Metroid Metal is TEN YEARS OLD (new song and ramblings to celebrate)

It has been a year since the last track posting. How about that! I would consider it a sad fact if it wasn’t for the wealth of projects and collaborations as of late. It’s been a damn good year.

As I always say, thank you guys for the interest and support over the last forever. Strangely, I received many emails in the last few months asking about more Fusion, so hello irony:

 ————> Metroid Fusion Metal – Sector 4 <————

Moving on…

So yeah, Metroid Metal is ten years old. That is almost a third of my life. Some 14-year-old kid who saw the first track on the IGNboards is likely married now. Six Metroid games (with spinoffs) have been released since the project started.

…ugh… old… ANYWAY,

I owe a lot to Metroids, as obnoxious as they may be. If it wasn’t for the Metroid series, I have no idea where I’d be musically at this stage in my life. Every song has been a tiny boot camp experience. It has caused me (us) to get more experimental, play with new technology, fight with sonics, and attempt some different styles.

It’s possible that Chunk and myself would have ended up in the VGM scene in some way, but I’m not sure in what capacity. Back when this project started, the VGM scene was way more niche. Things have changed so much in ten years. The rock/metal VGM stuff has thrived, and the scene has spilled over into every genre imaginable. If you own a computer and have an instrument, you can join in and pay homage in your own way. But yeah, we owe a lot to Metroid.

The intention was never to create a “project”. I just thought it would be fun to rock out the NES theme song and dust off the 8-track and drum machine.

 - my babies

OCR and The Minibosses were already well known in ’03, but there weren’t a ton of experimental prog arrangements at the time. Why not give it a shot? I completed the NES Theme and Kraid and bought the domain that made the most sense. That was before Myspace, so I had the artist from Silent Uproar whip up a messageboard (lol “messageboard”). YouTube wasn’t around yet obviously. Facebook hah! The closest thing to Soundcloud we had was MP3.com. Ah, them was the days.

Back then – due to hardware limitations – once an idea was together, it was down and then out. I didn’t over think everything, and most songs were less than three minutes. It was simple. It had to be. I recorded on a frickin’ 8-track.

I met Chunkstyle back in college when he played in a band called Milkface (’98?). Years later, Chunk and a friend showed up at my house one night and said I was required to pack gear and join a band that night, so I did. That band was Blue Dot. Kevin (MM drummer) was also in Blue Dot. We performed a few of the MM songs live for fun, but that wasn’t the point of Blue Dot.

Then MAGfest happened to us. Then Danimal and Kirby and Kevin. Then what… PAX? And a band CD? Oh ok.

SO TEN YEARS NOW WHAT?

Everyone in the band is busy on their own projects. I don’t plan on waiting another year to put out another song, FYI. Re: Metroid Metal, we have something coming. We wanted it to hit this date, but that did not happen by a mile. I’ll post more about it when it makes sense. Let’s just say that we are not playing shows all over the world, right? And when I get an email from some dudette in Brazil that wants us to come to frickin’ Brazil, it makes me sad. Let’s just say that this project is related to that.

Also, a big shout to Nate for offering artwork like madman. All I did was ask him years ago to use a sketch-a-day slot and make a single Metroid Metal banner, and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED. Cheers, FoxDragon.

…

If I could tell the me of ten years ago that things would go this long, eventually I’d tackle the Marble Madness music with 7 guests, the core of MM would become Yes Mayham, and I’d be releasing a TRON album (June this year woot!), I would have never believed it. But HEY, it did, and it is, and more will.

I can’t say I remember much of the guy that started the project back in ’03. Some claim that people never change, but we don’t listen to those people. Just go back and read your email from 10 years ago. Who the hell was that? All I know is that I’m grateful beyond expression for this opportunity. I’d like to think this has somehow molded me into a better musician, engineer, song-writer and hopefully… person.

Thank you guys again. We owe it all to you guys…. the ones who just read ^^^all that shit up there. ^^^

Chunk, Danimal, Kirby, Kevin – love you boys.

If you want to stay up to date on what that Metroid Metal guy is doing when he is not giving Metroid nearly enough attention, feel free to follow the Stemage Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or stemagemusic.com. That’s where I live mostly, come visit and chat with me. There is a whole lot happening, especially over these next few months.

Here’s to another 10 years of music and some decent new Metroid games, geez. I guess there’s that 2.5d Batman game coming out from the Retro guys. There’s that.

Hope you guys like the Fusion track!

Thanks y’all!

-Stemage

 - photo by Jeriaska

Shows and Music and Etc

2 new shows – new music – newness

Yay concerts! We’re playing two shows this summer (so far).

Bit Gen Gamerfest is June 30th in Baltimore, MD. Bit Gen is comprised of wall to wall video game music on a single day – with other fun stuff thrown in. CRAZY list of bands this year! For the full band list and details, check out http://www.bitgengamerfest.com. Follow:  Facebook – Twitter

Nerdapalooza is a weekend of video game music, art, and antics across the full range of genres and archetypes. It’s a blast. Nerdapalooza lives in Orlando, FL Aug 3-5. Last year was our first Nerdapalooza, and there is nothing quite like it. We are PUMPED. http://nerdapalooza.org Follow: Facebook - Twitter

In other neeeewwws,

Chunkstyle just released the new Yes Mayhem album, HH2. It features several members of MM and is an incredible follow up to the album from last year. Check it out on Bandcamp. Follow: Facebook – Twitter

Stemage is almost done with the Marble Madness album. A tracklist and guestlist has just been posted on stemage.com, and the album should be out in a few weeks. (this is why you don’t have a new MM song yet. ;) ). Follow: Facebook – Twitter

Danimal Cannon is going on tour!! He’s cranking out mondo tunes and has new shirts available for the tour as well. Shows are listed on Bandcamp. Follow:  Facebook – Twitter

Re: ‘Troid Metal, there is a new track (and a half) in the works, but it’s been put behind the new Marble Madness album and a few other projects. The cloning project isn’t going so well. Pseudo-Stemage has an attitude problem and can’t figure out how to use basic tools. More MM as soon as possible! That’s it for now – love you guys!

Get a Stemage t-shirt because they are attractive and comfy

Seriously… look. Preorders are only up until March 2nd!

Stemage releases Zero Over Zero and Grandia II cover EP for Japan Relief

New original album and cover EP for Japan Relief.

Hi! The new MM track is being worked on. But in the meantime, I thought I’d post two projects that have taken a good bit of time and brain juice.

Zero Over Zero is an instrumental, 20-track album dedicated to the original Dawn of the Dead from 1978. You can get the LE, CD, or digital download (for $5), from here. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Also available is an EP of music from Grandia II, Frets of Valmar. It started as a fundraising project from MAGfest. The EP has special guests Chunkstyle from Yes Mayhem, and 3/5 of Arm Cannon. :) You can read more on the project here, and get the EP here. The 4-song EP is free, but all proceeds from donations go directly to the Japan Red Cross Society.

More soon!

New Metroid Metal track next week on “Harmony of a Hunter”!

Read more at www.shinesparkers.net

Harmony of a Hunter was created to mark the 25th anniversary of Metroid. A huge number of people contributed to the project to celebrate and mark this historic franchise, which includes music from the original NES Metroid through Metroid: Other M for the Nintendo Wii. The album features a diverse range of talent covering a variety of genres.

Metroid Metal was lucky enough to score a slot on the compilation, and the 2 CD project will be available for FREE next week!! Read more at www.shinesparkers.net.