John Cheng

Age: 22
Hometown:  Coral Springs, FL
Studying:  Economics and Sports Management
Instruments:  Cello and Piano
Video Games:  Final Fantasy 8, Dead or Alive, CounterStrike, Ragnarok online. (I had to stop playing these games to graduate, and to keep my girlfriend.)
Musical Influences: Smashing Pumpkins, Third Eye Blind, Coldplay, Barenaked Ladies, and a lot of Baroque pieces

How I Started Playing:
When I was young, my mom forced me to play piano. I didn't really like it, but I didn't really object to it either. After I had played piano for 2 years I thought I might like another instrument as well, so I picked the cello. My sister had already been playing violin and piano much better than I ever would, so I wanted to beat her in something musical. I took lessons all the way through high school but stopped in college. Then the band got started, so I picked the cello back up.

Video Game Music As Fan Music:
I do think that some of the music remixed is strictly fan music, but there are a lot of bands out there that have taken that extra step to add more to the music. Personally, I feel that we are another genre of music. Game music has a lot of different styles because there are a lot of different styles of games. Each song is unique because it is meant to elicit a certain emotion when it was created in the game. Different songs in different genres are also meant to elicit certain emotions, but all these songs mean different things to everybody. It is this unique feeling, which is why I think game music should be considered more than fan music, and be considered its own genre of music.

Music Scene in Gainesville:
The music scene in Gainesville is absolutely great, due largely to the University of Florida. With the constant influx of new people, there are great musicians constantly coming into Gainesville. This adds to an already talented pool of local musicians, and there is an amazingly talented pool of individuals and bands. Already some great musicians have come out of Gainesville, like Tom Petty and Sister Hazel. We are just a tiny blip on the Gainesville music scene. For a larger list of bands you can visit www.gainesvillebands.com.

A Typical Select Start Performance:
Select Start does not really have a typical performance. We basically perform wherever, such as bars, libraries, gaming cafes, on campus, and at anime conventions. The big songs always have the same cheers, such as Mario, Zelda, Tetris, or Sonic, because they are so recognizable and they bring back so many good memories. What is truly great is when other songs, that aren't as recognizable, become some crowd favorites. Sometimes, especially Final Fantasy songs, people become highly emotional; we have seen people crying from being so happy or so sad. One time people made a large Moscow dancing line during Tetris, and a whole bunch of people fell on each other; luckily no one was hurt. A big show usually has 100-300 people.

Obscure vs. Popular:
We usually like to have two to three mainstream classics in each set, to get people in the mood, and to let them know what we do (in case they don't already). Then we can play some lesser known songs to showcase how amazing video game music can actually be. The songs we choose to cover though, are usually from better known games.

Video Game Music As High Art:
I really feel because of how high the quality of video game music has become, it can be considered high art. Already, high profile artists are going to video games to showcase their music, and people realize that music is extremely important to setting the mood for games. The gaming companies know this, and that is why they are investing so much money in composers and recording artists. Video game music covers are also a subsection of the video game music world. With great bands like the NESkimos, the OneUp Mushrooms, and the Minibosses, covers are getting better and better. With cover music, you can take the songs, which may only be one minute long in a game, and make a simple melody turn into a fully complex song.

Video Game Music Quiz:
I got an 80%, not as bad as I thought.