Download "Basement Demos" on bandcamp for free/name your price:
When you take a look at my discography and past music career, you will notice that I've been in a lot of bands over the years. Sometimes these bands go on for a long while, play live on occasion and release an album or two, and other bands never quite make it out of my basement.
That's what Basement Demos is.
Dating back to 2009, I have stockpiled songs that I wrote for bands that I started and could never get off the ground. It happens. Life happens. People move away and people get busy. The band dissipates and you remain friends, but those songs just sit there and gather dust. I've tried re-purposing these songs for other projects with admittedly not so great results (this song in particular). So there they sit, collecting more dust and taking up space in my brain.
And then my wife and I decide to move out of my home state of West Virginia for work. I have lived here for every second of my 33 rotations around our sun, so transplanting ourselves into Pittsburgh is fun and scary and exciting and stressful. A move like this can be a catalyst for a much-needed recharge. It also gives you a chance to sort through the boxes of stuff in your basement. See where I'm going with this?
I bought my home in 2009, the same year I became a college teacher. It was a monumental year for me. "Hey, I'm an adult now!" This house also had a pretty cool partially finished basement area that I turned into my music and gaming space.
This is where Mega Beardo was born.
Within two months of living at this house, I started tracking my Mega Man 2 Guitar Tribute album. I was also writing Belmont at the same time. The house was like an injection of adrenaline and creativity. I came to spend a lot of my time in that basement studio. I adorned it with all the nostalgic crap that made me feel like me. It was a home within a home. And now I'm moving out of it.
While packing up the stuff in this basement studio for the move, I began thinking "Man, I've written a lot of cool songs in this basement that nobody will ever really hear." It mirrored my current packing activities as "Well, do I hold onto these things that I keep boxed up and never look at, or do I sell them or give them to Goodwill?" While I'm clearing out this basement studio, why don't I go ahead and just release all of the unheard songs I wrote in this basement studio? So I'm clearing out my basement both literally and metaphorically. It's like when old Rocky Balboa says he can't stop thinking about fighting because he still has stuff "in the basement." Not only do I want people to hear these songs, but I just need to clear them out of my head and focus on the future.
So that brings us to Basement Demos. This is a collection of songs I wrote for the bands Last Level, Clobber, and Karate Balboa (aka Bulletproof Tiger, aka Gotham City - we never really did settle on a name). These are all instrumental tracks. Though I was the singer of Karate Balboa, I didn't think it would fit to have 7 instrumentals and 2 non-instrumentals on the same album. Some of these songs, like the Last Level ones, were already recorded and close to album ready. With the others, I had to go back and update the old demos from 2009-2010 to make them all match, sound quality-wise. What results is (what I hope) a collection of punk, hardcore, and southern metal songs that represents a fun part of my life with my good friends, and I want you guys to hear it too.
I didn't do this all alone. Some of these tracks were a collaborative effort, particularly the Clobber tracks. Everyone in that band had a part in writing those songs in one form or another, including the late, great Eric Kesner, who wrote the absolute cheesiest, catchiest, and best vocal/lyric verse hook I've ever heard for "Peace Pipe." I represented it by playing the melody on guitar, but it simply doesn't do it justice. I'll be singing that song in my head until the day I die. Thanks, Eric.
I also got my buddy Tony Rohrbough (formerly of Byzantine) to lay down a solo on the Clobber track "Ice Wizard". I had an open spot for a fun solo, and I've always wanted to collaborate with Tony. I strongly feel he is the most under-appreciated guitarist in modern metal, and it blows my mind that he played a solo over one of my riffs.
Dunzo! It feels good to get these out. I have a few things heading your way later this year. Viking Guitar Live will do some more recording, and LonelyRollingStars is prepping our next album. I'm also finishing up a track for a Chrono Trigger album. All that leads up to me finally sitting down to write and record Belmont II. I don't have a timeline for that, but my preference would be to get out it by Halloween 2016, as it is an appropriate time of the year and would also mark the 5th anniversary of Belmont's release (holy crap).
Until next time!
