RETRO GAMES!
Backyard Babies have made a comeback and are now touring the world. We met lead guitarist Dregen before the band’s gig at Cirkus in Stockholm and took along some of our favourite old games to talk memories and gaming.
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HALO 3, X-BOX 360
”I played that a lot! I especially remember the old cassette tapes. I actually have a guitar with an image from Ghosts ‘n Goblins that an artist who runs a website called Pappas pärlor made for me. He creates all his art from various 8-bit video games. On my guitar, he did the pile of skeletons you run past in the cemetery in Ghosts ‘n Goblins.” COMMODORE 64
Photo: Gamerwithkids.com
Photo: Windowscentral.com
”In 2007 Backyard Babies was one of several bands commissioned to write music for Halo 3. We were given a trailer that was like a silent film – no sound at all – and we were asked to compose a suitable soundtrack for what we saw. We performed the music with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm’s Berwaldhallen Concert Hall on the evening the game was released in Sweden.”
NINTENDO
”The musicians in our support band on the tour are a bit younger than us. They play a lot of video games. I sometimes play ice hockey games with them, but they’re much better than me. I can hardly work out how to switch the thing on. But losing doesn’t make me mad. I’m too old for that. It’s fun to play with them. I think it’s much more fun to play against someone else than to play on your own and just try to finish a level.”
Photo: Playstationlifestye.net
NHL, PLAYSTATION OCH X-BOX 360
DONKEY KONG, GAME & WATCH
”That’s a real classic. I have one of those somewhere. I wonder where? It’s probably at home with my mum in Nässjö. These games are just so cool. They felt so modern at the time. When I was last in Tokyo, I saw entire shops devoted to selling nothing but games like these. But they’re expensive... What prices! Of course, it’s the sound effects that people love. There are Japanese bands that only sample sounds from these games. But I guess it’s not really politically correct any more – saving girls from gorillas!”
Photo: i.warosu.org
Photo: Gamesdbase.com
”I didn’t play Nintendo much. Although, come to think of it, I did play Zelda. But, apart from the music, I don’t remember much about it. I had friends who really got into video games as teenagers, but I started to play guitar instead. Then I became a musician. I bet those who played a lot of video games back then are probably sitting in front of computer screens at work today. There’s sure to be a link.”
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