July 2009 CE United presents: 20 Questions with Team Killjoy" Get to know the guys inside the Spartan armor as well behind the instruments.
This month I interviewed the guys who won Bryan Simon’s Mythic song contest, the winners all got recon and these guys totally deserve it to I love this song. Before you read this interview I think you need to stop right here and listen to their song and watch the video that goes along with it. Someone’s fiancé worked really hard on this video.
So go ahead click this link to listen to Mythic Madness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sZezMd0gmE&feature=channel_page, I’ll wait………….. If you would like to download Mythic Madness just click this link
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=962313&content=songinfo&songID=7698425
Okay hopefully you actually clicked the song link because it will make this interview even better now that you know what these guys did. So without delay here is the 20 Questions interview with Team Killjoy.
Question 1:
So tell me what is Team Killjoy is it a band, or was it just a name you came up with for the sake of the Bryan Simon song contest. Seems to me the three of you have great music careers ahead of you and making Halo songs might be on the bottom of your list to becoming successful and making lots and lots of money.
Team Killjoy:
Team Killjoy is the name we came up with for the project shortly after Bryan Simon’s contest, we really liked doing music about halo so we figure hey, lets give it a name and make more songs for people to rock out to while playing! Well, We used to all be in a band together known as []broken Iris. We disbanded a while ago and are all still doing music together. I myself work and do music on the side as a hobby some of the others are still shooting for that full blown career in music.
Question 2:
So you say in your mythic madness video you are all in a band together. At the time you made that video were you still in the band Broken Iris with Adam Roth and Steve Avery. Is Broken Iris the only band you guys have been in together, besides Team Killjoy and making this song.
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
Adam and I used to be in a rock band called Turning Point. Steve Avery used to be in a band called Die Trying (My Oxygens Gone song)
Question 3:
How long have you guys known each other and what made you decide to start a band?
Also do you always use Steve Avery’s studio to do your practices?
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
Adam and I have known each other since high school. I have known Steve for about 5 years now as him and the guitarist to broken Iris Danny Cocke took me and the old bassists place when we quit in like ’06. No we used to practice in a practice studio for bands and recorded broken Iris at Fat Cat recording with J Trammel.
Question 4:
How exactly did you find out about this song contest? Were you guys fans of Bryan Simon before you made this video
Team Killjoy:
To be honest we had no clue that there was a Halo song guy out there until we heard from our buddy Colin about the contest from the bungie web site.
My Response:
Ya it’s amazing how much content from the Halo community gets shown on Bungie.net, as well as Halo.Bungie.org. Sadly I didn’t even know about the contest until it was long over, so I didn’t get to vote for your song.
Question 5:
With that being said, I’m sure you have heard about the Bryan Simon prank gone wrong and what happened to Bryan Simon. Would you care to comment?
Team Killjoy:
In the business world certain subjects can be legally very touchy. Someone higher up it sounds like to me had seen this and decided to draw a line. Now we all know how seriously Bungie thinks of account hacking or claiming to be hacked. I think that Bungie and Bryan will have hugs and making up is in order :) I think the people who worked close with Bryan at Bungie still have the love for his enthusiasm and warming music about that amazing game.
My Response:
At first I didn’t know much about Bryan Simon plus I didn’t listen to his songs. But in doing research for my last interview I watched a pod cast with Bryan Simon and they played some of his songs, now I’m a fan, it’s sad what happened to him though hopefully everything works out with both parties and they kiss and make up, and I wish he would bring back his blog and all his videos.
Question 6:
This is one of my favorite questions that I plan on asking everyone I interview. What’s your gaming History and your Halo History, how long have you been playing Halo and what got you into Halo.
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
I’m so glad you asked this! I grew up with Nintendo and old PC games like wing commander, Myst, Under a killing moon, Kings Quests, and of course DOOM! I stumbled upon Halo when the original XBOX first came out. Oh man… I was freakin hooked from day one and it became my all time favorite game. It’s spacey Sci-Fi feel had me unbelievably hooked! Then came reading all the books, buying as much merch as I could get my hands on (including the “my other car is a warthog” license plate cover), and finding my self even daydreaming about going on the journeys that SPARTAN117 would go on. That game helped my best friend through cancer and just flat out brings the kid out in you that seems to get buried in day to day life.
My Response:
Nice gaming background, it’s amazing how much Halo has changed so many peoples lives. In my last interview I posted a direct link to my gaming history if you didn’t catch it here is the link again
http://ceunited.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=77
Question 7:
My question to Adam Roth (singer), I think you have a great voice for a rock singer, who is your favorite singer.
Team Killjoy: (Adam)
William Hung hands down and I’m not making fun of him I really do love that guy. Thank you very much for the compliment by the way, I’m honored.
