GAME ON, PLAYERS

posted in: Artist Features • Music News • Pop • Rock

When the first 8-bit version of Nintendo Entertainment System was dethroned by the slick, 16-bit Super Nintendo in 1993, there was plenty of cool gear left to gather dust in the basements of teens all over America: the zapper gun from Duck Hunt, the Power Pad from World Class Track Meet and countless controllers with their tiny microphones. It was the end of an era. Or was it?

Enter I Fight Dragons, a band from Chicago with a penchant for video game nostalgia. The group, fronted by singer-songwriter Brian Mazzaferri, repurposes vintage NES parts and churns out irresistible power pop. They scavenge old soundchips, dance on the Power Pad and work the controllers, festooning their songs with cheerful bleeps and blips. Ostensibly, they are dorks. Their shtick is kitschy. But it’s also full of passion, intelligence and big juicy hooks.

Heads Up, Hearts Down and Money are radio-ready salvos of distorted guitars, swirling electronic chirps and emotive vocal harmonies. But even in the most action-packed video game, things can’t always be on warp speed. I Fight Dragons also turn out some lovely and languorous slow songs like With You. Even if the ballad is inspired by Princess Toadstool and not a real girl, who cares? I Fight Dragons make their video game rock appeal to the masses. And in that regard they score big.