Mega Beardo Featured in the Charleston Gazette!

It's not every day that the most widely-circulated newspaper in West Virginia features an article on some goofy Nintendo nerd metal dude, but it happened! I will be in tomorrow's edition. The article mainly focuses on my upcoming Ledjent of Zelda album, and what I think of the whole "djent" movement in general (spoilers: I think it's mostly derivative crap). 

Read the article at the Charleston Gazette website!

Special thanks goes to Nick Harrah at WVRockScene for putting this together and supporting what I do. West Virginia has a solid, awesome rock scene, believe it or not, and Nick does what he can to get the word out.

Beardo's Playing Mountain Stage?!

First off, sorry for the lack of updates from Mega Beardo Land lately. Things have been quite hectic around here, and it has shifted my production plans around a little bit. But in a good way!

You see, I'm playing Mountain Stage this Sunday, October 21, and that's a pretty damn cool thing to have on my plate. I will be playing lead guitar for my good friend Logan Venderlic, the "folk wave" mastermind, as he opens up for the great Brandie Carlile. For those of you not from the West Virginia area, Mountain Stage is a diverse live show (typically bluegrass, folk, and acoustic acts) put together and distributed by West Virginia Public Radio and broadcast via NPR. That means that if you can't make it to the show but still want to hear me play awesome/catchy-as-hell folk music, you can listen to the radio broadcast as well. When I find out when that broadcast will be, I will let you guys know!

Click for the official Mountain Stage website for more info.

Also, check out Logan Venderlic's bandcamp page for all of his awesome Folk Wave goodness.  He's a stand-up dude, and I'm honored to be a part of this.

I hope to have images, videos, etc. of the show to share with you soon. Stay tuned!

Ledjent of Zelda: Video Update #2

Ready for another update on my next album Ledjent of Zelda? Sure you are!

I'll let the video below do the talking, but I would like to make it clear that the tongue-in-cheek nature of the title of this album is meant to be sort of a parody. A lot of people look down on the whole djent movement, and for good reason. It has become absolutely diluted and generic now. My point with this album is to not sound like all the current djent bands that are writing weird, off-time riffs for the sake of being weird and being technical for the sake of being technical. I have no interest in sounding like those bands, so the album won't sound like that. It will sound like Mega Beardo.

The title of the album came first. It popped in my head one day while in the car, and I thought, "Man, it would be a stupid, fun experiment to make Zelda music sound like djent." So I went for it.

To me, djent simply means "ripping off what Meshuggah started doing back in 1994." Seriously, Meshuggah were so ahead of everyone else that it took 10 years for other bands to catch up. When I first heard Meshuggah's Chaosphere in 1999, it literally changed the way I thought about metal. I never really incorporated that style into my own writing. This album gives me the chance to give it a shot. And I do enjoy bands like Periphery, so I incorporate more of those melodic sensibilities that you don't really find in Meshuggah's music.

To put it simply: Ledjent of Zelda is the original Legend of Zelda soundtrack played by Mega Beardo through a 1990s Meshuggah filter.

Review a Bad Game Day: Cybernoid (NES) Review

It's August 8, so that only means one thing...

It's Review a Bad Game Day!

To celebrate, I have put together a 15-minute review of Cybernoid for the NES. The video also includes a new remix from the Cybernoid NES soundtrack. This is my very first video game review, so I hope you guys enjoy it. It was tons of fun to do, so perhaps I may do some more in the future.

I'm gonna stop typing so you can get to watching. Have fun!

Much thanks to 1morecastle.com for putting Review a Bad Game Day together. Go to reviewabadgameday.com for tons more reviews today!

Coming August 8th: Review a Bad Game Day!

Next Wednesday, August 8, I will be participating in Review a Bad Game Day for which a bunch of us retro gamers will -- you guessed it -- pick a bad game and review it. We can do any game, any system, any format.

And I'm choosing Cybernoid for the NES. 

So check back right here at MegaBeardo.com on August 8th to see my video review of Cybernoid. It's my first video game review ever, so it should be interesting to see how it turns out. You can also check out the official Review a Bad Game Day site for a list of all participants. Looking at the list of people involved, it is sure to be an entertaining day! There's certainly not a shortage of crappy games, so I'm glad to see that many systems from just about every era of gaming are being represented.

I also have to give a round of applause to Eric Bailey (@Nintendo_Legend) and the rest of the crew at 1morecastle.com for getting Review a Bad Game Day together. If you are a retro gamer and you haven't been to 1morecastle.com yet, then what are you waiting for? It's overflowing with retro goodness.

"Ledjent of Zelda" Video Update #1

Here is my first official update for the writing sessions of my new album "Ledjent of Zelda." I'm still very much in the writing/demo stages. I explain everything in the video, so I'll stop typing so you can start watching! 

"Belmont" Available for FREE Through June 15!

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!

OCRemix.org Welcomes Mega Beardo!

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.

"UnMega" is Released!