My Response:
DUDE the She bangs guy from American Idol LOL nice pick, my friends once talked about buying the CD he made. I wonder what he is up to… heading to Wikipedia right now to see if he is still alive. No problem Adam, and the more and more I listen to the songs on the Broken Iris Myspace page to me you guys sound a little like Breaking Benjamin and that’s not a bad thing.
I want to be as respectful as possible but when I went to the official William Hung website I saw this autographed picture you could buy and I could not help but laugh.
Question 8:
Tony would you say you are the leader of the Team Killjoy? Who exactly is the one who takes charge when things don’t go as planned?
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
Well back in Turning Point and broken iris a lot of people worked together to get things through the hard stuff. I’m kinda the man behind the curtain when it comes down to it all. I sing and play guitar and record a little but Steve has excellent skills in recording and programming. I’m the guy who says it should “feel” this way and lyrics and melodies are really important to me. Something as simple as “I hold the only shotgun” can make a world of difference in songwriting. I’d have to say in team killjoy we all put in our vital parts and my vast knowledge of the Halo universe helped push it right along
My Response:
That’s cool, I know how hard it can be trying to do everything for yourself, it’s good to hear the three of you all work together and bring something wonderful to the table.
Question 9:
What are Team Killjoy’s favorite Halo 3 maps?
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
I’d have to say Valhalla, sandbox, and Assembly. As for me personally. I love lockout, cold storage, and construct!
My Response: Lol don’t you mean Blackout it’s okay I still call Last Resort, Zanzibar all the time. As for me Ghost Town all the way, and after playing Bungie vs. World on Bungie Day Sandbox is the best idea since sliced bread.
Question 10:
How did you guys come up with the name Team Killjoy? I think it is a cool name for a band, it kind of sounds like a clan name, but I still think it is a cool name
Team Killjoy:
It’s just such a rewarding feeling to end the camping snipers killing spree with a sticky right to the face! Plus the symbol is awesome and it suits the recon armor I think :)
My Response:
Interesting that has never happened to me, I just get right in their face if I can and kill them with my brute shot. The Halo medals take on a life of their own it seems like. I think it is one reason why Halo is still so successful. Where else do you get medals in a video game for running someone down in a vehicle or beating someone down with the butt of your gun.
Question 11:
What were some of the other names that you guys almost picked instead of Team Killjoy?
Team Killjoy:
Well we tried to do something non multiplayer like Guilty Spark, or something with the word legendary or mythic but Team Killjoy came out because it’s multi player which is team work oriented just like us making the Halo songs.
My Response:
I know how hard it is to come up with names, I think you guys made a good decision on the name, I once spent a 5 hour van ride in a blizzard with friends coming up with a tournament team name for our 4 man Halo 2 team. Needless to say, we sort of picked the right name but then another team had the same name. After that tournament we soon became friends and CE United was born.
Question 12:
If you could change one thing about Halo what would it be?
Team Killjoy:
In the campaign? Nothing at all. Multi Player? Brings in a lot of trash talking riff raff haha! It’s still cool though.
My Response:
Bungie deserves hugs and kisses from us all for putting the 1 button mute feature into Halo 3. As for me if I could change one thing about Halo 3 it would be when you are playing a CTF or Bomb match. When the bomb is on the ground next to a lot of dropped weapons I wish you could set it so you only pick up the objective and not a random weapon. I have won and lost so many games because of that happening to me.
Question 13:
If possible could you guys send me some pictures of your gear, (guitar, drum set, amps)? I’m curious to see what brands of instruments you use. Because my brother and cousin used to be big into playing guitars, they never did get a band going though.
Team Killjoy:
Yeah no problem I will email them to you as soon as I can!
My Response: Tony has been a little busy, so as soon as he sends me the pictures I will update this post with the pictures.
Question 14:
How long did it take you guys to go from a song idea to a complete video submission to Bryan Simon, Were there other song ideas for this contest or was this the only one.
Team Killjoy:
Just the one idea and it took us a total of about eight hours. Plus my fiancé who plays Halo just as much as me made the awesome vid for it and that took her about two or three hours.
My Response:
This can’t be said enough all of you guys do good work, keep it.
Question 15:
If I remember correctly another prize for winning the song contest, you guys would be featured in a Bungie interview. If Brian Simon still had his blog up I could find the quote where it said that. Have you heard anything from Bungie yet, if so when will we see Team Killjoy featured on Bungie.net?
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
I haven’t heard from them and there was no feature on B.NET so hmmmm. That would be really awesome though. I just want to know if at least some employees rocked the song in there studio!
