• Posted July 1st, 2009 at 23:22 EDT by Adam Dolge
• 8 Comments

(continued from previous page) ...music.”

Of course, that’s what all young bands want to do—turn people onto their music. Video games offer a relatively new market for exposing bands.

“When we set out as a band, we sort of thought traditionally. We thought we’d release an album and tour like our idols, and when this opportunity came up, we didn’t really know what to make of it. Now it's happening we are starting to understand how huge it is,” Dave says, adding that he hopes Round 4, Sims 3, and FIFA 10 will do for his band what the original Tony Hawk did for bands like Goldfinger, Dead Kennedys, and Suicide Machines. “We’re hoping this causes the same thing with our music; just hopefully reaching new people and giving them a chance to hear our music. All we ever wanted is to have people hear our music.”

Baby Dave recalls when the band was recording in a remote location in England; someone in the studio had brought in an “ancient” PlayStation 2. In between recording tracks, the band members would play Tony Hawk 3—the only game in the studio.

“We were having session after session. It was highly competitive. It’s a great way to bond. Today if we are playing anything together, it’s FIFA,” he says, adding “and sometimes, Mini Rocket and I play Guitar Hero World Tour.”

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that musicians would be good at Guitar Hero. But what’s a surprise, depending on what musicians you talk to, is the game’s influence on attracting aspiring musicians. “There are kids that might not have thought of picking up an instrument, but instead picking up a computer game. They may ask their parents to pick them up a guitar. We’ll see as time goes by, but I think it’s good for kids to see how music is made, and the workings of a song. I think it’s fantastic.”

We’d like to thank Baby Dave and Pint Shot Riot for taking time to answer some of our questions and talk about music and gaming. We’d also like to thank Nettwerk, Artwerk, and EA for the continued opportunity to bring these features to our readers.

Thanks to the kindness of Artwerk, we'll soon hand out three copies of Fight Night Round 4 and three Pint Shot Riot t-shirts. We also strongly suggest our readers check out the band's MySpace page.