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The Megas (band)

The Megas, sometimes performing as The Belmonts, are a Los Angeles based independent video game cover band. They are primarily known for their work based on the Capcom franchise, Mega Man,[2] but from 2016 onwards have also covered Castlevania tracks. They differentiate themselves from other artists in the scene by adding lyrics and blending original material with the games' melodies.[3] The band gained initial popularity through Newgrounds and MySpace in the late 2000s, as well as their live performances at MAGfest, Nerdapalooza, and the Video Games Live tour. Capcom has occasionally promoted the group,[4] and used their material to market Mega Man Universe in 2010.[5]

The Megas
OriginLos Angeles, California
Genres
Years active2004–present
LabelsDr. Light Records
MembersJosh "Rev. Breeding" Breeding
Eric "E" von Doymi
Greg "Gregatron" Schneider
Brian "Double D" DiDomenico
Greg "Church" Herschleb
Past membersMike "Mikey Hell" Levinson
Brent Firestone
Dave Jensen
Websitehttp://themegas.bandcamp.com/

History edit

Formation and Get Equipped (2004-2008) edit

Josh Breeding arranged and performed a version of the song "I Want to be The One" (based on the Dr. Wily 1-2 theme) for a school talent show in 2004. Later, he played the song for Eric von Doymi, a friend that he met at Cal State Long Beach. The two of them re-recorded the track and the band formed shortly after, picking up bassist Greg Schneider (previously of the band Agent 51) and drummer Dave Jensen. The first songs were laid out and performed live at video game themed shows and local venues, but the band continued as a side project for a couple of years up until the recording of their first official album, Get Equipped. Drummer Mike Levinson, who previously played in Agent 51 with Schneider, joined the band, taking the place of second drummer Brent Firestone.

The band constructed a studio, dubbed "Dr. Light Studios", and then focused on recording and releasing their first album, Get Equipped, which was released in January 2008. Their lyrics expand on the simple story laid out in the games, giving each of the 8 Robot Masters a unique personality. Get Equipped includes an arrangement with original elements that turns the character select theme—originally only a few seconds long—into a full-length song titled "The Message From Dr. Light." Ironically, this song was later turned back into an NES chiptune by Inverse Phase and titled "The NESsage from Dr. Light."[6] The track was quickly endorsed by The Megas and used as bonus material with online orders.[7]

Megatainment, Get Acoustic, and work with brentalfloss (2009–2010) edit

In 2009 on the band's official Facebook page, it was stated that there is a "Mega Man 3 album coming soon." In June of the same year, Breeding announced via Facebook that the band is now recording. In July, the band announced via their official MySpace that they would be handing out free download cards at Comic-Con for two songs off Get Equipped and two songs from the upcoming Get Acoustic[8] acoustic remix of Get Equipped. August 24, 2009, The Megas released the Megatainment EP, a Mega Man 1 based collaborative EP with the band Entertainment System.[8][9] In an interview in October 2009, the band said their next projects include Mega Man 3, Mega Man X, and Mega Man 9 albums.[9] The band was originally set to be a part of the Mega Man 9 soundtrack, but the project never got past the concept stage.[9] February 4, 2010, The Megas released Get Acoustic digitally and stated they will head back to the studio to work on their Mega Man 3 follow-up to Get Equipped.

In April 2010, The Megas were featured on brentalfloss's album What If This CD...Had Lyrics?.[10] brentalfloss added his lyrics to the instrumental breaks of The Megas' song "I Want To Be The One/Dr. Wily", as well as harmonizing with their original vocals at a few key points to create a new track entitled "Gotta Run/Be the One."

History Repeating (2010–2016) edit

While the band was hard at work on their Mega Man 3 album,[8] they released a single as a preview for the album, titled Sparked A War, at Nerdapalooza and released it online soon after. The CD features the band's first single from their Mega Man 3 album (their rendition of Sparkman, "You've Sparked A War"), as well as a few b-sides. In October, the band released their music video for "You've Sparked a War."

In September 2010, two gameplay trailers of the now-cancelled game Mega Man Universe were released featuring The Megas music in the background. The first of which has "The Message from Dr. Light/Level Select"[5] and the second has "Lights Out." A third, longer version of the same trailer was shown in the 2010 Tokyo Game Show featuring "You've Sparked a War."

The band announced they would be playing Video Games Live on June 8, 2011[11] and the 2011 Penny Arcade Expo. Drummer Mike Levinson announced in January 2012 that he would be making a solo album and funding it through Kickstarter where he also mentioned that the Mega Man 3 album would be named History Repeating. The band announced on June 8, 2012, that they would be releasing a double album for History Repeating, with the first album History Repeating: Blue to be released on June 18, 2012.

On June 28, Mike Levinson announced he would be leaving the band in order to go back to college.[12] The band have confirmed they would not do full music albums from Mega Man 4 or Mega Man 5.

The second History Repeating album, History Repeating: Red was released on May 13, 2014.[13] Like Blue, it was preceded by a preview album, Fly On A Dog, released in December 2012, featuring the band's first single from Red (based on the Mega Man 3 stage select music), as well as a few B-sides. When placed in a pyramid, the album artwork from History Repeating: Blue, History Repeating: Red, and Fly On A Dog combined to form an image of Gamma, the final boss of Mega Man 3.

An EP entitled The Quick and the Blue was released in 2016, which featured two songs from Get Equipped, which were re-recorded and featured additional synthesizers in the style of the History Repeating albums.[14]

The Belmonts (2016- present) edit

The band decided to begin covering Castlevania tracks, and faced a debate about whether or not they should change the name of the group. They elected not to fully change the name, as they believed that it would make things confusing. In September 2016, the band released a three-song EP under the name The Belmonts, featuring covers of Bloody Tears, Heart Of Fire, and Out Of Time from the Castlevania series. The description on Bandcamp positions The Belmonts tracks as being older recordings by another group "discovered" by The Megas.

In an interview on the Rhythm and Pixels podcast in March 2018, the idea of themed albums or EPs was raised, such as an album of water-themed foes. Josh Breeding indicated that Skull Man was one of the most frequently requested characters and that it would be difficult to fit Skull Man into a themed album. That October, the band debuted a surprise Halloween-themed EP as a collaboration between The Megas and The Belmonts titled Skulls, featuring covers of "Skull Man Stage" from Mega Man 4, "Burn" by the Cure, and "Wicked Child" and "Vampire Killer" from Castlevania, the latter of which features guest vocals by Amanda Lepre of Andrew W.K.[15]

On December 17, 2018, the band released a surprise Christmas-themed single titled "Chill Xmas", a cover of "Chill Penguin Stage" from Mega Man X and their first foray into the Mega Man X series, with a parody cover of "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley as a B-side.

On March 2, 2020, the band released a second Megas/Belmonts collaboration EP, titled Snakes, featuring a cover of "Stalker" from Castlevania, a new recording of "Evolution of Circuitry", "Rogumer Storm", a cover of "Storm Eagle Stage" from Mega Man X, and a cover of "Yours Truly, 2095" by Electric Light Orchestra.

Musical style edit

The original music from Mega Man 2 is an 8-bit format from the NES. The Megas use guitar, bass guitar, keyboard piano, and drums to create songs inspired by the original themes of each boss stage, as well as other soundtrack selections such as the enemy selected music and the ending song music. In an interview with the Rhythm and Pixels podcast, Josh Breeding discussed the band's process, which involves taking the different layers to a track apart and considering where each loop of melody would have moved on to if it had been longer.[16] Original lyrics are created for the songs, typically centered around each of the Robot Masters' personalities, made up based on their level design and their appearance.[17]

Band members edit

Current members edit

  • Josh "Rev. Breeding" Breeding — vocals, guitar (2008–present)
  • Eric "E" von Doymi — vocals, guitar (2008–present)
  • Greg "Gregatron" Schneider — bass, backing vocals (2008–present)
  • Brian "Double D" DiDomenico - keyboards (2011–present)
  • Greg "Church" Herschleb - drums (2012–present)[18]

