BY MIKEY MIGO
I've been involved with Fantasy Football for the past few years, I've taken a stab at the Fantasy WWE stuff, and I've done a season of Fantasy Baseball back in the day. The world of Fantasy Sports and Entertainment has taken off over the past few years with many magazines, TV shows, and websites dedicated to the armchair quarterback and promoter.
Why not music? Why not put together an all star team of musicians to form your own super group? If bands like Velvet Revolver can form, bands like Audioslave put out music, and all those weird combinations of super groups come to surface, why can't we music fans have a little fun and put together our own fantasy band.
Will these bands ever form? The chances are 99.99% against it, but why not put our musical tastes into perspective?
The rules are simple. We can pick any living musicians and put them in our band. There are no friends and we can break up any band we want. We can't use any dead people and we can only keep it to a realistic setting. Only FIVE MEMBERS ALLOWED! For instance: One singer, One Guitarist, One Bass Player, One Drummer, and Keyboardist. Or you can replace the keyboardist with a Rhythm Guitarist, a flute player, or a back up singer. It's all up to you how you use your FIVE slots.
This is how I'd put together my band…
THE BAND
Band Name: Cardboard Space Train
I've always had this on a list for band names that I'd want to use one day. It's completely inspired by watching Death Race 3000 while under the influence. I was going to go with Mechanical Seamen, The Tomacos, or My Chemical Romance. No REAL BAND has ever used any of those names. Still, we're going with CST.
Genre: Hard Rock/Industrial
I'm a fan of all musical genre's except country and emo. Thinking about it, most country IS emo. Anyways, Hard Rock and Industrial has always been a tad bit higher on my listening list than anything else. I was tempted to mix some different music elements to the band, but I'm going to go with what I want to hear and slightly cheat a little.
THE MUSICANS
Vocals: Maynard James Keenan (Tool/A Perfect Circle)
I love me some Maynard, but don't think it's the Maynard show. He's going to be sharing vocals with three other members of the band. I always enjoyed and respected Tool, but when A Perfect Circle came around it connected with me a bit more. That made me go back and appreciate the hell out of Tool. Maynard's voice and style is without a doubt one of, if not THEE strongest of all music. While he'll be sharing a lot of the vocal duties with the rest of the band, he will be the main guy behind the mic.
Guitar: David Bowie
I said I was going to slightly cheat, but it's been documented and seen by literally millions that David Bowie can play the guitar. I was toying with going with Tom Morello, but I don't see him fitting in with a band of this style. I was going to go with Billy Howerdel, but I already had Maynard signed to the project. See kids, David Bowie is a legend. A lot of what you've seen, heard, and enjoy right now was in someway inspired by David Bowie. When he wants, he can be cutting edge or laid back. Either Bowie of your preference, you won't deny him rocking and being one of the best of all time.
Bass: Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)
Again with the cheating? Gawd! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nine Inch Nails puts out my favorite music and is the reason I love music so much. If you thought I'd put together a band without Trent Reznor being involved you're crazy. Like Bowie, he's not known for being a bass player, but for just pretty much being a lead singer and dictator of all that is NIN. I was going to go with Justin Chancellor of Tool because their bass lines are my favorite of all music or Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence because she plays with a lot of energy and has a great stage presence, but I gotta stick with T-Rez on this one.
Drums: Brian Viglione (The Dresden Dolls)
The only other two people I've seen drum with such passion and vigorous thuds as The Dresden Doll's Brian Viglione is Josh Freese who has played with most of my favorite musicians and DreG of Chicago's Fashion Bomb. Viglione is easily the most underrated drummer on the national touring level out there right now. I've seen him perform live a few times in person and many times on DVD. I am not a percussion scholar or anything, but anyone with two eyes and two ears know they are seeing something special when he's on stage. While he may not be as "accomplished" as the rest of this band, his talents make him a huge asset to this band's foundation. While a lot of other people in this band are interchangeable, he's the first person I thought of when putting this all together.
Keys: Tori Amos
I could of went with the very talented Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls, but I already have Viglione on drums and besides Tori Amos owns the piano. I can't think of anyone who has put more emotion into her work on a piano than Tori Amos. Her playing is great and her lyrics are an assault on the heart. Many haven't really dug her past few albums, but with the rest of the band around her she can find her grit, edge, and renew her passion. When she's on her A Game, she can't be touched. That's the Tori I want in this band.
EXTRA DETAILS
Record Label: MiGo Records
Yeah, I'm putting this band on my own label. This is to ensure these talents can shine as they want to. I won't but any limits on what they want to do and will only embrace their ideas. As cutting edge as many of these people are, with the feeling of complete freedom we might be in for complete chaos. You know, the good kind.
Producer: Jimmy Urine
I want to completely mix things up. If you're a fan of Mindless Self Indulgence you already know that Jimmy Urine has put out some very energetic industrial music that you really can't put in one genre. I was tempted to have him be the lead singer of this band, but I think I'd rather see what he can do to warp and twist the band's talents and work together.
Video Directors :
When putting a band like this together, you gotta think of the bigger picture. With merchandising, tours, album art, etc. one thing that draws in attention is a music video. Obviously the built-in fan base of my Fantasy Band would sell out any venue they play, but music videos are still a must. Surely, every track on the album would be a hit single, but I'm going to stick with two music video directors that I think would work great with this line-up.
I'd go with Adam Jones of Tool fame to put together a video. Not only does this mad genius play in Tool, but he's responsible for many of the great videos the band has put out over the years. Since Maynard is busy singing, Jones can keep busy with putting together a great video. The stop animation, artistic direction, and eerie feel of his videos will definitely set the mood right for a first impression of my band.
For the second single, I'd have to go with my favorite music video director Mark Romanek. His work on Nine Inch Nail's Closer speaks for itself, but my favorite video of his collection is "The Perfect Drug". Now if I have Romanek and Adam Jones work together we're bordering the lines of perfection.
FANTASY RESULTS
Most of the people in this band have worked together or toured together at some point. Everyone should remember Maynard and Trent working together on the Tapeworm project("Passive" anyone?). The whole idea of getting all of these iconic musicians in one room to not only record an album, but tour, and evolve together is a bit intimidating to my ears, but it would be a great thing for all music fans. From the snippets of them working together, interviews, etc. I would hope they'd all get a long. But being friends with someone is one thing completely separate than working on a project of this magnitude together. I don't think this band would be a possibility in the least bit. I don't want to use the word ego, but rather the strong personalities of the members would clash too much. If that wasn't true, we'd be listening to "Year Zero: 10,000 Days Later". In fact, I'd be happy with a DJ remix CD of that. Remember who thought of it!
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