Blow out your cartridges, plug in your controllers, and hit the power button…Chicago’s own NES-Rock band I Fight Dragons wants to put you into a warp zone..straight into 8-bit rock heaven. We think that the Nester nerds from I Fight Dragons are actually carving out a mostly-untapped music styling that, quite possibly, could become its own genre. 8-bit NES sounds have been used before (listen: Game Over by “Lil Flip”), but merely as gimmicky side-noise to what would be considered a normal song. I Fight Dragons uses Nintendo-style synths, bleeps, blips, and crashes as part of the musical landscape and arrangement throughout their entire debut EP titled “Cool is Just a Number”. Heck, even the album cover looks like an old-school Nintendo Entertainment System cover.

Not even Trent Reznor would use a video game controller to call upon the many sounds in his arsenal, but these guys just don’t care, and we respect that. The band’s “Mad Scientist” Bill Prokopow uses Power Pads, SNES Controllers, the Power Glove, the NES Advantage, and even a Guitar Hero controller, just to name a few of the peripherals. And they do so in style – each band member wears a signature shirt with a logo of their choosing emblazoned across the front. Singer and front man Brian Mazzaferri wears a shirt with a Superman logo on the front, and bass player Harry Rao rocks a Batmans tee – in fact, they look more like a mish-mash of superheros on stage rather than a rock band. Don’t let their campy NES theme or 8-bit avatars throw you off though, these guys are the real deal and ready to take Chicago by storm, as evidenced by the live video below. It's definitely a live show you don't want to miss.

IFD’s debut album starts out with the audio instrumental “Power Up” which is basically just the sounds of someone inserting an NES cartridge, closing the flap, and firing up a game with cheesy yet all too familiar NES intro music starting soon after. (you can even hear the clacking of the controller’s A and B buttons). We prefer to call this type of intro “Geek Chic”. It is a fitting prelude to an album full of quirky, yet tastefully inserted, NES tinks and twangs. If you’ve played any of the Mario Brothers series, you’ll recognize sounds from the game throughout the album, but we are also sure there are sounds from numerous other games included as well (Double Dragon?). One example of in-song usage is “Heads Up, Hearts Down” – you can plainly hear the trill sound from Mario Brothers 3 when you make Mario Run to charge up his “P Meter” in the background. Other times, it isn’t just noise. For example, at the end of “Money” there is a full-on symphony of NES sounds and synths creating the bridge composition of the song. Come to think of it, it sounds a lot like run-of-the-mill background music of any Nintendo boss fight.

Aside from the artistic use of NES sound effects, the group is effective in putting together well thought out songs, with catchy melodies and smart lyrics. On that merit alone, they are worth a look…you won’t be sorry.

This weekend, Tech Loop is going to sit down with the men and women of I Fight Dragons to discuss exactly how they create their trademark sound using programming and peripherals, and maybe also challenge them to a SMB2 time attack. Check back here next week to see exactly how they do it! In the meantime, check them out on the iTunes Music Store, or head over to their website for full details and upcoming shows (PSSST: we hear they’re currently giving away their debut EP for free). They’ve also got a merch store with some geek-friendly band schwag you might want to check out.

 All images are courtesy of IFD's website.

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Blake Schnitkey
As a graduate in Visual Communications Technology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Blake was drawn into a love for technology via the biggest passion in his lif More