Freezepop preview

Freezepop
Subterranean, Chicago
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

You’ve probably heard about a video game called “Guitar Hero” by now. If not, it’s kinda popular: The newest version, “Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock,” made more than $100 million in its first week alone. “Rock Band,” a similar game that lets users sing and “play” drums as well as guitar, has also brought in beaucoup bucks since being released late last year. So needless to say, landing a song on the soundtrack to one of these games is a pretty friggen’ big deal. Freezepop got tunes on both.

So how does an utterly guitarless synth-pop group find themselves alongside big-time six-string acts like Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, Metallica, Foo Fighters, and The Who?

It doesn’t hurt when one of your band members works for the game company. That’s the case with The Duke Of Pannekoeken, whose Producer (and prior to that Audio Designer) title with Harmonix (makers of “Rock Band” and the first two “Guitar Hero” titles) may have helped “Less Talk More Rokk” slip onto “Guitar Hero II” and “Brainpower” secure a spot on “Rock Band.” That’s the upside of having a video-game hotshot like The Duke in your band. The downside is gaming is a big business, and he can’t just take a couple weeks off whenever he wants to tour. This why you may or may not see The Duke with bandmates Liz Enthusiasm and The Other Sean T. Drinkwater in Chicago. The Duke warned fans via a Myspace posting that 2008 will be a hectic year at his day job and his live appearances with Freezepop in support of their September ’07 release, Future Future Future Perfect, will be sporadic. Though, he says, expect to hear the band in many more video games.

– Trevor Fisher

Click here for streaming Freezepop samples.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly