The Medusa Fora

Hey everyone. I'm an avid music fan that discovered The Pogues in a roundabout way because of the game Rock Band. Every week new downloadable tracks are added (usually about 10 per week or so). I discovered The Clash and became a huge fan because of the songs they have in the game (Should I Stay, Complete Control, Train in Vain and I Fought the Law). One of the loading screens in the game between songs mentioned that Joe Strummer had served a tenure with Irish folk-punk pioneers The Pogues, so when I saw IISFFGWG and RSL in the library I picked them up and became immediately, permanently hooked. Now I own all five albums (though I need to get the expanded versions of several of them) and will see them in Kansas City for the first time this October.

Anyway, friends and I have Rock Band nights every few weeks, which is a great way to unwind and have a few drinks after work (and is probably my main source for finding new bands to check out). There are a lot of bands in the game that are related enough that they seem to indicate that we could see the Pogues some day (The Clash, The Ramones, The Dropkick Murphys, Elvis Costello, Sioiuxsie and the Banshees, etc). Mr. Chevron, could you shine any light on the subject? Have you been approached by any of the music games yet? Are you guys interested? Did you even know you were the subject of a loading screen in a hugely popular video game? I can't wait to sing Sick Bed or Bottle of Smoke in the game.

obsoleteshock wrote: Mr. Chevron, could you shine any light on the subject? Have you been approached by any of the music games yet? Are you guys interested? Did you even know you were the subject of a loading screen in a hugely popular video game? I can't wait to sing Sick Bed or Bottle of Smoke in the game.

Um.......apparently not. Not as far as I know. In what exactly? Er, no, in fact I don't even know what a loading screen is.

Possibly Spider can answer your questions better than I can. He's the gamer.

We made seven albums, by the way, though only five with Shane.

I can't wait for the rock band accordion to come out

philipchevron wrote:

obsoleteshock wrote: Mr. Chevron, could you shine any light on the subject? Have you been approached by any of the music games yet? Are you guys interested? Did you even know you were the subject of a loading screen in a hugely popular video game? I can't wait to sing Sick Bed or Bottle of Smoke in the game.

Um.......apparently not. Not as far as I know. In what exactly? Er, no, in fact I don't even know what a loading screen is.

Possibly Spider can answer your questions better than I can. He's the gamer.

We made seven albums, by the way, though only five with Shane.

Well, I'll be damned. I guess I have two more Pogues albums to pick up, which is a pleasant surprise. I don't know where I got the idea that Hell's Ditch was the last; apparently I read that Shane was booted after that and I assumed a breakup. I saw the titles "Waiting for Herb" and "Pogues Mahone" before, but I assumed they were rarities/compilations. I'm eager to check these out, along with the boxed set, which also just entered my radar.

To answer your question, a loading screen is just a static visual screen so that players have something to look at while a level (or in this case a song) loads in a video game. It's kind of like when you're waiting for a software program on a computer to load up and you see an hourglass or a bar that slowly fills up to show progress. In video games, they try to minimize the annoyance of the wait by putting up artwork or other items of interest. Rock Band handles this by putting up trivia factoids about the band whose song you are about to play. If I remember correctly, another Clash loading screen said that Joe Strummer worked as a gravedigger before starting his first band and married a woman from another country to get her into England and make enough money to buy a guitar. I still see the screen about The Pogues pop up from time to time when I play a Clash song.

If you guys are interested, from what I understand, there are now two different ways to get into the game. The first is by contacting the developers and/or having the developers contact you. They put out a game or two a year and put up around ten new songs up for download each week at about $2 each (from what I've read, the game developers get $1, the record label gets $0.50 and the band gets $0.50 in the typical transaction). I have seen a few situations before where someone has talked to an artist of note and found out that they had not been contacted, then posted on the Rock Band forums a new topic that "X Band Wants to be in Rock Band" and then the Rock Band developers read it and get in touch with the band.

They have also launched a new program called the Rock Band Network, which allows any band to put their own songs in the game and sell them as downloads. Here's a link from the Rock Band website:

http://creators.rockband.com/

From what I understand, you could supply the multi-track recordings of the songs you would like to put in the game, then you could have fans of either The Pogues or Rock Band volunteer to program the animations/note tracks, and then you can sell the songs to the grateful players of the game (hint: me and the friends I am trying to expose to The Pogues and countless others like us). I have no idea how the math works, but it could be a nice revenue stream and way to expose your music to a new generation.

They do theme weeks around holidays every once in a while (Siouxsie and the Banshees on Halloween, a Christmas song by The Pretenders around Christmas, etc.), so I could see you guys being the ultimate St. Patrick's Day release or maybe Fairytale of New York as a Christmas single. Anyway, it may or may not be a good idea for you guys, but I'd love to see it so I figured I'd get you the information. If you guys are interested in being in the game, I'm a regular poster at the Rock Band forums, so I'd be happy to link to this thread over there so the developers could know you are interested in being in the game.

I'll let you know what I think of the last two albums once I've checked them out. Thanks for the tip!

