“Wait.. is Metroid Metal one person, or 5 people?”
“What’s with this new album? Aren’t all the songs already available here?”
People have been a bit confused, so here’s a little area that outlines what Metroid Metal is (it is awesome) and what has happened over the last 6 years.
The Start (2003):
Metroid Metal was started in 2003 by me (aka Grant Henry aka Stemage) after becoming inspired by the works of Vomitron and The Minibosses. I played all the instruments and programmed drums using my analog cassette 8-track. The original plan was to complete only the NES soundtrack in its entirety and then move on to other games outside of Metroid. BUT LOWER NORFAIR WAS JUST TOO GOOD TO NOT DESTROY! So yeah, I didn’t move on to other games and decided to stick with the Metroid franchise instead. All the songs were made free for download (and still are free for download).
Enter Dan Taylor aka chunkstyle (2005):
After Lower Norfair (SM) was completed, I brought in Dan Taylor (chunkstyle) to play bass since he’s the best bass player ever, and I play bass like a silly guitar player. I made the transition from the 8-track to a desktop recording environment to not only allow for collaborations, but also give me breathing room for more complicated compositions. I made a bunch of songs.
Time Warp to 2008 (MM Live):
At MAGfest 6 I realized there were other guys out there that were equal parts guitar player and gamer. Maybe someone would be into learning the pieces of Metroid Metal from afar, and then playing them live? Dan Taylor was in, and I also pulled in Kevin Lawrence on drums, who had played in my last band with Dan, Blue Dot. Dan and Kevin now form the backbone of Yes Mayhem.
I’d become good buddies with Dan Behrens (danimal) of Arm Cannon and Micheal Molnar (Kirby) of tempsoundsolutions, so I made the asks. They said yes, so we all got married.
The boys all learned their parts with youtube videos, and MM Live was born on January 3, 2009 at MAGfest 7. At least we all got married first.
And then PAX 2009 happened wow.
The “new” album, Varia Suite:
The live version of the songs took a fresh and more organic form. To celebrate, we engineered Varia Suite, a collection of rerecordings of the MAGfest 7 set with everyone’s nuances. All of the tracks on Varia Suite are also available on the site in their old forms, but the new versions are very human, visceral, and alive. It sounds like a band. Varia Suite is available for digital download and on CD through Silent Uproar Records for $8.
WHATS NEXT?
MM Live will continue to move forward with several shows planned. I will continue to create new Metroid Metal tracks as long as they are requested, and the rest has yet to be seen.
Hope that clears it all up! Thanks for visiting!
\m/
