Grant Henry (born April 3, 1979), better known by his stage name Stemage, is an American guitarist and composer. He is known for his video game and television soundtracks, including
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
's animated series ''
Steven Universe
''Steven Universe'' is an American animated series, animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who li ...
''. He is also known for his involvement in several video game cover projects, including Metroid Metal and Viking Guitar.
Career
![Saori Kobayashi performance at MAGWest 2019 3 of 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Saori_Kobayashi_performance_at_MAGWest_2019_3_of_3.jpg)
Early work (1997-2002)
Stemage began writing and performing music in high school. He recorded an original album in 1997 named ''Organized Uproar'', using a cassette 8-track in his dorm room. The album was later released for free via his website. He then joined a band named MiniVoid.
''Metroid Metal'' and solo work (2003-2014)
In 2003, Stemage formed
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 ...
cover project Metroid Metal, later recruiting other artists such as
Danimal Cannon
Daniel Behrens (born March 11, 1983) better known by his stage name Danimal Cannon, is an American video game composer and chiptune music performer. He is most known for combining guitar playing with Game Boy music. He is also known for his p ...
. While the group were initially simply recording cover songs to release online, Metroid Metal made their live debut at
MAGfest
MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival, originally the Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival) is an annual festival held in the Washington metropolitan area that celebrates video games and video game music, as well as their surrounding culture. MAGFest's pri ...
7 in 2009, and became a recurring act at the event. Stemage released several albums with the group over the following years, including ''Varia Suite'' (2009), ''Expansion Pack'' (2010) and ''Other Album'' (2014). Stemage along with the other musicians from Metroid Metal Live formed the "backbone" of Yes Mayhem, a second band that produced original material beginning in 2010. During this time, he released five albums as a solo artist, both in the form of cover projects and original material. In 2010, Stemage was hired to perform the soundtrack for the
Xbox Live
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...
game ''Alpha Squad''. In an interview shortly before the game's release, he described composing for video games as "acting on a blue screen with a director telling you that the
Master Control Program
The MCP (Master Control Program) is the operating system of the Burroughs small, medium and large systems, including the Unisys Clearpath/MCP systems.
MCP was originally written in 1961 in ESPOL (Executive Systems Problem Oriented Language). In ...
is off in the distance, and it's big – except that there's no director, and the MCP is a sketch of a dude with a gun."
Collaborative projects and ''Steven Universe'' (2014-2019)
Stemage joined Viking Guitar in 2014, alongside Travis Morgan, Mega Beardo, and founder Erik Peabody. Viking Guitar originated as a solo act fronted by Peabody, with which Stemage had featured as a guest on several occasions. The new incarnation of the band released their debut studio album ''Legion'' later that year, while continuing the annual ''Danse Macabre'' projects that Stemage had been involved in earlier.
In 2018, the group released their second studio album, ''Warpath''.
Stemage had a brief tenure with ''LONELYROLLINGSTARS'', working on their 2014 album ''CARNIVORTEX'' and performing live at MAGFest 12 to support the release. His departure later in the year was announced by the band in the form of a music video. During the video, Stemage walks out midway through a performance of ''Royal Rainbow Road'' to be replaced by new guitarist Mega Beardo.
In addition to the opening theme for the second season of
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
's ''Steven Universe'', Stemage worked on guitars throughout the remainder of the show. The first volume of the ''Steven Universe'' soundtrack reached #22 on the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
. A second volume followed in 2019, peaking at #28 on the Billboard 200, and #12 on the US iTunes chart. Stemage also co-composed ''
Steven Universe: The Movie''.
In 2018, Stemage joined a band called Super Strikers, along with video game composers
Keiji Yamagishi
is a Japanese video game music composer. He is known for his work on Tecmo's late 1980s and early 1990s NES titles, such as ''Ninja Gaiden''. Yamagishi has been considered a pioneer of chiptune music, producing the soundtracks of numerous titles ...
and
Manami Matsumae
is a Japanese video game music composer. She previously worked for Capcom in the 1980s, writing music for games such as '' Dynasty Wars'', '' Mercs'', '' Magic Sword'', and the original '' Mega Man''.
Career
She previously worked for Capcom, ...
. The group performed live for the first time at MAGFest 2018, the recordings of which were used for the second disc of Yamagishi's album ''The Retro-Active Experience''.
Focus on soundtracks (2019-)
From the late 2010s onwards, Stemage worked on a number of game soundtracks including ''
Card of Darkness'' (2019), ''
Ikenfell'' (2020) and ''
Hextech Mayhem
''Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story'' is a rhythm video game developed by Choice Provisions and published by Riot Forge, a publishing division of Riot Games, the developers of ''League of Legends''. ''Hextech Mayhem'' was released on 16 ...
'' (2021), both as a composer and as a session guitarist. When discussing his work on the ''
Bubsy: Paws on Fire!'' soundtrack, which was released via video game music label Materia Collective, Stemage indicated that it was a challenging but enjoyable project, adding "If you hear a hi-hat playing
Morse code
Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...
during one of the songs, don't say I didn't warn you."