My new acoustic EP "UnMega" is now available on beardomusic.bandcamp.com or you can stream it below. So stream it, download it, share it, etc. It's only $3, or you can name your own price. Any and all support is much appreciated.

To get a better understanding of "UnMega," here is what I had to say about it in my recent interview with WVRockscene:

"Doing acoustic stuff is way different than what I do with Mega Beardo or anything else. I guess it’s more of the singer/song-writer type, but the songs are quite melancholy and haunting in a way. I’ve been telling people, if you like the tracks “Simon” and “Such is the Curse” from Belmont, then you’ll dig this stuff. I drew inspiration from a lot of places: childhood memories, horror movies...there’s even a song I wrote based on the famous West Virginia story “The Telltale Lilac Bush.” The production isn’t stellar, nor is it meant to be. Usually, I’d just grab my guitar and hit record without any time-consuming pre-production microphone placement stuff. These are just songs I’d write when the inspiration hit, and I couldn’t find any place for them. I’ve been recording it off and on for two years now. I figured I’d just write and record until I felt like I had enough for a short album."

 

Single from My New Acoustic Album "UnMega"

Tomorrow, my new acoustic album "UnMega" will be available for download (beardomusic.bandcamp.com). In the meantime, here's a video for one of the tracks. Much different than my Mega Beardo stuff. More stripped down and laid back. Check back tomorrow for the download info:

Mega Beardo Interview With WVRockscene

I recently did a pretty in-depth interview for the WVRockscene blog. We discuss tons of stuff including how I got started with Mega Beardo, awesome vintage gaming memories, and my other website MovieBeards.com, as well as my upcoming albums (including "Ledjent of Zelda" and my acoustic album "UnMega" that I'll be dropping next week.)

So sit down with your beverage of choice, and check it out!

WVRockscene: The Mega Beardo Interview


Thanks again to Nick at WVRockscene for putting this together! 

New Mega Beardo Album "The Ledjent of Zelda" Coming in 2012!

After a while of throwing around ideas and seeing what sticks, I have decided that my next Mega Beard album will be "The Ledjent of Zelda," which is a djent-style cover album of the soundtrack to the original Zelda game on the NES. Expect this to be like my Mega Man 2 album, in which I take the original themes, metal-ize them, re-arrange them, and add my own material on top of it. If you don't know what djent is, then either look it up on wikipedia or listen to Meshuggah.

You may be aware that the original Zelda soundtrack only has a few short songs, so expect this to be a short E.P. of around 20 or 25 minutes. Honestly, after the insane amount of work I put into making Belmont (which was 70 minutes long), I just wanted to record something with a quicker turn-around time.

I'll try to do some video updates along the way, but expect this to drop in the later part of 2012. Here's a short video to give you an idea as to what "The Ledjent of Zelda" will sound like:

Mega Beardo: "Battletoads" and "Castlevania" Remixes Now Available on Bandcamp

After many requests, I have made my random NES remixes more easily available for download at my bandcamp site. I'm lumping these into a compilation called "Extra Lives." Any non-album Mega Beardo remixes I do in the future -- and I plan to do one pretty soon -- will be available at this location. Of course, they are free, or you can choose to donate (which I greatly appreciate).  So click the link or the album cover to be taken to the Mega Beardo "Extra Lives" bandcamp site!

  

http://beardomusic.bandcamp.com/album/extra-lives

Also, I will be announcing my next Mega Beardo album pretty soon. Stay tuned.

Mega Beardo: Live Footage: Feb. 26, 2012

I played a Mega Beardo set as part of the Morgantown stop of the Rainbowdragoneyes/Roniit tour. Check out footage of the entire 20-minute set below, including my versions of the Battletoads theme and "Heart of Fire" from Castlevania, as well as my 11-minute Mega Man 2 medley. 

It feels good to get that custom Nintendo guitar some live action!



 

In Case You Missed It: Official Mega Beardo Video for "The Mysterious Works of Dr. Frankenstein"

With all the craziness and lack of sleep surrounding my release of Belmont, I forgot to post the official video for the single!  The video for "The Mysterious Works of Dr. Frankenstein" offers a parallel between the 1931 film Frankenstein and myself as a mad scientist creating a "frankensteined" guitar out of an NES.  It was a blast to put together; I even got to do stop motion animation of myself getting possessed by a Power Glove!  So check it out for yourself and let me know what you think:

"Belmont" featured on Gamefira Article

Christopher Earls over at gamefira.com put together a nice write-up of my latest album Belmont. Check out the article, and while you're at it, check out the awesome content that Gamefira has to offer.  Chris Earls and Brian Williams have developed a pretty sweet community for gamers to write articles, share their game collections, and discuss anything gaming-related, modern or vintage. Keep up the good work, guys!

Site:            gamefira.com
Article Link:  http://www.gamefira.com/article/498/metal-album-based-on-castlevania-yes-please

Random Update of Everything

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.