Hey everybody,
It's Friday! You know what that means: pizza, nachos, all night Rock Band sessions, and of course, another installment of our Rock Band Road Crew Member Spotlight series!
In late August we announced the formation of the Rock Band Road Crew, a rewards program for our most dedicated and loyal rockers. After sifting through hundreds and hundreds of applications, we made our selections. Since its formation, the Rock Band Road Crew have been busy throwing events, live streaming the game, creating epic DIY Rock Band gear, and being generally awesome human beings.
Each week we'll be highlighting some interesting folks from the crew. If you'd like to nominate a roadie that you think deserves the spotlight, be sure to tweet your nomination to @RockBand.
This week we're getting ridiculous with the one and only Arjun Singh. In addition to being on the Road Crew, Arjun plays drums in the band, Wallpaper, creates original videos for his YouTube channel, The Public Access Show, and performs in a monthly musical improv comedy show in Sacramento. Let's get into it!
Arjun, you're a self-described, "weirdness spawner," what does that mean? Footnote: This ties into how the Rock Band team first met Arjun.
So my band was performing at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin and we thought it would be fun to dress up like a Pharaoh and his pet panda (me) and walk the streets promoting our showcases. While we were out and about, we came upon the Rock Band lounge. It was set up for people to come by, grab a drink and play some Rock Band. I convinced my band mate to hop on guitar as I, in a full panda costume, played drums to Rush's Tom Sawyer on expert. We finished the song, I scored in the 90's (percent-wise) and that was when my band mate and I realized I needed to play the rest of our shows in the panda costume. #NoRegrets
I actually remember the guy in the panda suit. Now I know why you looked so familiar in your application video. Speaking of videos, let's talk about what you call your "greatest Rock Band accomplishment."
My greatest Rock Band related accomplishment HAS to be my Rock Band 4 unboxing. Not only was the video widely successful compared to my other videos but it also demonstrated my ability to unbox an item using only a spoon. I feel like this is a skill that will make me an extremely valuable candidate at future job interviews.
How did you get into Rock Band?
I played Guitar Hero in the early days and remember thinking "Yeah...ok...whatever...let's see them do this on drums.. THEN I'll be impressed." Fast forward, I go to this event and I got to play a preview of Rock Band. I sit down at the drums, choose expert and immediately failed out. Rock Band put me in my place, that's for sure.
But now you love drumming!
As a drummer, I LOVE me some Rock Band drums. Especially since Pro Drums on expert has you playing the EXACT drum parts, cymbals and everything. It's crazy how detailed the programmers get on these songs. They probably know the songs better than the musicians who played them on the recordings.
Yeah, our guys are pretty good. We've got some especially sick charts coming out before the end of the year. Speaking of awesome things (like that segue?), let's talk about PLASTICAPALOOZA.
I recently put on an event called PLASTICAPALOOZA. My favorite Rock Band Road Crew moment happened there:
The people playing picked Bohemian Rhapsody and it felt like the rest of the world stopped as everyone in the building ran over to the game and started belting out the song. It was like one of those moments you see at big concerts and festivals when everyone gets on stage and is swaying and singing along creating this epic finale... except this was happening in the lobby of a small comedy club in Sacramento between a Mexican joint and a sandwich shop.
Nice. Any plans for future PLASTICAPALOOZA's?
Everyone had so much fun the last time that it would be a serious crime if we didn't follow up PLASTICAPALOOZA with more PALOOZA... and more plastic. We are working to make it bigger and better so if you live in the Sacramento area and are down to jam, keep an eye out! We WILL rock you.
What's the best advice you can give fellow Road Crew members as they plan events?
Here are my top three tips for hosting a memorable Rock Band Night:
Dress up and be silly. This game is about getting to feel like a rock star so you might as well commit and look the part while you are at it. Even if you are the only one, it's still totally worth it.
Make sure everyone gets a chance to play and watch for people who want to play but are too shy to just jump in. You can play the game any time, this moment is for them. Offer up your spot to the newbs.
Singer picks the song is one of the best rules ever. Nothing is worse than having to listen to someone attempting to sing a song they have never heard before.
If you were a designer here at Harmonix, what feature would you add to the game?
You guys should create a "pro-fail mode" where if you fail a song a big bouncer comes into your living room and throws you into the street, your girlfriend leaves you, and you end up working at a large corporate music store chain in your hometown for the rest of your life while living at your parent's house.
Whoa. That got very real, haha. I guess I'll see what I can do to make that happen. No promises though.
Anything else you want to tell the people at home?
If you dig into the deep web, you can probably find a video of me dancing to Michael Jackson's "Bad" for my first grade talent show.
Thanks Arjun. We'll see you next week, when we'll be featuring Sydney from 3girls1channel.