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Lick My Label, White Collar Criminals

E1 MAKES A PLAY FOR THE VIDEOGAME MARKET

 Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 12:00pm by

powergloveWell, not quite… but the announcement that the label has signed “videogame metallers” Powerglove does come as something of a surprise.

E1 has built up a business model over the past 3 years predicated on signing established metal acts that already have a fanbase of a certain size or greater — see: In Flames, Overkill, Hatebreed, Darkest Hour, High on Fire, Satyricon, Kittie — and while the label has taken a couple of stabs at developing new metal acts, they’ve largely missed (see: Arkaea and Dirge Within). The notable exceptions are Straight Line Stitch — who, though we may hate to admit it, have built something of a following for themselves in states that voted for Bush in ’00 and ’04 — and Zoroaster, who have yet to release an album on the label.

But I like when labels take chances, and signing a band like Powerglove should definitely be considered a chance for a label that specializes on signing sure things.

Powerglove aren’t a new band — they’ve been around since 2005, released an EP and a full-length and toured the U.S. with Dragonforce and Turisas. But most notably their brand of nerd metal is pretty well-known on the nerd-friendly Internet, where their metal interpretations of classic videogame themes have drawn quite a bit of attention.

Anything NES-related certainly isn’t going to draw any complaints from this guy; I grew up on the system and have it tucked away in a box at the MS Mansion to this day (really ought to plug it back in). But the very concept of a band who traffics solely in videogame music begs the question “How long can a band like this last?” I think it goes without saying that eventually Powerglove will have to move away from the videogame shtick and into their own territory; I’d imagine that even their die-hard fans could grow tired of hearing metallified 8-bit music. But they’ve definitely got a unique sound, plenty of chops and the potential to be something very cool. A label like E1 could be the perfect place to develop, and hey, if that development is coming at the expense of benjamins earned by terrible bands like Dope and Kittie, I’m all for it.

-VN

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Hakli/885670392 Richard Hakli

    This band is fun and are surprisingly very tight live. It should be interesting to see what they bring to the table being on a record label now.

  • soy el niño más bonito

    i prefer the advantage, personally

    • stu1

      Or any one of the other bands who were doing this before.

      • kvlt of personality

        Their next album is actually gonna be all TV and movie themes, if you want to call that developing.

    • Danny Ex-Glover

      Superior NES controller, inferior band. Cool, but Powerglove’s way better.

    • victimschoice

      It’s all about Armcannon for me. But the Advantage and Powerglove are definitely right up there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alexander-Ford/28802725 Alexander Ford

    Don’t Hate…..SMELL THE GLOVE, WORSHIP ITS POWER!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Ashley/894695456 Justin Ashley

    Powerglove is a pretty good band as far as my experience with them goes. I’ve seen them live and the show was top notch for being held in a silly hole-in-the-wall Goth club. They ended up having some chick in a fuzzy cat bikini come out and start dancing on stage torwards the end of one of their songs.

    Either way, good band. Definitely recommend seeing them live.

    Also, I believe they were originally supposed to be a Death Metal outfit, and perhaps may still have some other content of another genre yet unreleased.

    Check out “So Sexy Robotnik” by them.

    • Danny Ex-Glover

      Powerglove was originally an offshoot of a…melodic death metal band Revengeance, sort of along the lines of a power metal-tinged Eternal Tears of Sorrow, to put it as simply as I can. Then the guys just totally ran with the Powerglove idea and took it to all sorts of ridiculously awesome places.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/LiLith-Astaroth/676630859 LiLith Astaroth

      “some chick” … that’d be me xD haha.
      that was at Club Hell in providence… good times

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Ashley/894695456 Justin Ashley

        It isn’t often that I see a band bring somebody else in just to dance for them… then again… I’d be pretty confused if somebody asked me to dance all sexy like to some Death Metal…

  • Vlygar

    I think it’s pretty cool that they got to tour with a big name band across the country. I dig them a lot along with a bunch of other bands doing the Video-Game-Metal thing. However, my favorite band of the niche is MegaDriver.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandon-Lowrance/826050532 Brandon Lowrance

    I saw this band about a month ago open for Sonata Arctica. They freaking ruled!!!!!!!!!!!!

    They are amazingly entertaining, like if Steel Panther played video game music

  • http://piercingmetal.com/wordpress/ PiercingMetal Ken

    I’ve caught them twice now myself, and have to say that at least they are entertaining, interested in giving their fans a good show and rather tight at their Metal delivery. These are a bunch of qualities that are not too shabby in a relatively new band. Let’s hope for their best since they try to up their game at the shows they have performed on and congratulate them on being pioneers in the NWOAVGHM (or the New Wave Of American Video Game Heavy Metal :)

    • victimschoice

      lol @ New Wave Of American Video Game Heavy Metal

  • EGross

    Powerglove will not be video game metal for ever. Although that’s what they started playing, it would not be able to last long (There are only so many good video game songs). On their next full length, they are going to have songs from 80′s/90′s cartoons. I assume that they will eventually run out of that and start making their own music. I love their music, and am anxiously awaiting their next album!

  • SourDeez

    Powerglove is really cool, but they’re no HORSE.

    • victimschoice

      HORSE The Band is shit. Gimme a break.

  • Ziltoid

    E1 does have an interesting business model. Unfortunately, most bands release their best albums early in their career, so although they may be able to cash in on the reputation of established acts, the label isn’t particularly known for putting out classic albums. It needs to develop at least some young artists, especially unique ones, and with that in mind, Powerglove isn’t a particularly bad choice. At least it’s not deathcore.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/CJ-Crawford/768948209 C.J. Crawford

      1

  • http://www.blackbluegold.wordpress.com Phil

    This is excellent news for Powerglove! Last time they were set to come to Buffalo, NY, I had tickets, but their van hit a fucking moose in the middle of nowhere! Another band right up there with em is Buffalo’s own Armcannon.

    You’d think a label would pick up The Protomen, too. Shit.

  • Drakodan

    Pretty awesome band. It’s a shame that other videogame related bands get more attention, since Powerglove are head and shoulders above anyone else doing it.

    • stu1

      Who gets more attention? It’s sad these guys are cashing in on something other people made popular 5 years ago.

  • http://reaper-x.deviantart.com/ Reaper-X

    I wonder what James Rolfe thinks of this.

  • http://www.flamingtusk.com Zosimus

    My metalized Nintendo theme music novelty band loyalties will always lie with The Minibosses.

    • Danny Ex-Glover

      Too bad the Minibosses never really metalized anything, and I’d say were closer to a jam band than anything.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandon-Eski-Ortiz/1827275604 Brandon ‘Eski’ Ortiz

    Only because my nickname is Eski, I’m a little bit partial to the group “NESkimos” :-)