Former members edit

  • Mike "Mikey Hell" Levinson — drums (2008–2012)

Timeline edit

Discography edit

Studio albums edit

  • Get Equipped (2008)
  • History Repeating: Blue[8] (2012)
  • History Repeating: Red[8][9] (2014)

EPs edit

  • Megatainment (2009) with Entertainment System
  • Sparked a War (2010)
  • Fly on a Dog (2012)
  • The Belmonts (2016)
  • Skulls (2018)
  • Snakes (2020)

Remix albums edit

  • Get Acoustic (2010)

Demos edit

  • Demo Get (2008)

Singles edit

  • "Scent Blasters" (2013)
  • "The Quick and the Blue (enhanced edition)" (2016) from MM25: Mega Man Rocks
  • "Man on Fire (enhanced edition)" (2016) from MM25: Mega Man Rocks
  • "I'm Not The Breakman (Street Cleaner Remix)" (2018) with Street Cleaner
  • "Chill Xmas" (2018)

Music videos edit

  • "You've Sparked a War" (2010)
  • "Gotta Run/Be the One" (2011)

Other appearances edit

Year Artist Song Release
2008 Random feat. The Megas "Boss Battle (MetalMan)" Mega Ran[17]
2008 The Megas "The Message from Dr. Light/Level Select" Released on a video game band compilation
2010 brentalfloss feat. The Megas "Gotta Run/Be the One" What If This CD...Had Lyrics?[10]
The Megas "I Want to Be the One/Dr. Wily 1-2" Featured in the fan movie Mega Man directed by Eddie Lebron.
"Lamentatons of a War Machine/End Song"
"The Message from Dr. Light/Level Select" Trailers for Mega Man Universe[5]
"Lights Out"
"You've Sparked a War"
2011 Random feat. The Megas "Metal Dance feat. The Megas (Acoustic Mix)" Mega Ran's Bonuses[19]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Gotta Run/Be The One: THE VIDEO (With The Megas!) - brentalfloss". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved January 4, 2021 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ Snow, Jean (2008-05-21). "Meet Mega Man Cover Band The Megas". Wired. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  3. ^ . Archived from the original on 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  4. ^ "Don't Stop the Rock: The Megas". Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  5. ^ a b c . Archived from the original on 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  6. ^ "The NESsage from Dr. Light, by Inverse Phase". Inversephase.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  7. ^ . Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
  8. ^ a b c d e "The Megas Announce that Work Has Begun on Mega Man 3 Album". Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  9. ^ a b c d F., Justin (October 5, 2009). . digitalkuroko.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  10. ^ a b "What If This CD... Had Lyrics?". Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  11. ^ "The Megas 27 May 2011 Twitter post". Twitter. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 Aug 2015.
  12. ^ "Mikey goes to college..." Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  13. ^ "The Megas 13 May 2014 Twitter post". Twitter. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 5 Aug 2015.
  14. ^ "Enhanced Editions, by the Megas".
  15. ^ "Episode 12-9 Mega Man with the Megas' Josh Breeding | Rhythm and Pixels". 26 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Episode 12-9 Mega Man with the Megas' Josh Breeding | Rhythm and Pixels". 26 March 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Random "Mega Ran" Review, Hip-Hop Rap Music CD Album". Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  18. ^ . Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2012-12-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ "Metal Dance feat. The Megas (Acoustic Mix)". Retrieved 2011-06-14.