If you haven't nabbed your copy of Belmont yet, well now's your chance! Through the end of June 15, I will be making Belmont available as a free download on my bandcamp site, per my announcement on twitter last night:
Also, if physical CDs are your thing, I have reduced the price of the Belmont+Mega Man 2 Guitar Tribute CD bundle to just $6. Here's the link:
Mega Beardo: Belmont: Bandcamp.com
So what are you waiting for? Get to downloading, and spread the word!
P.S. Look for a video update on my new Ledjent of Zelda album next week!
You may remember my remix of "Heart of Fire" from Castlevania. I posted the video of it last year, and it is now available for free on my bandcamp site. I submitted this remix to VGM super-site OCRemix.org at the same time with the title "Death Tap."
And guess what?
"Death Tap" is now my very first remix to appear on OCRemix.org! I couldn't be more excited. I remember when I first started working on my Mega Man 2 Guitar Tribute, a couple of my friends said I should put serious consideration into submitting one of those tracks to the site. Instead of submitting something I'd already recorded for an album, I decided to take time off from writing Belmont to do my "Death Tap" remix specifically for OCRemix.org.
Check it out here!:
OCRemix: Castlevania 'Death Tap'
I'm in the middle of working on my "Ledjent of Zelda" album now, so chances are I'll take a break from that and put together a (non-Zelda) remix submission. I'm not sure what game I'll attempt, but I do have a couple in mind. I would like to give some credit to a lesser-known NES gem.
Since the release of Belmont,
I've been keeping a somewhat low profile on the creative front. It took 16 months of writing, demoing, re-writing, recording, and editing to get that whole thing together. So you can understand when I say I have had no interest of being in that type of mindset for the last three months. Though, I have tried; I have an acoustic E.P. that I would love to get finished. On the other hand, I've rather enjoyed getting a normal amount of rest, catching up on some much-needed gaming, and spending time with family and friends. Keep in mind, I am a full-time teacher, and I go to grad school. Free time has been at a premium.
With that said, here is what I have planned for the coming year (kind of in order of priority):
1. Recording guest vocals on a new 3-Hole Face track. If you recall, 3-Hole Face is an industrial metal band for which I played rhythm guitar from 2001-2004. We disbanded in 2004, but Terry Smith (who mixed and mastered both Mega Beardo albums) wrote a butt-ton of new 3-Hole Face tunes on his own. He plans to enlist a bunch of his friends to lend guest vocals on the tracks. It's odd to record guest vocals for a band in which I was just the rhythm guitarist, but I'm also having a lot of fun putting ideas together. I'm working on this track now, but I'm not sure when (or how) Terry plans to release this album. It's good stuff, though. Real good.
2. Finishing my acoustic EP. This thing is probably 85% written at this point. I basically just need to write lyrics for one more song. There will be either 6 or 7 tracks. If you like the track "Simon" from the Belmont album, this stuff will be up your alley. This won't be a Mega Beard album since it isn't based on a Nintendo game. However, I will say there is one track that is written about a game, but it would be hard to figure that out unless I told you what it was. Realistically, I plan to have this on my bandcamp site in March.
3. Recording the new Descension Rate album. We officially released our album "Creatures of Discordia" on December 10, 2011. This was the first part of a two-part concept album based on Stephen King's sprawling Dark Tower series. We have a couple of shows to play this month, so we'll probably get recording finished in February and hopefully get the thing released by the end of the summer.
4. Making another music video for Belmont. In October 2011, I made a music video for "The Mysterious Works of Dr. Frankenstein," and I had so much fun putting that thing together. It was my first official "short film," if you will. I may try to make another music video, I may not. I would definitely love to, but I would need to come up with another cool idea. It's kind of hard to beat mad scientists and Nintendo guitars.
5. More Mega Beardo music, dammit! I do have plans to do another guitar instrumental tribute for another Nintendo game, but I don't want to dive into that quite yet. I would like to do a couple of one-off tracks first, much like what I did with the Battletoads theme or "Heart of Fire" from Castlevania.
I've been quite busy this year. In addition to my solo album Belmont getting released, I have also been busy with my blackened death metal band Descension Rate. We have written a two-part album based on Stephen King's Dark Tower series. The first part Creatures of Discordia is now available! Seven tracks at about 35 minutes. Check it out from our bandcamp site:
