EPP and Scrub Club Records
Sunday at Nerdapalooza didn’t feature quite as many bands that I knew for sure I wanted to see, but the great Luke Ski and MC Frontalot were ones I knew I didn’t want to miss. I missed several bands, however, due to a late start that morning (Saturday’s sets ran about three hours late) and dinner with Fandomania’s editors, Celeste and Jason. Not that I’m complaining — Pizza Fusion is pretty darned awesome!
One group of bands I hadn’t heard of that I managed to catch included Emergency Pizza Party, followed by many of the other members of Scrub Club records. I knew when I walked in to a song called “Zombie Jesus” that I was going to enjoy these guys. From what I heard, I am certainly going to be checking out more from this record label, especially since their albums are all available for free on their web site. The only problem with their set was that it was often difficult to hear the lyrics. This was a problem all weekend, in part due to the sound system, but also simply because I personally have trouble following rap lyrics when they’re awfully fast.
Devo Spice performs with The great Luke Ski
One other act I caught was the great Luke Ski. Probably my favorite of his songs was “Fanboy,” a parody of Kid Rock’s “Cowboy” that celebrates, well, pretty much everyone at the show. He also performed an awesome parody of “Bohemian Rhapsody” called “Battlestar Rhapsody.” Yes, there was much head-banging at the appropriate time (and he even held up a sign to remind us that it was coming up — not that anyone needed it, I’m sure). One really cool part of his set was that he had videos playing on a screen while he sang that synced up with the lyrics in the song. It was a nice touch that added a lot to the experience.
MC Frontalot and me
And now we come to MC Frontalot, the entire reason I found out about Nerdapalooza. His set was just as awesome as I’d thought it would be, and he performed pretty much everything I could have hoped for, with a mix of old and new songs. “It Is Pitch Dark” is one of my favorites, and it was great to be able to sing along with Frontalot about grues in a group of people who actually knew what one was (and why you are likely to be eaten by one). Front also taught the audience some gestures for two of his songs that I am quite certain I will use. For “Tongue-Clucking Grammarian,” we wagged our fingers and clucked, “Tut tut!” And for “First World Problem,” the hand gestures were the number one, a “W” with the middle three fingers, then a thumbs down, coordinated to the chorus (see me perform it in the YouTube video below. I’m the one with the trilby and a black backpack on just to the left of the middle when the video is wide on the audience). I’ve already started tutting bad grammar. I haven’t yet had any first world problems, but I’m sure I will have them soon enough, especially since I use my computer so much.
The last song I’ll mention was “Yellow Laser Beam,” a song about a beautiful girl who takes a geek from a Star Wars convention back to her bedroom and has her way with him. I won’t reveal the “secret” of the song, but my wife hadn’t yet heard it so it was interesting to see her reaction. The band also played it in a more Latinesque (is that a word?) style than it appears on the album. It was a great set, and I can’t wait to see him again sometime!
All in all, Nerdapalooza was an absolute blast. I so appreciated being with a group of like-minded people. And of course there was some great music as well, which was the point. There were some technical problems which is to be expected from a concert with over 30 bands, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. I’m really looking forward to next year, and I have heard that John “hex” Carter, the main organizer of Nerdapalooza and one of the podcasters for the Nerdy Show, is planning on running something similar at this year’s FX Show. That would just be awesome! If you ever get a chance to see any of these bands, or better yet get to Nerdapalooza itself, it’s absolutely worth it.