External links edit

  • Official website
  • The Megas at MySpace
  • An Interview with The Megas
  • The Megas announce Megatainment, a Mega Man 1 tribute
  • Capcom-Unity
  • VG Frequency » Blog Archive » The Megas release debut arrangement album, “Get Equipped”

megas, band, confused, with, belmonts, 1950s, group, megas, sometimes, performing, belmonts, angeles, based, independent, video, game, cover, band, they, primarily, known, their, work, based, capcom, franchise, mega, from, 2016, onwards, have, also, covered, c. Not to be confused with The Belmonts a 1950s doo wop group The Megas sometimes performing as The Belmonts are a Los Angeles based independent video game cover band They are primarily known for their work based on the Capcom franchise Mega Man 2 but from 2016 onwards have also covered Castlevania tracks They differentiate themselves from other artists in the scene by adding lyrics and blending original material with the games melodies 3 The band gained initial popularity through Newgrounds and MySpace in the late 2000s as well as their live performances at MAGfest Nerdapalooza and the Video Games Live tour Capcom has occasionally promoted the group 4 and used their material to market Mega Man Universe in 2010 5 The MegasOriginLos Angeles CaliforniaGenresRock indie rock Nintendocore experimental rock video game musicYears active2004 presentLabelsDr Light RecordsMembersJosh Rev Breeding BreedingEric E von DoymiGreg Gregatron SchneiderBrian Double D DiDomenico Greg Church HerschlebPast membersMike Mikey Hell LevinsonBrent FirestoneDave JensenWebsitehttp themegas bandcamp com Contents 1 History 1 1 Formation and Get Equipped 2004 2008 1 2 Megatainment Get Acoustic and work with brentalfloss 2009 2010 1 3 History Repeating 2010 2016 1 4 The Belmonts 2016 present 2 Musical style 3 Band members 3 1 Current members 3 2 Former members 3 3 Timeline 4 Discography 4 1 Studio albums 4 2 EPs 4 3 Remix albums 4 4 Demos 4 5 Singles 4 6 Music videos 4 7 Other appearances 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory editFormation and Get Equipped 2004 2008 edit Josh Breeding arranged and performed a version of the song I Want to be The One based on the Dr Wily 1 2 theme for a school talent show in 2004 Later he played the song for Eric von Doymi a friend that he met at Cal State Long Beach The two of them re recorded the track and the band formed shortly after picking up bassist Greg Schneider previously of the band Agent 51 and drummer Dave Jensen The first songs were laid out and performed live at video game themed shows and local venues but the band continued as a side project for a couple of years up until the recording of their first official album Get Equipped Drummer Mike Levinson who previously played in Agent 51 with Schneider joined the band taking the place of second drummer Brent Firestone The band constructed a studio dubbed Dr Light Studios and then focused on recording and releasing their first album Get Equipped which was released in January 2008 Their lyrics expand on the simple story laid out in the games giving each of the 8 Robot Masters a unique personality Get Equipped includes an arrangement with original elements that turns the character select theme originally only a few seconds long into a full length song titled The Message From Dr Light Ironically this song was later turned back into an NES chiptune by Inverse Phase and titled The NESsage from Dr Light 6 The track was quickly endorsed by The Megas and used as bonus material with online orders 7 Megatainment Get Acoustic and work with brentalfloss 2009 2010 edit In 2009 on the band s official Facebook page it was stated that there is a Mega Man 3 album coming soon In June of the same year Breeding announced via Facebook that the band is now recording In July the band announced via their official MySpace that they would be handing out free download cards at Comic Con for two songs off Get Equipped and two songs from the upcoming Get Acoustic 8 acoustic remix of Get Equipped August 24 2009 The Megas released the Megatainment EP a Mega Man 1 based collaborative EP with the band Entertainment System 8 9 In an interview in October 2009 the band said their next projects include Mega Man 3 Mega Man X and Mega Man 9 albums 9 The band was originally set to be a part of the Mega Man 9 soundtrack but the project never got past the concept