Also, here's the request thread for The Pogues at the Rock Band website if you're feeling voyeuristic:

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120778

You guys are up to 6 pages, which is pretty impressive. Some of us Clash die-hards got so carried away discussing The Clash, that the London Calling request thread is now up to hundreds of pages (there are still only four Clash songs in the game, but we're holding out hope for more), and I think there are quite a few people who would be happy to do the same for The Pogues if it meant your songs could end up in the game.

Well I'll be danged. At the risk of sounding like the old British judge who asked "Who or what is a Beatle?", I haven't the foggiest idea what you're on about, though it is clear you have gone to great pains to explain it and I thank you for that. It's probably best if I bring this to the attention of people who are more likely to know what you're talking about than I am.

philipchevron wrote:Well I'll be danged. At the risk of sounding like the old British judge who asked "Who or what is a Beatle?", I haven't the foggiest idea what you're on about, though it is clear you have gone to great pains to explain it and I thank you for that. It's probably best if I bring this to the attention of people who are more likely to know what you're talking about than I am.

Sounds good. Perhaps I should back up a step for anyone you forward this on to:

Rock Band is a video game for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 that allows players to simulate playing a real song by a real artist. The game comes with plastic guitars, a plastic drum set and a real microphone. Up to four people can play at once (Vocals, Drums, Guitar and Bass). The vocalist will see the words to a song scroll by and sing along with them, much like karaoke and the vocalist's own voice will come out of the TV speakers. A line onscreen will show how well the singer is hitting the pitches in the song and how well they are articulating the syllables. The drummer will have notes scrolling towards him on the screen and he will have to hit the corresponding drum pad or bass pedal on the plastic drum set. Since multi-track recordings are used, if he misses a note, the corresponding track will stop playing, making the drummer feel as though he is actually playing the drum track. If he's not keeping a steady beat with the bass drum, no bass drum will be heard over the speakers. The guitarist and bass player will both see colored notes scrolling by on the screen as well, which they will "play" on their plastic guitar by holding down the corresponding fret button and pressing down on the strum bar. If they miss a note, the guitar or bass track will drop out, creating the illusion that they're actually playing the note.

Since all of these video game systems have hard drives now, players are able to connect to the internet and pay to download songs by bands that are not on the game disc. Currently, there are over 700 songs available from bands from Roy Obrison to The Clash to Elvis Costello to No Doubt. I would personally LOVE to see The Pogues have songs available to purchase in the game. Here's a video that shows how it all works (the song is Welcome to the Jungle by Guns & Roses, but you can actually see the people playing the plastic instruments on this one):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AddhTOx8S4

Here's The Clash's Complete Control being played in the game on drums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Xp4n270hA

Here's Elvis Costello's Radio Radio being played in game by a whole "band":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA5x8Jlg44U

Anyway, I certainly appreciate your time and don't want to waste too much of it, but I'd LOVE to see The Pogues have tons of songs in Rock Band.

kmurray105 wrote:I can't wait for the rock band accordion to come out

AAAAAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm from the Rock Band forums and I'm a huge Clash fan. I first heard of the Pogues from the loading fact that obsoleteshock and from reading about the Clash. I first got a best of and really really liked it so I have gotten 3 or 4 other albums and really like them. I would love to have the Pogues in Rock Band, it'd be the best for partying and getting drunk and would be great to get more fans of this young generation (which I am a part of).

I just listened to the song Tuesday Morning for the first time and think it would be great for Rock Band. I'd want to see some of the more uptempo stuff in Rock Band since it tends to be more fun to play. I'm thinking Sick Bed, Sally Maclenane, Body of an American, If I Should Fall, White City, Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six, Sunny Side of the Street, Tuesday Morning, Streams of Whiskey and maybe Billy's Bones or Gentleman Soldier. Regardless, we need some Pogues in the game, stat.

GUITAR HERO RULES!!!

Whatever happened to the good old days when people used to go out and buy an instrument, learn to play it and then join a proper Rock Band?

Heather wrote:Whatever happened to the good old days when people used to go out and buy an instrument, learn to play it and then join a proper Rock Band?

I did that in high school and college, but with a wife, job and newborn, there simply isn't time. Also, I shudder to think what my wife would think with a real drum kit blaring in the same house as our baby. I still pull out my guitar and play every once in a while, but these games allow me to easily enjoy music with friends on a Friday night once every 2-3 weeks, regardless of whether they are musicians or not. I think it's really meant to be a fun social/party game and not a replacement for the real thing.

After all, if someone plays a game that involves racing cars at high rates of speed, people don't usually say "whatever happened to the good old days when people used to go out and buy a car, learn to drive it at 200 miles per hour and join a proper drag racing league?"

To quote Gogol Bordello (which I highly recommend to any fan of The Pogues): "There were never any good old days. They are today, they are tomorrow. It's a stupid thing we say, cursing tomorrow with sorrow."

Heather wrote:Whatever happened to the good old days when people used to go out and buy an instrument, learn to play it and then join a proper Rock Band?

they went the way of days where people would actually go out and speak amongst others in public forums.

phro37 wrote:

kmurray105 wrote:I can't wait for the rock band accordion to come out

AAAAAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too funny--and the image makes it even more so!