FINNISH HARD ROCKERS FREE SPIRIT COMING TO ROCK BAND NETWORK WITH ROCKGAMER STUDIOS

Today, we’re pleased to add another excellent band from Finland to the upcoming Rock Band Network song lineup. Finnish hard rock revivalists Free Spirit will be joining their countrymates Amberian Dawn on RBN when RockGamer Studios releases three songs from their 2009 album, “Pale Sister of Light”.

Comprised of Sami Alho on vocals, Vesa Yli-Mäenpää and Marko Haapamäki on guitar, Pasi Koivumäki behind the drums, Sami Hämäläinen on bass, and Timo Alho on keyboards, this group has been enthralling Europe with their melodic hard rock since 2006. We are working with them to bring three songs from their 2009 release, “Pale Sister of Light”, including the title track, as well as “Until the Night” and “Far Away from Heaven”. Capturing classic riffs and grooves while bringing them firmly into the new millenium, their songs are poised to become favorites with Rock Band players of all ages.

View the video for “Until The Night” below:

You can check out their other two songs we’ll be bringing to RBN below:

• Free Spirit – “Far Away from Heaven” ♫

• Free Spirit – “Pale Sister of Light” ♫

Be sure to visit them at their website, or connect up with them on MySpace, and be sure to look forward to these three songs coming soon to RBN!

ROCKGAMER STUDIOS SIGNS CALIFORNIA POWER TRIO RED9 FOR TWO ROCK BAND NETWORK SONGS

If you’re a fan of melodic yet harder-edged alternative rock, time to listen up! SoCal-based power trio RED9 is coming to the Rock Band Network with a pair of songs sure to please.

The roots of the band took hold in 2005, when the core members Jeff Lyons and Paul Frislie first connected and began performing together. After years of touring, jamming, and auditioning for permanent members, they finally welcomed the drummer Giovanni Fuentes into the fold. 2009 saw the release of their debut EP, “1 of 9″, which featured their single “Real Love”, as well as their first full length, “The Host”, containing the blistering “Last Mistake”.

We’re proud to be working with them to bring both “Real Love” and “Last Mistake” to the Rock Band Network platform later this year. You can connect up with them on Facebook”, Twitter, their website, or listen to their tunes on MySpace.

You can check out the two tunes we’ll be bringing to RBN below:

THE GUFS SIGN WITH ROCKGAMER STUDIOS TO BRING “BEAUTIFUL DISASTER” TO ROCK BAND NETWORK

If you grew up in or around the Milwaukee area, chances are you’ve heard of The Gufs. Right, RockBandAide?

The pop rock band has been building a rabid fan base since 1988, and still features all original members. In that span, they’ve nearly risen to the national spotlight, signed with a major label (Atlantic), produced a hit single with “Smile”, gone indie again, taken a seven-year hiatus, hit the studio again, and released a new album.

Now, a band that formed before the Internet was popular — heck, before the CD was an industry standard — is set to pioneer the Rock Band Network age with its haunting, melodic sounds.

Lead guitarist Morgan Dawley saw a big opportunity to expand The Gufs’ market. In his words, “Making things interactive for our fans is an exciting step into the future for our music, and we are proud to be collaborating with the talented staff at RockGamer Studios on making that future a reality.”

Here at RockGamer we are proud to announce our partnership with The Gufs to author “Beautiful Disaster” from their 2006 album A Different Sea (iTunes).

If you’re a fan of melodic pop-rock to the tune of Coldplay or former tourmates Matchbox Twenty, do yourself a favor and check out their MySpace page to sample their catalogue. You will definitely want to keep an eye out for The Gufs and “Beautiful Disaster”.

BALTIMORE ROCKERS BALLYHOO! TEAM UP WITH ROCKGAMER STUDIOS AND ENTER THE ROCK BAND NETWORK

RockGamer Studios is proud to announce a new partnership with Maryland reggae rockers Ballyhoo! (MySpace) to bring two tracks to the Rock Band Network.

Frontman/guitarist Howi Spangler originally approached us, asking us to help them get their music on Rock Band. We took one listen to their tracks and they reminded us of some favorites like Sublime, 311 and Slightly Stoopid.

Reggae is a genre that, in our opinion, is sorely lacking in Rock Band… there’s only so many times you can play that one Bosstones track before it’s time for something new, you know?

So, needless to say, we said “YES” immediately.

Howi couldn’t be happier to be part of the RBN. “We grew up playing video games and every after show house party we’ve been to on tour has had Rock Band. I think our fans are gonna trip when they find out they can play our songs on their gaming consoles.”

After we got back to Howi, he put us in touch with their manager, Steven Roeser, who helped them take care of all the paperwork. “We are really excited to work with RockGamer Studios to make Ballyhoo!’s music available to the Rock Band gaming world,” says Roeser.

RockGamer Studios is bringing two Ballyhoo! tracks to RBN. The first is “Cali Girl” from their 2006 album Do It For the Money!. The second is “Paper Dolls” from their latest album, Cheers!.

Anyone else excited about finally seeing some reggae make its way to Rock Band?

My name is Miguel from New York, and I fight dragons.

That’s right, the world’s finest (and possibly only) NES-Rock band — I Fight Dragons — is coming soon to Rock Band Network.

Metromix Chicago’s Best New Band of 2009 thrives on the nostalgia of the synthesized beeping and booping so familiar to everyone who ever owned a NES or Game Boy. IFD isn’t your typical chiptunes outfit, though… they are a bona-fide rock band who happen to be as proficient with real instruments as they are with game controllers.