stage 9 February 4 2010 The Megas released Get Acoustic digitally and stated they will head back to the studio to work on their Mega Man 3 follow up to Get Equipped In April 2010 The Megas were featured on brentalfloss s album What If This CD Had Lyrics 10 brentalfloss added his lyrics to the instrumental breaks of The Megas song I Want To Be The One Dr Wily as well as harmonizing with their original vocals at a few key points to create a new track entitled Gotta Run Be the One History Repeating 2010 2016 edit While the band was hard at work on their Mega Man 3 album 8 they released a single as a preview for the album titled Sparked A War at Nerdapalooza and released it online soon after The CD features the band s first single from their Mega Man 3 album their rendition of Sparkman You ve Sparked A War as well as a few b sides In October the band released their music video for You ve Sparked a War In September 2010 two gameplay trailers of the now cancelled game Mega Man Universe were released featuring The Megas music in the background The first of which has The Message from Dr Light Level Select 5 and the second has Lights Out A third longer version of the same trailer was shown in the 2010 Tokyo Game Show featuring You ve Sparked a War The band announced they would be playing Video Games Live on June 8 2011 11 and the 2011 Penny Arcade Expo Drummer Mike Levinson announced in January 2012 that he would be making a solo album and funding it through Kickstarter where he also mentioned that the Mega Man 3 album would be named History Repeating The band announced on June 8 2012 that they would be releasing a double album for History Repeating with the first album History Repeating Blue to be released on June 18 2012 On June 28 Mike Levinson announced he would be leaving the band in order to go back to college 12 The band have confirmed they would not do full music albums from Mega Man 4 or Mega Man 5 The second History Repeating album History Repeating Red was released on May 13 2014 13 Like Blue it was preceded by a preview album Fly On A Dog released in December 2012 featuring the band s first single from Red based on the Mega Man 3 stage select music as well as a few B sides When placed in a pyramid the album artwork from History Repeating Blue History Repeating Red and Fly On A Dog combined to form an image of Gamma the final boss of Mega Man 3 An EP entitled The Quick and the Blue was released in 2016 which featured two songs from Get Equipped which were re recorded and featured additional synthesizers in the style of the History Repeating albums 14 The Belmonts 2016 present edit The band decided to begin covering Castlevania tracks and faced a debate about whether or not they should change the name of the group They elected not to fully change the name as they believed that it would make things confusing In September 2016 the band released a three song EP under the name The Belmonts featuring covers of Bloody Tears Heart Of Fire and Out Of Time from the Castlevania series The description on Bandcamp positions The Belmonts tracks as being older recordings by another group discovered by The Megas In an interview on the Rhythm and Pixels podcast in March 2018 the idea of themed albums or EPs was raised such as an album of water themed foes Josh Breeding indicated that Skull Man was one of the most frequently requested characters and that it would be difficult to fit Skull Man into a themed album That October the band debuted a surprise Halloween themed EP as a collaboration between The Megas and The Belmonts titled Skulls featuring covers of Skull Man Stage from Mega Man 4 Burn by the Cure and Wicked Child and Vampire Killer from Castlevania the latter of which features guest vocals by Amanda Lepre of Andrew W K 15 On December 17 2018 the band released a surprise Christmas themed single titled Chill Xmas a cover of Chill Penguin Stage from Mega Man X and their first foray into the Mega Man X series with a parody cover of Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley as a B side On March 2 2020 the band released a second Megas Belmonts collaboration EP titled Snakes featuring a cover of Stalker from Castlevania a new recording of Evolution of Circuitry Rogumer Storm a cover of Storm Eagle Stage from Mega Man X and a cover of Yours Truly 2095 by Electric Light Orchestra Musical style editThe original music