My Response:
That would be cool to know if the people who made our favorite game listened to your song while they were working. Maybe if they see this interview they may think about interviewing you guys soon. It took me over a year of posting random blogs on CE United here until finally our last interview was our very first Bungie blog post. YAY
Question 16:
Since you guys are in real life bands, do you ever think you will play Mythic Madness during one of your shows? I’m sure some of your fans may play Halo and would love to hear this song live.
Team Killjoy:
Well since we don’t play shows any more we would need to be motivated enough to practice it to perform for Halo fans. That would be awesome! Maybe we could do a mythic madness drive with CD sales or something for the funds of getting the gear there and practicing to put on a good show.
My Response:
That would be cool, hopefully one day you guys will play some Halo rock songs live.
Question 17:
I have to ask will you guys ever make an extended version of Mythic Madness. At the end it seems to fade away, leaving you wonder where the rest of the song is.
Team Killjoy:
We might just leave it as it is and move on making more Halo oriented songs for you guys! There is so much to sing about in Halo. We are really excited about our next one.
My Response:
I can not wait to hear to next song you guys come up with, I sure it will be another great song to blast while playing Halo.
Question 18:
It says on your YouTube page your fiancé made the Mythic Madness video, she does good work. Have you ever thought about making more videos like this? Have you guys talked about the idea of making anymore Halo songs you could be the rock version of Bryan Simon if you wanted to be.
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
We will definitely make more Halo songs! They are being worked on right now. Rachel loves making videos and will always be making them for any reason she can find. She loves to paint as well she’s a real artist.
My Response:
Well I guess that answers Question 19 for me.
Question 19:
Will we ever see anymore Halo songs from Team Killjoy? I know the fans of Team Killjoy would love to see more Halo songs from you guys.
Team Killjoy: (Tony)
We will see you all soon with our new songs. The next one will be called “Jenkins Was A Farmer.” It will be an eerie one… I might do a little singing on it myself. Yes there will be more to come.
My Response:
There you have it Team Killjoy fans, the next song will be titled “Jenkins Was A Farmer”
Question 20:
Is there anywhere else your fans can go to find out what Team Killjoy is up to besides the Team Killjoy Myspace and YouTube page, and your individual Mypaces pages.
Team Killjoy:
At this point that’s all there is. If we could raise some funds maybe we could go on iTunes or make an official web site. I was thinking of getting the community involved in ways like what should be sang about in Halo that you think wasn’t as big a subject as it should have been. It would be cool to have a subject that others really like about Halo highlighted in this fashion.
Thank you so much for this interview, it was an honor and fun to be discussing Halo in this depth.
Tony Verdi
Team Killjoy
Well there you have it the 20 Questions interview with Team Killjoy. After seeing what Tony said to question 20, I knew I could use my resources I have here at CE United to promote their music even more then a plain YouTube or a Myspace dedicated to Team Killjoy. So I took it upon myself to pursue this opportunity a little more, and well me and Tony have been talking over e-mail for a little bit and I offered them a page on our site as well a section on our forum.
So now CE United will be the dedicated spot for Team Killjoy news, as well as interact with Team Killjoy themselves. Also fans of Team Killjoy can now have a home to interact with each other and talk about all things Team Killjoy on the dedicated spot on our forum.
So in the future just head to this link http://teamkilljoy.ceunited.com/ to find out any new news from Team Killjoy, also their news will be posted on our main page as well. So you can just visit our main page as well.
But for right now don’t forget to check out the Mythic Madness song on Tony’s YouTube page. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sZezMd0gmE
Tell as many people about this song, I think every Halo fan should hear this awesome song, I want to shoot for a MILLION views.
If you would like to hear more songs that are not Halo related head on over to Tony’s profile page on YouTube he has some great Myspace links on the left hand side, I recommend www.myspace.com/brokeniris. Steve and Adam also have their own personal Myspace pages filled with cool music.
I plan on uploading these links to the CE United Team Killjoy page. So I guess you could just go their as well and just click the links if you want.
That is all for now I would like to thank Team Killjoy for making a wonderful Halo song, as well as Tony Verdi for taking all this time to answer my questions and for agreeing to let CE United host their new songs in the future. Remember click here http://teamkilljoy.ceunited.com/ for all your Team Killjoy needs as well as our forum to interact with other fans. http://forum.ceunited.com/index.php
If you would like to comment on this interview head on over to our new redesigned forum, it's so pretty.
You can also check out our new page on our site called "Bungie Pro Video Clips" we upload clips daily from Bungie Pro Video. check it out at http://bpvc.ceunited.com/
See you next month for another 20 Questions interview with DeepCee from the ODS Steve Halo comic strip.
Long live CE United.
-Willy-