Still, take one look at the band lineup on their MySpace page:

Brian Mazzaferri – Lead Vocals, Guitar, NES
Packy Lundholm – Vocals, Guitar, NES, SNES
Hari Rao – Bass, NES
Chad Van Dahm – Drums, NES
Laura Green – Vocals, NES, SNES, Power Pad, Power Glove
Bill Prokopow – NES, NES Advantage, NES Zapper, Keyboards, Laptop, Vicky the Computer Voice

Power Glove? NES Zapper? Best. Lineup. Ever.

IFD is partnering with RockGamer Studios to bring you a track from their album Cool Is Just a Number.

“No One Likes Superman Anymore” is the tragic tale of how we stop believing in pure, noble, simple heroes, such as The Man of Steel.

“We’re really proud to announce we’ve worked out a deal with RockGamer Studios,” says JJ Italiano, a manager so awesome that he built this NES/SNES cabinet. “They’re providing us with quality content for the Rock Band Network, and administratively have been accommodating and fair.”

Accommodating and fair. I think we have a new slogan.

2 EPs and 3 drummers in, Vancouver rock group Stars Of Boulevard is stronger than ever, with a big year ahead of them.

Walking triumphantly out of the courtroom after winning a legal battle with one of their ex-drummers, the boys look unphased, as if this weren’t their first run-in with the law (we’re sure it wasn’t).

Frontman Joshua Helgason, ex-singer of The Sessions (2006 winners of Emergenza, the world’s largest Battle of the Bands), lights a cigarette as they get into a cab. SOB have now acquired a new drummer in Matty Carolei (Lost Vultures), and after speaking with the 4-piece band at their local hang out spot — Whineo’s on Granville in Vancouver — they seem to mesh musically and emotionally, as if they had been together for years.

SOB just signed on with RockGamer Studios to release several of tracks on the smash hit video game Rock Band, including “Limousine”.

In early November of 2009, they are going into Mushroom Studios to record a single with worldclass production duo Jeff Dawson & Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Metallica).

“We’re excited as hell to work with talented people who know what the end result could possibly be in this business,” says guitarist Ken Abbey, when asked about the Rock Band opportunity, as well as working with Mike Fraser.

SOB is Joshua Helgason (Vocals), Ken Abbey (Guitar), Johnny Kaye (Bass) & Matt Carolei (Drums).

Stay tuned to www.myspace.com/starsofboulevard for SOB’s latest news and updates, including information on their upcoming tour.

A sneak peek for all of you fans of awesome music. Here’s the first preview footage from Amberian Dawn’s “River of Tuoni” and Fake Shark-Real Zombie!’s “Sestri Levante”. Expect both of these to be available later this year when the Rock Band Network launches!

Put up your dukes, boys and girls… Celtic punk group The Fisticuffs is making its way to the Rock Band Network via RockGamer Studios.

If you’re a fan of The Pogues, Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly, you’ll want to check out the Irish-folk inspired group from Chicago.

Their music — according to singer Bobby Baldwin’s blurb on their MySpace page — “is similar to an Irish wake mixed with a soccer riot, containing lyrics about hard work, family, heritage at home and abroad, a great many sins, and life on the South Side of Chicago.”

Utilizing a wide array of instruments including drums, electric guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, violin, harmonica, and washboard, has allowed the band to fuse many different musical stylings into a sound unmistakably their own.

The Fisticuffs’ first contribution to RBN will be their rendition of the classic sea shanty “Liverpool Judies” (or “Row, Bullies, Row”), from their 2008 album Neatly Stumblin’.

“All of us are really excited to be part of RBN, and hope our high energy Irish punk is well received,” said “Fat Tony” Dellorto, drummer for The Fisticuffs.

If you like what you hear, be sure to pick up Neatly Stumblin’ today!

Hello out there, Internet! Chris here. All of us at RockGamer Studios are extremely excited to bring you the following news. We have partnered with long-running and fiercely independent Pennsylvania-based label CI Records, and will be bringing their artists to the Rock Band Network!

CI Records was formed 1989 in Lancaster, PA by Jeremy Weiss, and started mainly as an outlet to release vinyl from his band at the time. Over the past twenty years, they have amassed an impressive catalogue of releases from artists as diverse as August Burns Red, The Juliana Theory, Onelinedrawing, The Pink Spiders, and Sense Field. We are very proud to be helping them represent the label on the Rock Band Network! The first downloadable offerings from CI Records and RockGamer Studios will include two tracks each from three of their current artists from their hometown; Circus Circus, Sadaharu, and Texas In July.

Continue reading RockGamer Studios partners with CI Records, brings three acts to RBN!

We’re very pleased to announce that Californian prog rock band Children of Nova have signed with RockGamer Studios! We will be bringing the title track from their debut album, “The Complexity of Light”, to the Rock Band Network later this year.

Since forming in San Diego in the summer of 2007, Children of Nova have been steadily turning heads and garnering notice in the West Coast rock scene. Having played venues all up and down the coast throughout 2008, they turned their attention to recording their debut album, entitled “The Complexity of Light”, which was released in March of this year and received considerable critical acclaim. Most recently, they took home the honors at the 19th Annual San Diego Music Awards, where they received the award for Best Hard Rock Group!

RockGamer Studios will be authoring the title track from “The Complexity of Light”, a six and a half-minute epic that will blow you away! For fans of Coheed & Cambria, The Mars Volta, or Rush, you’ll definitely want to keep your ears open for this.

You can preview their songs at their last.fm page, purchase the album from iTunes, and make friends with them on MySpace!

Listen to the song in its entirety below:

Look for this track to be available to purchase and play when RBN launches later this fall!