Meet the Quick Fire Album Challenge Winners!
These 7 artists were selected out of 17 people to arrange, record, and produce a VGM cover EP in two months. Each of them has something special to offer the world, and I thought it would be best to let them explain their album pitches in their own words. It’s time to meet the #QuickFireAlbumChallenge winners!
Gunderslam
Raised by video games and inspired by metal, I’m a multi-metal sub-genre instrumental guitarist and producer that takes your favorite video game songs and makes them METAL! Inspired by artists like ToxicxEternity, RichaadEB, and Ro Panuganti, I started making covers in 2015, and since then, I’ve worked with groups such as Pixel Mixers and Materia Collective.
My EP focuses on the game Hollow Knight, and more specifically it follows the character Hornet’s adventure in this game leading into the sequel, Silk Song. The tracks will follow a specific flow that players of the game should recognize as relevant to her journey in the game.
Andy-Ru
Hi, I'm Andy-Ru! I'm an Oregon-based composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist who recently started publishing VGM covers on YouTube. Before COVID-19, I spent my time working with high school bands, marching ensembles, and winter percussion groups in the Willamette Valley as an arranger, clinician, and sound designer/technician. Now that schools and music classrooms are in an uncertain state, I've been focusing on putting my music out on the internet, whether it's my own compositions/arrangements or covers of my favorite VGM tunes! I have yet to release any sort of album, so I'm absolutely elated to have the opportunity to create and publish my very first EP with the help of GameGrooves! This project will be a ton of fun and I couldn't wait to get started on it.
As for my EP, Super Mario Galaxy has one of my all-time favorite soundtracks, and I will be honoring the music by covering five iconic tracks through a reductive lens. In other words, I plan on scaling down the arrangements from the full and powerful orchestral sound of the originals to more intimate or simple renditions, highlighting the beautiful melodies and interesting thematic choices made by composers Mahito Yokata and Koji Kondo.
Chernabogue
I'm Alex aka Chernabogue, and I've been a video game arranger and composer for almost 10 years. I'm exclusively covering music from Metroid Fusion for this album since its music is criminally underrepresented when compared to other entries from this series. My EP will follow the journey of Samus Aran through a devastated space station filled with danger and tension—six sectors, six dark VGM covers.
Harpsona
Hi! I’m Nile Wilson, also known as “Harpsona”, and I’m an engineer, a scientist, and a harpist who combines my love for video game music and harp to create music to soothe the soul. Video games have been a part of my life since my earliest memories in Okinawa. Over the last few years, I’ve contributed to multiple tribute albums through Materia Collective, and I’ve covered songs from a variety of games (with a bias towards JRPGs). Through my music, I hope to continue providing calming sounds for people to relax to.
For my EP, I’ll be working with Michael Staple to cover your favourite JRPG tunes with a hint of chillhop to relax to.
MaxieDaMan
I’m Michael Staple, also known as "MaxieDaMan", and I was born and raised in Toronto, ON. I’m a self taught pianist and music producer who fell in love with video games and music when I was five years old. In my late teens, I pursued a career as a video game composer, composing for fan games such as Sonic the Hedgehog: After The Sequel, leading up to upcoming titles such as Blue Omen Operation and Breeze In The Clouds. Adept in many genres like Hip-Hop, EDM, Funk, Jazz, Chiptune, etc., I strive to keep nostalgia alive in a modern society full of gamers and music lovers.
I don’t think there is a specific track that exemplifies myself as an artist since I don’t limit myself to just one specific genre, and I would consider myself similar to Prince not only for tackling different genres, but also because of my work ethic.
Dave Major
I’m a 27-year-old bass player and music producer from Bristol, UK. Until recently, I had trained and worked as a Structural Engineer; however, my passion for playing and writing music (VGM in particular) got the better of me, and I decided to leave my job to pursue a career in music just over a year ago. I currently play bass in a function band, and my dream is to write and produce music for games in the future.
The concept for my EP is to take five of my favorite boss themes and cover them in a more chilled-out style, lowering the intensity and bringing harmony to the forefront. The sound I’m going for is generally ambient jazz/funk inspired, but I also want to preserve some of the orchestral elements of the original tracks so that they maintain some of the elements that are key to their identity.
Eric L
I’m a jazz musician that creates jazz trombone arrangements of video game music on my YouTube channel. I’m currently studying Jazz Performance in college, and I work part-time as a brass instructor at a local music store. Some of my musical influences include Marshall Gilkes, Zac Zinger, Hiromi, Jacob Collier, T-Square, and the constantly growing video game music community on YouTube.
My EP Upside Down Zone is an exploration of what themes from the Sonic the Hedgehog series would sound like if they were flipped on their heads (e.g. Green Hill Zone as a desert level theme).