A fantastic example of how combining popular video game culture and music is a creative powerhouse unlike any other.
Video games have quickly become one of the most popular forms of creative storytelling within the past few decades. With so many ideas and stories to be put into a playable experience, along with a wide range of genres and depth, it’s no wonder how they’ve become a major source of inspiration and creativity for many people. From artists using popular characters as models for their drawings, to people creating their own original characters within those universes to write their own takes on a franchise. I’ve certainly used video games as an inspiration in my life, most recently for smaller pieces of writing I’ve been working on for the better half of quarantine. However, I’d like to argue that no one has meshed their own creative pursuits with a passionate love for video games more than the band known as The Protomen.
The Protomen are an incredible eight-person ensemble dedicated to telling the story of the Mega Man series, but with a super dark and gruesome twist. Through their self titled album, as well as its later-released prequel, Act II: The Father of Death, the story follows Doctor Thomas Light and his pursuit to free himself and the world of its corrupt overlord and his former colleague, Doctor Albert Wily. It also follows the story of Mega Man and the trials he faces in fighting for justice, as well as his wrestling with his own self-consciousness and where he truly stands in the fight for freedom as a robot himself. With a beautiful blend of 80’s-inspired synths, intense sound production, and amazing storytelling, they weave an intricate tapestry with powerful reoccurring themes such as love, loss, corruption, betrayal, revenge, and above all, hope.
The band came to be from a group of college friends in Middle Tennessee State University’s recording program in 2003. What had started as a simple track recording class project later became their first official song, Due Vendetta, which then became a smash hit upon official release. This resulted in the writing and completion of the rest of their first album throughout their senior year. They went on to continue from their Nashville HQ post-graduation, and along with members coming and going throughout the years, they’ve become a huge success, and a well known name in the Mega Man community. They were even at one point personally invited to perform at San Diego Comic-Con by CAPCOM, the company that created Mega Man way back in 1987. They’ve taken their grim fairy tale of robots and revolution across the United States, and even across the world, inspiring crowds with their amazing rock n’ roll attitudes.
Though the band comes from humble roots and has been around since I was basically a toddler, I only learned about them within the last year or so. As an avid storyteller myself, I was drawn into the band’s concept as a rock opera group, something I had never really heard of before. And while I’m certainly no expert in Mega Man lore, I’m still a massive nerd who can appreciate the hard work and fantastic storytelling they provide through their albums. I was thankful enough to get to see them perform live in Austin at the end of February, along with the band TWRP, right before the Corona virus pandemic really kicked off. At the time I didn’t know many of their songs, but as I watched them on stage and saw how much energy and life they put into their performance, it made me want to know their lyrics and their story.
Thankfully with the time I’ve spent in quarantine, listening to their music has helped feed my creative engine that’s severely lacked fuel while being cooped up inside. It’s also brought me a lot of joy and energy to hear the lead singers Raul Panther and Gambler Kirkdouglass’s amazing voices scream about robot anarchy in my ears for hours on end (not to mention I recently hurt my neck while jamming out to the band’s amazing cover of Mr. Roboto off of their 80’s cover album).
While I would normally end a blog post like this by linking to the band’s socials (which I will still totally do here and here) or simply recommending their music, I would mainly like to draw attention to something they’re currently offering on their online merch store. While they were on tour with TWRP, their hometown of Nashville was hit by a huge tornado, one that destroyed lots of properties and homes, and even a former concert venue they had performed at earlier on tour. They were initially going to host a huge benefit concert once the tour ended, but of course the Corona virus pandemic made it virtually impossible to do so. So, to compensate, the Protomen have released a limited run shirt, one where all of the proceeds will go to Hands On Nashville, a charity dedicated to tornado and COVID-19 relief to help the local communities get back on their feet. I highly recommend to check it out and purchase one if you’re interested and are able to, since it’s a very good cause, and you also get a sick piece of merch out of it. I’ll link the merch here, as well as a direct link to donate to Hands On Nashville if you still want to help but might not have the means to spend that kind of money.
Together, we can only hope to show the people of Nashville that hope doesn’t ride alone.
Digi-Dive! 