The Minibosses

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Minibosses

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Origin = Northampton, Massachusetts
Genre = Progressive rock video game music
Years_active = 1999 - present
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Current_members = Ben Baraldi
Aaron Burke
Matt Wood
Past_members = John Lipfert
Fred Johnson
Rich Smaldone
Notable_instruments =

Minibosses is an independent progressive rock/progressive metal band originally from Northampton, Massachusetts and currently located in Phoenix, Arizona. They are known for their video game music covers, which are instrumental rock variations of the theme music from classic Nintendo video games such as "Mega Man", "Metroid", and "Castlevania". Such covers earned Minibosses the "best cover band" award in the Phoenix New Times [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/bestof/award.php?oid=oid:197035&section=oid:34824&year=2006 Best of Phoenix 2006] .

Minibosses have managed to form a following amongst video game music fans, and they allow fans to download many free songs on their website. Much of their following has come from their constant playing of concerts at local clubs around Arizona and other cities in the southwest. Fans refer to themselves as "Minibossies" and are known to travel great distances to see the band.Fact|date=March 2008 The band has also formed quite a following on their web forums, which is host to tour announcements, new video game covers from other remixers, and the [http://dod.vgmix.com/ Dwelling of Duels competition] .

History

From 1997 to 1999, guitarist Aaron Burke and drummer Matt Wood played in Jenova Project, one of the earliest video game cover bands, along with other friends from the same dorm at the University of Massachusetts. In January 2000, Burke and Wood recruited bassist Ben Baraldi to form Minibosses. [ [http://minibosses.com/faq.htm Minibosses FAQ] ] Initially, the band played both video game covers as well as original songs, and self-released their first album, "Minibosses", in September 2000. They were unsatisfied with the quality of this album and have since released new versions of their covers (as well as new covers) on the "Minibosses/Penny Winblood" split and "Brass" album. At the same time, they replaced their older songs, which had been freely available to download, with the newer versions found on "Brass". [ [http://minibosses.com/faq.htm Minibosses FAQ] ] From 2000 to present, the band has toured continuously while recording material for new albums. [ [http://minibosses.com/shows.htm Minibosses Shows] ] During this time, the video game cover scene has matured, with the rise in popularity of sites such as VGMix and OverClocked ReMix, giving the band the opportunity to play at such events as Penny Arcade Expo 2005 and the "Atomix" Gamer Choice Award. [ [http://minibosses.com/shows.htm Minibosses Shows] ] Minibosses often tour throughout Arizona and California, and occasionally return to the Northeast to perform, most notably at the Middle East where they recorded their live album, "Live at the Middle East".

The band has gone through several changes, mostly on second guitar. Previously held by Rich Smaldone briefly and later Fred Johnson, it is now played by former After Any Accident guitarist John Lipfert.

Members

Current

*Ben Baraldi — vocals, bass
*Aaron Burke — guitar
*Matt Wood — drums

Previous

*John Lipfert - guitar (2004-2007)
*Fred Johnson — guitar (2002-2004)
*Rich Smaldone — guitar (2001-2002)

Discography

*"Minibosses" (Self-released on Kraid Records, 2000)
*"Minibosses (EP)" (Self-released, 2004)
*"Live at the Middle East" recorded at The Middle East nightclub (Self-released, 2004)
*"Minibosses/Penny Winblood" (Forge Records, 2005)
*"Minibosses Brass" (Self-released, 2005)

Covered game themes

*"Batman"
*"Bionic Commando"
*"Blaster Master"
*"Castlevania"
*""
*""
*"Contra"
*"Double Dragon"
*"Excitebike"
*"Ghosts 'n Goblins"
*"The Goonies II"
*"Ikari Warriors"
*"Kid Icarus"
*"The Legend of Zelda"
*"Metroid"
*"Mega Man 2"
*"Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!"
*"Ninja Gaiden"
*"Rygar"
*"Super Mario Bros. 2"
*"Super Mario Bros. 3"
*"Wizards and Warriors"
*""

Game themes falsely attributed to the Minibosses

There are various video game song remixes floating around the Internet that are falsely attributed to Minibosses, perhaps by mistaken fans or newcomers to the genre. These include a remix of the theme from the first level of "Doom", the stage music for Big Blue from F-Zero (which is actually from a guitar arrangement of F-Zero X) and the "Tetris" theme (which is actually the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki") as performed by Ozma. The Minibosses only play NES game music, although they did release original songs and non-Nintendo covers on their first album, "Minibosses", as well as play the theme to Halo for PAX 2007's Omegathon.

ee also

*The Black Mages, a metal band founded by Nobuo Uematsu to play Final Fantasy arrangements.
*The Advantage, another band which plays covers of Nintendo theme music.
*The OneUps, another band which plays covers of video game music (although with a more jazz-inspired sound).
*The NESkimos, another band which plays covers of Nintendo music, but adds a very heavy style to it.
*MegaDriver, another band which plays covers of video game music, mostly of the Sega Genesis (or "Mega Drive" outside North America) but also plays Nintendo covers, with a heavy metal style.
*PRESS PLAY ON TAPE, another band which plays covers of video game music (Commodore 64 tunes as rock).
*The Megas, a band which covers Mega Man songs, adding lyrics to expand on the game's story.

References

*Borges, Mario Mesquita. " [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Bcecm96hojep8 Minibosses] ". Allmusic. Retrieved May 9, 2005.

External links

General

* [http://minibosses.com/ Minibosses official web site]
* [http://theshizz.org/forum/index.php?act=SF&f=8 Minibosses forum]
* [http://www.ocremix.org/remixer/theminibosses/ ReMixer profile] at OverClocked ReMix
*musicbrainz artist|id=db11d9fe-9143-44f9-9aca-d7c3d1e1d728|name=The Minibosses
* [http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/minibosses/ Minibosses EP Insert Credit review] Sheffield, Brandon (Apr. 12, 2004)
* [http://www.myspace.com/minibossess Minibosses official MySpace]

Interviews

* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/miniboss.html "Nintendo Rocks!"] Wired Magazine: Werde, Bill (Dec. 2002)
* [http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/04/21/minibosses/index_np.html "Nintendo rocks!"] Salon.com: Becker, Verne (Apr. 21, 2004)
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3873034 "Rocking in the Key of Nintendo"] NPR-All Things Considered: (Aug. 26, 2004)

Videos

* [http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/7503 Castlevania III: Music Video] , Directed by [http://www.ZZalgern0n.com ZZalgern0n]
* [http://gamevideos.com/video/id/4713 Interview and Live Concert Clips on The 1up Show] , recorded July 21, 2006
* [http://gamevideos.com/video/id/5677 Interview and Live Concert Clips on The 1up Show] , recorded at Penny Arcade Expo on September 1, 2006