from Mega Man 2 is an 8 bit format from the NES The Megas use guitar bass guitar keyboard piano and drums to create songs inspired by the original themes of each boss stage as well as other soundtrack selections such as the enemy selected music and the ending song music In an interview with the Rhythm and Pixels podcast Josh Breeding discussed the band s process which involves taking the different layers to a track apart and considering where each loop of melody would have moved on to if it had been longer 16 Original lyrics are created for the songs typically centered around each of the Robot Masters personalities made up based on their level design and their appearance 17 Band members editCurrent members edit Josh Rev Breeding Breeding vocals guitar 2008 present Eric E von Doymi vocals guitar 2008 present Greg Gregatron Schneider bass backing vocals 2008 present Brian Double D DiDomenico keyboards 2011 present Greg Church Herschleb drums 2012 present 18 Former members edit Mike Mikey Hell Levinson drums 2008 2012 Timeline editDiscography editStudio albums edit Get Equipped 2008 History Repeating Blue 8 2012 History Repeating Red 8 9 2014 EPs edit Megatainment 2009 with Entertainment System Sparked a War 2010 Fly on a Dog 2012 The Belmonts 2016 Skulls 2018 Snakes 2020 Remix albums edit Get Acoustic 2010 Demos edit Demo Get 2008 Singles edit Scent Blasters 2013 The Quick and the Blue enhanced edition 2016 from MM25 Mega Man Rocks Man on Fire enhanced edition 2016 from MM25 Mega Man Rocks I m Not The Breakman Street Cleaner Remix 2018 with Street Cleaner Chill Xmas 2018 Music videos edit You ve Sparked a War 2010 Gotta Run Be the One 2011 Other appearances edit Year Artist Song Release2008 Random feat The Megas Boss Battle MetalMan Mega Ran 17 2008 The Megas The Message from Dr Light Level Select Released on a video game band compilation2010 brentalfloss feat The Megas Gotta Run Be the One What If This CD Had Lyrics 10 The Megas I Want to Be the One Dr Wily 1 2 Featured in the fan movie Mega Man directed by Eddie Lebron Lamentatons of a War Machine End Song The Message from Dr Light Level Select Trailers for Mega Man Universe 5 Lights Out You ve Sparked a War 2011 Random feat The Megas Metal Dance feat The Megas Acoustic Mix Mega Ran s Bonuses 19 See also editVideo game music cultureReferences edit Gotta Run Be The One THE VIDEO With The Megas brentalfloss Archived from the original on 2021 12 21 Retrieved January 4 2021 via YouTube Snow Jean 2008 05 21 Meet Mega Man Cover Band The Megas Wired Retrieved 2008 09 09 Like Video Games You ll Love Nintendocore Archived from the original on 2009 05 11 Retrieved 2009 07 15 Don t Stop the Rock The Megas Retrieved 2008 09 09 a b c Exclusive Mega Man Universe Gameplay Trailer Archived from the original on 2010 09 23 Retrieved 2010 09 03 The NESsage from Dr Light by Inverse Phase Inversephase bandcamp com Retrieved 15 November 2020 The NESsage from Dr Light Archived from the original on 2011 07 17 Retrieved 2010 11 22 a b c d e The Megas Announce that Work Has Begun on Mega Man 3 Album Retrieved 2010 04 09 a b c d F Justin October 5 2009 Rocking Out In the Year 20XX digitalkuroko com Archived from the original on 2011 07 10 Retrieved 2009 10 08 a b What If This CD Had Lyrics Retrieved 2010 10 23 The Megas 27 May 2011 Twitter post Twitter 27 May 2011 Retrieved 5 Aug 2015 Mikey goes to college Retrieved 28 July 2012 The Megas 13 May 2014 Twitter post Twitter 13 May 2014 Retrieved 5 Aug 2015 Enhanced Editions by the Megas Episode 12 9 Mega Man with the Megas Josh Breeding Rhythm and Pixels 26 March 2018 Episode 12 9 Mega Man with the Megas Josh Breeding Rhythm and Pixels 26 March 2018 a b Random Mega Ran Review Hip Hop Rap Music CD Album Retrieved 2008 02 13 Archived copy Archived from the original on 2014 08 26 Retrieved 2012 12 01 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Metal Dance feat The Megas Acoustic Mix Retrieved 2011 06 14 External links editOfficial website The Megas at MySpace An Interview with The Megas The Megas announce Megatainment a Mega Man 1 tribute Capcom Unity Feature Video Armageddon VG Frequency Blog Archive The Megas release debut arrangement album Get Equipped Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Megas band amp oldid 1196007445, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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