughts?
Kain: Mainly, just thank you for hosting such a fun contest, and thanks to Rich, Prjz, and Dacian for their wonderful playing!