Seattle based Kirby Krackle are a self-proclaimed “Comic Book/Nerd Rock Band”. What does this mean, exactly?

No, their albums aren’t made up of KA-POW! sound effects. Neither are they a band that covers songs from video games. What it means is that their lyrics are heavily inspired by the things that interests nerds and geeks around the world; video games and comic books.

Their sophomore release, E for Everyone, picks up right where their first album left off. Bringing up-beat pop tracks and nerd culture fueled themes to those with enough geek cred to understand what they are laying down.

The album kicks of right with “Vault 101″, a song about Fallout 3’s protagonist and is followed immediately by the only song about Wolverine that I’ve ever enjoyed, “On and On”. It doesn’t spout dumb lines about Wolverine being an awesome bad-ass; it is actually a heartfelt look at who the character is and what he’s been through.

Do you know who Uatu is? Then the Funk-fueled track “Can I Watch You?” will tickle your fancy in a way you might not have thought possible.

Kirby Krackle manages to write songs about Mega Man (“Take It From Me”) and the Green Lantern (“Ring Capacity”) from a place of sincerity that most geek bands completely lack. They cap the album off with a very heartfelt tale of the sense of community we all feel when going to comic book and gaming conventions in “Going Home”.

But that high level of sincerity does not keep them from rocking out in their tracks. Unlike their self-titled first release, E for Everyone features a much larger, full band sound. The production quality is a big step up and the band’s enthusiasm for what they are doing on the album is palpable.

This album is an easy recommendation for the geek in your life. You can stream both of Kirby Krackle’s albums on their official website, and purchase them in a variety of places.

This review was originally posted by Jonah Gregory on the now defunct Geek News site, InsulinFunk.net

"This image makes no sense. Sorry."

On a very special fifty-eight episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jesse, Jonah, and Adam try to catch them all. It ends tragically.

In “The Games We Played Since Last Time”, Jesse and Adam mock Mega Man 10′s easy mode, Jesse gets even more in-depth with Final Fantasy XIII, and Adam tries out the Monster Hunter Tri demo. It turns out he is actually digging this one, and it is sounding more and more like we’ll have a team with which to hunt monsters come April.

Everyone on the show has been playing either PokéMon Heart Gold or Soul Silver, and the guys talk about the game for a while; what they are liking, and the things they wish had been updated. More PokéMon talk follows when the “Friday Old Games” review of PokéMon Puzzle League is discussed.

Then in “Let’s Play Together”, Jesse and Jonah talk about their recent LANing of both Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and why 2 is a heckuva lot more fun.

We also discuss the gaming news of the week. All this and more on episode 58 of Barrel Roll!

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Middle Song – “Take It From Me” by Kirby Krackle

"A Dramatic Recreation of Golfin' for Brains"

On a very special twentieth episode of Barrel Roll, A Video Game Podcast, we are joined by special guest Dalibor “Dali” Dimovski, co-founder of Sidequesting.com to talk about video games and video game related topics.

First and foremost is what we’ve been playing, which ranges from Sega’s new Wii title “Let’s Tap” and “Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance”, to a comparison of the Wii and 360 versions of “Tiger Woods 10″. Which version wins out? The one that is most fun! Also Rhythm Heaven and Mega Man Star Force 3 demos have been played by Jesse.

We are proud to have the new Kirby Krackle single “Ring Capacity” to play for you in the break. For details on how to get your copy of this awesome new song about Green Lantern by the World’s First Comic Book Rock Band, go to their site.

The news is dominated by crazy talk. Nintendo’s Demo Play, Final Fantasy Tactics coming to the PSN, the possibility of a “Day of the Tentacle” sequel and much more.

In everybody’s favorite segment, “Let’s Talk About Stuff”, we have a rousing discussion of Prototype VS InFamous VS Red Faction: Guerrilla. Lucas has played all three and gives us the low down on all three of these groovy hip new open world games.

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On a very special 19th episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we spend the evening talking to Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos of Kirby Krackle. If you are not familiar, they have created the world’s first comic book rock band.

We delve into how the band was formed, their writing process, the new summer single (out on 6/30!), touring at comic conventions, and more!