Style and influences
He has described his music as "Catchy, high-energy space rock mixed with metal, pop, and prog".
He has cited stylistic influences such as
Failure
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective (goal), objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of Success (concept), success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a parti ...
,
Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kretz ...
,
Self
The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...
,
Hum
Hum may refer to:
Science
* Hum (sound), a sound produced with closed lips, or by insects, or other periodic motion
* Mains hum, an electric or electromagnetic phenomenon
* The Hum, an acoustic phenomenon
* Venous hum, a physiological sensation
...
,
Meshuggah
Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas ...
, and
Shiner.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Organized Uproar'' (1998)
* ''Strati'' (2006)
* ''Zero over Zero'' (2011)
* ''Frets of Valmar: Grandia II'' (2011)
* ''Where Good Marbles Go to Die'' (2012)
* ''Priority One'' (2013)
* ''Narrowband'' (2016)
* ''Retrogression'' (2017)
MiniVoid
* ''14 Days'' (1999)
* ''Readjust'' (2000)
Metroid Metal
* ''Varia Suite'' (2009)
* ''Expansion Pack'' EP (2010)
* ''Other Album'' (2014)
Yes Mayhem
* ''Yes Mayhem'' (2010)
* ''HH2'' (2012)
* ''Super VG Christmas Party'' (2014, as guest)
* ''Molly'' (2016)
* ''Castellum Sanguis LXVIII: Castlevania X68000 Tribute Album'' (2018, as guest)
* ''Bandwagon'' (2020)
LONELYROLLINGSTARS
* ''CARNIVORTEX'' (2014)
Viking Guitar
* ''Viking Guitar'' (2010, as guest)
* ''Made of Metal'' (2011, as guest)
* ''Danse Macabre'' (2012, as guest)
* ''Danse Macabre II'' (2013, as guest)
* ''Legion'' (2014)
* ''Danse Macabre III'' (2014)
* ''Danse Macabre IV'' (2015)
* ''Danse Macabre V'' (2016)
* ''Danse Macabre VI'' (2017)
* ''Warpath'' (2018)
*''Live'' (2018)
* ''God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You (2020)
* ''Danse Macabre 7'' (2020)
* ''Belly of the Beast'' (2021)
* ''Hello, Boils and Ghouls!'' (2021)
Super Strikers
* The Retro-Active Experience (2019)
* Card of Darkness: The Remixes (2019, as guest)
Soundtracks
TV and film
* ''For Catherine'' (2005)
* ''
Steven Universe
''Steven Universe'' is an American animated series, animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who li ...
'' (2013–19, with
Aivi & Surasshu
Aivi & Surasshu (stylized as aivi & surasshu) are an electronic composer duo, composed of pianist Aivi Tran and electronic artist Steven "Surasshu" Velema. They are known for composing soundtracks, including that of Cartoon Network's animated ...
)
* ''
Steven Universe: The Movie'' (2019, with many others)
* ''
Steven Universe Future
''Steven Universe Future'' is an American animated limited series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It serves as an epilogue to the 2013–2019 original series ''Steven Universe'' and its follow-up 2019 animated film '' Steven Univers ...
'' (2019–20, with Aivi & Surasshu)
* ''
Battle Kitty
''Battle Kitty'' is an interactive computer-animated streaming television series created by Matt Layzell, and developed by Matt and Paul Layzell for Netflix. It is based on Matt Layzell's web comic of Instagram posts known as ''The Adventures o ...
'' (2022– present, with Max Coburn)
Video games
* ''Alpha Squad'' (2011)
* ''
Saturday Morning RPG
''Saturday Morning RPG'' is a role-playing video game, created by developer Mighty Rabbit Studios. The game was first released for iOS in April 2012. It has been released on PC, Mac, and Linux through Steam. It is also available on Ouya, and ...
'' (2012, with
Vince DiCola
Vincent Louis "Vince" DiCola (born November 11, 1957) is an American composer, keyboardist and arranger. He has composed scores for films such as '' Staying Alive'', ''Rocky IV'', and '' The Transformers: The Movie''. DiCola also pioneered the u ...
and C-Jeff)
* ''Aeternum'' (2013, with Viking Guitar)
* ''Band Saga'' (2014, with Rekcahdam)
* ''
The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor'' (2016, with many others)
* ''
Runner3
''Runner3'' is a Rhythm game, rhythm platform game developed by Choice Provisions. A sequel to ''Runner2, Bit.Trip Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien'', ''Runner3'' is part of the ''Bit.Trip'' series, starring the character Commande ...
'' (2018)
* ''
Bubsy: Paws on Fire!'' (2019)
* ''
Card of Darkness'' (2019)
* ''
Ikenfell'' (2020, with
Aivi & Surasshu
Aivi & Surasshu (stylized as aivi & surasshu) are an electronic composer duo, composed of pianist Aivi Tran and electronic artist Steven "Surasshu" Velema. They are known for composing soundtracks, including that of Cartoon Network's animated ...
