The NESkimos

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Berserker album cover, drawn by Jeffrey Rowland (creator of the popular webcomic Wigu)
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Berserker album cover, drawn by Jeffrey Rowland (creator of the popular webcomic Wigu)

The NESkimos are an independent, progressive American video game music cover band from St. Augustine, Florida. They are known for their songs based off of video game music, as well as covers of songs from popular television shows and movies. They've gained notoriety in the video game music scene as one of the few bands that, rather than try and recreate songs note-for-note (such as The Minibosses), opt to artistically explore and expand upon the songs they cover, via creating additional parts (such as their cover of Grape Garden from Kirby's Adventure) or creating lyrics (such as their cover of Norfair from Metroid). The NESkimos have gained a very fierce, loyal following on their web forums (fans refer to themselves as NESkimites), and they allow fans to download all their music, for free, from their website. They perform in clubs throughout the Southeast United States, and have made appearances at MAGfest and PAX (Penny Arcade Expo). In 2004, they were featured on MTV's Ultimate Video Game Countdown (hosted by Seanbaby), where they discussed the impact that The Legend Of Zelda series has had on videogaming's evolution, as well as their music.

Unfortunately, the NESkimos are plagued by the fact that many of their songs are on peer-to-peer networks, incorrectly tagged as being recorded by The Minibosses.

Contents

[edit] History/About The Band

Excerpt from the Official NESkimos FAQ follows:

Who are you guys?
Dr. Wily, Simon Belmont, and Mario. We got drunk one night in Florida and decided to start a band, leaving the world to be saved or taken over by someone else for a change.

The name 'The NESkimos' is a portmanteau combining the initials of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with the word Eskimos. This is a nod both to the practice of third-wave ska bands in the early 1990s fabricating band names that somehow involve the word 'ska' (i.e. Mephiskapheles, Bim Skala Bim, Skapone) and to the groundbreaking DOS-based Nintendo emulator NESticle, which the band's founder Dr. Wily credits as giving him the idea to cover NES music.

As of February 2006, bassist Simon Belmont has left the band. Keeping with the Castlevania/bassist theme, the NESkimos have decided on the name for their new bass player: Trevor Belmont. He is also referred to as the Dog from Duck Hunt.

[edit] Current Band Members

The band members prefer not to go by their real names, and instead have adopted internet personae based on videogame icons.

A few songs also feature guitar solos from The Shredder, and one song features Napalm Man on alto saxophone.

[edit] Discography

Due to legal reasons, the NESkimos have not released any form of CD, but instead release all their songs in MP3 format on the internet, and provide album artwork.

  • Battle - Perfect Selection (2002)
  • Bloodshed (2003)
  • Berserker (2004)

The NESkimos are planning on releasing a new album, Explod (originally titled Brutality), in 2006, as well as a purchasable "best-of" CD, The Strongening, also to be released in 2006. Along with these two releases a third album is in the works, Mega Man 2 which will feature the entire soundtrack from the Capcom game of the same name.

[edit] Track Listings

[edit] Battle - Perfect Selection

  1. The Drawbridge / Simon's Theme (Castlevania 4)
  2. Punch-Out: Beyond The World Circuit (a tragedy)
  3. Super Mario Brothers
  4. Metal Gear
  5. Mega Man 2 - Intro
  6. Mega Man 2 - Wood Man
  7. Mega Man 2 - Bubble Man
  8. Mega Man 2 - Crash Man
  9. Mega Man 2 - Air Man
  10. Double Dragon
  11. Ninja Gaiden 2 - Act 2 / Scene 2
  12. Contra - Prologue
  13. Contra - Code
  14. Contra - Jungle
  15. Contra - Base
  16. Contra - Waterfall
  17. Contra - Boss
  18. Vampire Killer (Castlevania)
  19. Mega Man 2 - Password
  20. Mega Man 2 - Wily 1
  21. Mega Man 2 - Wily 2 / Showdown
  22. Mega Man 2 - The End
  23. The Legend Of Zelda

[edit] Bloodshed

  1. TMNT (Features Guitar Solo by The Shredder)
  2. Bloody Bossanova (Castlevania 2)
  3. Bad Dudes - Level 2
  4. Hyrule Castle (Zelda 3)
  5. Bionic Commando - Movement 1
  6. Metal Gear: Infiltrate Outer Heaven
  7. Kirby: Grape Garden (Features Guitar Solo by The Shredder)
  8. F-Zero: Big Blue (Features The Shredder on Lead Guitar)

[edit] Berserker

  1. Mega Man 3 - (Sea)Snake Man
  2. Zelda Dungeon
  3. Mega Man 3 - Wily's Castle 1
  4. Bionic Commando - Movement II
  5. Double Dragon 2 - Cutscene
  6. Double Dragon 2 - Boss
  7. Ninja Gaiden - Duel and Revenge
  8. Mega Man 3 - Spark Man
  9. Star Wars: Cantina of Fear
  10. Metroid: Norfair Tenement Blues
  11. Mega Man X: Sigma Level 1 (Features Napalm Man on alto saxophone)

[edit] Explod

The band is known to be working on the following tracks for Explod:

[edit] External links

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