Minibosses is an American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band originally from Northampton, Massachusetts and now located in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

. They are known for their

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led t ...

covers, which are

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...

variations of the theme music from classic Nintendo

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s such as '' Mega Man'', '' Metroid'', and '' Castlevania''. The ''

Phoenix New Times ''Phoenix New Times'' is a free digital and print media company based in Phoenix, Arizona. ''New Times'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue ...

'' 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 The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

. 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 An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, '' Minibosses'', 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''

split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

and ''

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

'' 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 The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

*Robin Vining –

*Steve Dueck – drums *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 – drums *Jakob Dueck – bass

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 The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

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 OverClocked ReMix, also known as OC ReMix and OCR, is a non-commercial organization dedicated to preserving and paying tribute to video game music through arranging and re-interpreting the songs, both with new technology and software and by vari ...

*
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