Then we get into the games. What got Jim and Kyle into gaming, what games influenced the band and what we’re playing now.

Kyle even plays “Villain Song” and “Naked Wii” live on the show. Check it out, then head over to the band’s site and pick up their album. You’ll be glad you did.

Oh, and if you are wondering what was cut, it was a rousing game of chubby bunny. While fun, it turns out people shoving marshmallows in their mouths does not make for great audio. It was a close race and in the end Jim claims he was victorious, though Kyle denies that he actually was able to say “chubby bunny”. This conflict may never be solved.

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Kirby Krackle
Kyle Stevens Music
The Comic Stop
Emerald City ComiCon

"Guitar Battle!"

While the next episode of “Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast” (scheduled to go up Tuesday, the 16th) is being editing now, we are already prepping for next weeks show. This episode will feature special guests Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos from Kirby Krackle. If you have any questions for the guys, please post them here or email us at podcast@wingdamage.com.

We are also starting to prep for our next bonus episode of the show, in which we will be covering both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This will record sometime next month, and we’d also love to get your thoughts on the games. We’re starting to play through them this week and plan to finish them up by early next month for the recording.

"Make The Voices Stop!"

On a very special second episode of “Barrel Roll!”, we talk a lot about “Street Fighter 4″, a game where you have fun beating the crap out of your friends. Old School. The anime movie that is packed in with the collectors edition of the game is also discussed.

We take a trip through the time warp with “Retro Gaming Challenge”, talk about why “Crackdown” is our favorite open world game, and ponder what America McGee’s Alice 2 might bring to the table.

A very special thanks to Kirby Krackle for letting us play their song, “Back to the Beginning” at the break. How can you go wrong with a song about Mario Kart?

In the new “Let’s Play Together” segment, Jesse and Jonah talk about playing through co-op on Castle of Shikigami 2, with thanks to AudioAtrocities.com for having amazing sound clips from the game on their site.

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“The World’s First Comic Book Rock Band”

Kirby Krackle is a collaborative project between indie rocker Kyle Stevens (former frontman and songwriter of Seattle based Laymans Terms) and Jim Demonakos (owner of The Comics Stop and head organizer of The Emerald City ComiCon). As you might imagine, comic books and video games have heavily inspired all the songs in this self-titled debut album from the pop-culture fueled pair.

The album starts off strong with the upbeat “Back to the Beginning”; a song about all the dangers facing you in a game of Mario Kart. Bringing out the difficulties of peeling out at the beginning of a race, the dangers of banana peels, and the joy of destroying the race leader with a blue shell.

While the entire album manages to stay on the upbeat side, the tone varies depending on the subject matter. In some cases, it even takes a dark turn. In “Up, Up, Down, Down”, the subject of the song learns too late that sometimes that dream girl can turn out to be a psycho stalker, even if she seems to be the ultimate match for your geeky ways. Still, the song is presented in a such a way as to stay light-hearted and funny.

For anyone who has played the Halo series, especially online or at LAN parties, the song “Teabagged” will strike close to home. The lyrics “…cause I’m killed by little kids / I get so frustrated cause I can never win, / so when I finally kill one I want them to never forget…” show that Kirby Krackle understands the twitch-fest FPS experience that is online Halo matches. Sure it’s fun, but getting killed all the time by twelve year old’s can get really tiresome.

The album also manages to have some more melancholy moments. “One of the Guys” tells the sad tale of the Fantastic Four’s ever loving blue-eyed Thing. Anyone familiar with the series will understand where this song is coming from. The big guy that everyone counts on to take care of business, but who doesn’t really fit in anywhere. The Thing is always struggling to find his place in the world, and the song brings this out very well.

The same is true of the hidden track (untitled), which is about Tony Stark after the recent Civil War events in the Marvel Universe. He is a man that only tried to do what he thought was right, but tore the world apart in the process.

Overall, I really enjoy this album. It reminds me a lot of Jonathan Coulton, one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I recommend the album for video game and comic enthusiasts looking for music about the subjects they love. You can preview the album on the band’s official website, KirbyKrackleMusic.com, and it can be purchased through CD Baby and iTunes. Physical CD’s can be purchased directly from the band’s online store.