)
* ''Dangle Dash'' (2021)
* ''Space Otter Charlie'' (2021)
* ''
Chicory: A Colorful Tale'' (2021, with
Lena Raine
Lena "Kuraine" Raine (born February 29, 1984), also known as Lena Chappelle, is an American-Canadian composer, producer, and video game developer. Raine is best known for her work on the soundtracks of '' Celeste'', ''Minecraft'' and ''Guild ...
)
* ''
Moonglow Bay
''Moonglow Bay'' is a fishing role-playing video game developed by indie studio Bunnyhug and published by Coatsink. After being announced at the ID@Xbox event in March 2021 and the "Wholesome Direct" of E3 2021 on June 12, the game was launched o ...
'' (2021, with Lena Raine)
* ''
Hextech Mayhem
''Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story'' is a rhythm video game developed by Choice Provisions and published by Riot Forge, a publishing division of Riot Games, the developers of ''League of Legends''. ''Hextech Mayhem'' was released on 16 ...
'' (2021)
* ''Soundfall'' (2022, with many others)
* ''
Rogue Legacy 2'' (2022, with many others)
Devolver Digital events
*
Devolver Digital
Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wilso ...
Direct 2020 - ''Play the Game''
* Devolver Digital Direct 2021 - ''Daydream''
* Devolver Digital Summer Game Fest 2022 - ''Singularity''
Guest appearances
* Off Centre – ''The Streets We've Known All our Lives'' (2004)
* ''The Nurse who Loved Me: A Tribute to Failure'' (2008)
* C-Jeff – ''Preschtale'' (2012)
*
Disasterpeace
Richard Vreeland (born June 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Disasterpeace, is an American composer and musician. He first got started in music after learning the guitar in high school and started writing music around the age of 17. Kno ...
– ''Cycles'' (2012)
* Perelandra Records – ''Tide'' (2012)
* Disasterpeace – ''
FZ: Side F'' (2013)
*
Random Encounter
A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby combat encounters with non-player character (NPC) enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random, usually without the enemy being physically detected b ...
– ''
Let Me Tell You a Story'' (2013)
* C-Jeff – ''Big Steel Wheels'' (2013)
* Nate Horsfall – ''Spectrum of Mana'' (2013)
* Chiptunes = Win - ''Chiptunes = WTFLOL'' (2013)
*
Brave Wave Productions
Brave Wave Productions is a Japanese-based record label founded in 2013. It specializes in video game music artists, often those who were active during the chiptune era of the 1980s and 1990s. One of the stated goals of the label is to bridge the ...
– ''In Flux'' (2014, with
Manami Matsumae
is a Japanese video game music composer. She previously worked for Capcom in the 1980s, writing music for games such as '' Dynasty Wars'', '' Mercs'', '' Magic Sword'', and the original '' Mega Man''.
Career
She previously worked for Capcom, ...
)
*
Big Giant Circles
Jimmy Hinson, also known as Big Giant Circles, is an American musician and composer in the video games industry. Originally adopting the name as a hobbyist submitting video game music remixes/rearrangements to OverClocked ReMix, Hinson now active ...
– ''Glory Days Remixed'' (2014)
*
Alexander Brandon
Alexander Brandon (also known as Siren in the demoscene and tracker community) is an American musician, former member of Straylight Productions, who composed music mostly for games produced by Epic Games, or games based on Epic technology, incl ...
– ''Just Fun'' (2014)
* Careless Juja – ''For Naughty Children'' (2015)
*
Keiji Yamagishi
is a Japanese video game music composer. He is known for his work on Tecmo's late 1980s and early 1990s NES titles, such as ''Ninja Gaiden''. Yamagishi has been considered a pioneer of chiptune music, producing the soundtracks of numerous titles ...
– ''Retro-Active Pt. 1'' (2015)
* Patient Corgi – ''SOUND WAVES: A Tribute to Ecco the Dolphin'' (2016)
* Nate Horsfall – ''Chronicles of Time'' (2016)
* Aivi & Surrashu – ''
Rio Olympics
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
'' (2016)
* Keiji Yamagishi – ''Retro-Active Pt. 2'' (2016)
* Brave Wave Productions – ''World 1–2'' (2017)
* Manami Matsumae – ''Three Movements'' (2017)
* Jon Poulin – ''With Vigor'' (2017)
* Chiptunes = Win – ''Chips = Flipped'' (2018)
* Sam Mulligan & The Donut Slayers – ''Shark Party'' (2018)
* Jon Poulin - ''Big Riff Energy''
* Bossies play Bosses - A Tribute to Matt Wood (2021)
* MunzadetH - ''A Tribute to KICK MASTER'' (2021)
References
{{Authority control
1979 births
Living people
American rock guitarists
American rock drummers
American rock singers
Video game composers
American television composers
American film score composers