the ’Zine

Bang Camaro - On the Road Again

February 21, 2008 by Bryn

Hello from Denver! I'm currently in a small hotel room with 5 other guys. Last night we played a show at the Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS and tomorrow we're playing in Ft. Collins, CO. So, we woke up semi-early (in rock music terms), packed all 14 of us into the van, and hit the open roads. We haven't been lost even once yet since we left on January 31st. GPS rules.

I'm in a unique situation right now. I'm traveling around the country with a band that is mainly known for our songs that Harmonix has added to their products. I not only took part in making both Rock Band and Phase, but can now meet people around the country that are fans of both the music as well as the games.

Let me just say that you Rock Band fans are crazy!

The reactions range from being amazed that we are not bigger rock stars, to saying they can beat the crap out of us at our own song.

Nearly every night on this trip we have run into some people that have only heard of us through Rock Band. Their reactions range from being amazed that we are not bigger rock stars (ha!) to saying that they could beat the crap out of us at our own song. (This is probably true.) In Hoboken, the crowd was so crazy that they carried our drummer back to our green room on their shoulders after the show. We renamed "Nightlife Commando" to "Nightlife Orlando" in Florida because of the absolute insanity. In Atlanta, we met a virtual "rock band" that had their own band shirts made with their gamer tags on the backs. That cracked me up. (We also played with a band called Sgt. Kickass that had a tank that shot smoke for a drumset, but that's probably worthy of another blog entirely.)

Traveling from Boston through NYC to Miami, through Alabama, we have played for many diverse crowds. What is the same throughout is the honest love that everyone has for rock music. Maclaine, another guitar player in the band, and I were talking about how mindblowing it is that music games are actually influencing a whole new generation of rockers out there. I forgot the actual percentages mentioned, but we were just reading an article where it said that music games were catching up to CD sales in gross revenue. I'm proud that I work for a company that takes the music as seriously as Harmonix does. I have seen the care taken in choosing every single song that makes it into the game. I'm sure it's going to inspire a bunch of 12 year olds out there to pick up real instruments just like MTV did for me when I was that age.

If you're bored, head over to www.bangcamaro.com to check out what dates we have left on our tour. If you can make it to a show, track me down. I'm the guy with the dirty green hat. We can talk about how you can probably kick my ass at "Pleasure (Pleasure)."

-Bryn

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