Alright, since I haven’t posted anything in a while, I’m going to talk about something so SUPER AWESOME that it just might blow your mind. A band with so much RAW, UNBRIDLED WIN that you just might explode if you were to actually listen to their music, let alone get a shoutout from them at a concert. This band, of course, is I Fight Dragons.
I Fight Dragons describe themselves as “Chicago’s finest (and quite possibly only) NES-Rock band.” That is about the best classification I can think of for them, but if AWESOME were a genre, I’m pretty sure I’d put them in there. In fact, I’ve just retagged their songs to have a genre of AWESOME in my iTunes.
They are awesome. Fact. iTunes wouldn't lie to you, would it?
Their debut EP, Cool Is Just A Number, was released in February, and it’s been rocking the crap out of my ears for all of those two months since. Now, anybody who knows me knows that I go through phases where I’ll find something and listen to ONLY THAT for a week or two. This is going on two months of being just about the only thing I listen to and it does not seem to be slowing down. The near-constant stream of new mp3s I get from their mailing list that I keep getting certainly helps keep things fresh, and the unparalleled sound keeps me coming back to them. (Seriously, I’m a huge fan of chiptunes, in case you didn’t know, and I’ve been waiting since just about the beginning of time (okay, maybe only, like, a decade or so, but, hey, that’s about half my life) for there to be a band awesome enough to really effectively fuse chiptunes and rock, and they do this MASTERFULLY) (I like parentheticals, okay)
I Fight Dragons is pretty cool, so I guess they're just a number.
So, I bet you’re saying to yourself, “Well, gosh golly gee wiz, this is wizard and all, but why is Ian blogging about them now and not, say, two months ago, when the album actually came out?” Well, that’s a good question. I even have an answer to this one!
You see, last night (April 6th, for posterity or something) (Wow, I just realized it was exactly two months from when they debuted their album! Sweet!), I Fight Dragons held a concert at DePaul University. For free! This was the first time I got to actually go see them play, because every show I’ve known about previously has been at a 21+ venue. (Okay, my biggest complaint about Chicago: being under 21 and liking music is like being kicked in the nuts during puberty or something. YOU CANNOT GO SEE CONCERTS AT NINETY PERCENT OF THE VENUES IN THE CITY. Seriously, what the hell, Chicago? What the hell?) Of course, the show was awesome (despite technical difficulties, which always abound at DePaul), and I even got a shoutout from the band! (I had been messaging back and forth with Brian on Facebook about the upcoming show, ever since he messaged me about a month ago) (seriously, here’s proof)
I HAVE BEEN TALKING WITH HIM FOR A MONTH
Also, when the concert was done, I got all of them to sign my IFD shirt, which means I’m gonna be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with it from now on (Don’t worry, I’ll wash it… infrequently… and only inside-out… don’t judge me). My buddy Tony Zahnle (Who’s probably the only person I know that’s as big of a fan of IFD as I am, and that’s saying something) (They started playing I Fight Ganon at the concert, a song that they just put out an mp3 of using their mailing list the morning before the concert and we both looked at each other like giddy little schoolchildren or something) (Note: It is not hard for me to look like a schoolboy. It’s pretty much my default state) (More parentheticals!) Now, where was I going with that? Oh, right. My buddy Tony Zahnle also got his shirt signed by all of them, which was really awesome for him, too.
Super duper cool shirt with super duper cool signatures!
So, yeah, like I said, the concert was AWESOME, I had TONS OF FUN, I’d recommend you check out their Myspace and buy their album if you can! In closing, here’s a picture of my absolute mess of dragon-fighting equipment (not pictured: lots, including working SNES, Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA, Nintendo DS, NeoGeo Pocket Color, either of my lightguns (oh, wait, actually, I have 3, one for the Master System), and probably more stuff that I’m forgetting) (also the Wii is pretty hidden in this picture… it’s shy, but you can SORT OF see it just behind the couch on the left… sort of) (Batman is in the NES, Brawl is in the Wii, Mirror’s Edge is in the 360, Steambot Chronicles is in the PS2, and Mischief Makers is in the N64)
My dragon-fighting equipment
