This weekend’s Garage Gamer event will feature a unique interactive musical gaming experience with the launch of the debut EP from pop-bit band, 7bit Hero.
Turning the classic sounds of retro computer games into catchy pop songs, commonly known as ‘chiptunes’, 7bit Hero — formerly known as Hunz — will take audiences on an audio-visual adventure that the crowd controls with their smart phones.
“Basically, we’ve simplified games to a point where they’re kind of like the mini-games that you play on Mario Party,” says composer, keyboardist and vocalist, Hans van Vliet. “You play them against everyone else in the crowd, but those mini games also tell a story that supports the songs so the whole thing comes together.
“At Garage Gamer, you bring your iPhone or Android phone along and we will sit there and install something on it and it will basically convert your iPhone into a joystick which will then real time interface with what’s happening on our screen … it’s really seamless; it’s a really simplified, just one-button-mashing concept.”
Hans says while the idea is simple and accessible, this show is just the beginning of what he hopes to achieve by converging computer chip-based music, gaming technology and performance.
“We haven’t gone for really over the top stuff but it’s a roadmap for where we want to take it [that] we’re really excited about,” he says. “In this first instance, there’s a lot of heart and feeling and metaphors through it so although the first single is very happy and upbeat, it has a very sombre message to it; then when you come to our show you experience the twists and turns within it.”
He also hopes 7-Bit Hero will help to change the perception of gaming as an introverted and socially-exclusive activity, to something that can help people connect with one another.
“It’s really extroverted too; one of the biggest things we wanted to challenge was that when you mention this to people they think it’s really introverted technology. It’s a celebration of people’s skills and talents; the images are displayed behind us so you actually look through us and just above us to interact. The other players that didn’t make it can see what’s going on and what the other players are doing.”
7bit Hero performs at the State Library of Queensland as part of Garage Gamer this Saturday March 2.
