Minibosses is an American progressive rock band originally from

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an acade ...

and now located in Phoenix, Arizona. They are known for their video game music covers, which are instrumental rock variations of the theme music from classic

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

video games such as ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...

'', ''

Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirate (Metroid), Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the powe ...

'', and ''

Castlevania ''Castlevania'' (), known in Japan as is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula (Castlevania), Dracula, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early system ...

''. The '' Phoenix New Times'' awarded Minibosses their ''best cover band'' award in 2006.

History

From 1997 to 1999, guitarist Aaron Burke and drummer Matt Wood played in Jenova Project, one of the earliest video game cover bands, along with other friends from the same dorm at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In January 2000, Burke and Wood recruited bassist Ben Baraldi to form Minibosses. Initially, the band played both video game covers as well as original songs, and self-released their first album, ''

Minibosses Minibosses is an American progressive rock band originally from Northampton, Massachusetts and now located in Phoenix, Arizona. They are known for their video game music covers, which are instrumental rock variations of the theme music from cl ...

'', in September 2000. They were unsatisfied with the quality of this album and have since released new versions of their covers (as well as new covers) on the ''

Minibosses/Penny Winblood Minibosses is an American progressive rock band originally from Northampton, Massachusetts and now located in Phoenix, Arizona. They are known for their video game music covers, which are instrumental rock variations of the theme music from cla ...

'' split and '' Brass'' album. At the same time, they replaced their older songs, which had been freely available to download, with the newer versions found on ''Brass''. From 2000 to present, the band has toured continuously while recording material for new albums.

Members

Current

*Aaron Burke – guitar *Robin Vining – guitar *Steve Dueck –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Brendan Dueck –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Owen Dueck –

*Jakob Dueck –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Former

*Robert Kelly Turner – guitar (2010) *Ben Baraldi – guitar (2007–2010), bass (1999–2007) *John Lipfert – guitar (2004–2007) *Fred Johnson – guitar (2002–2004) *Richard Smaldone – guitar (2001–2002) *Matt Wood – drums (1999-2014)

Discography

*''Minibosses'' (Self-released on Kraid Records, 2000) *''Minibosses (EP)'' (Self-released, 2004) *''Live at the Middle East'' recorded at The Middle East nightclub (Self-released, 2004) *''Minibosses/Penny Winblood'' (Forge Records, 2005) *''Brass'' (Self-released, 2005) *''Brass 2: Mouth'' (Released December 2, 2011)

References

External links

General

Minibosses official web siteMinibosses forumReMixer profile
at OverClocked ReMix *
Minibosses EP Insert Credit review
Sheffield, Brandon (Apr. 12, 2004)
Minibosses official MySpace

Interviews

Wired Magazine: Werde, Bill (Dec. 2002)

Salon.com: Becker, Verne (Apr. 21, 2004)
"Rocking in the Key of Nintendo"
NPR-All Things Considered: (Aug. 26, 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Minibosses 1999 establishments in Massachusetts American instrumental musical groups American progressive rock groups Indie rock musical groups from Massachusetts Instrumental rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups from Massachusetts Musical groups from Phoenix, Arizona Nintendocore musical groups Video game music cover bands