Modal
Kombat is a classical
guitar performance art piece that calls itself “The First Ever
Guitar-Controlled Video Game Battle.” In it, Dave Hindman and Evan
Drummond, two Klassical guitarists have hacked a pair of acoustic guitars to
serve as video game controllers. Over the course of the show, the duo
has music fights in games like Pong, Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat. It had a very
brief run in New York City this weekend as part of the Game Play Theater
Festival at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Just to
be clear, these are not Guitar Hero controllers, but actual guitars that have been modified to
control classic game consoles. A
giant projection screen on the back wall of the theatre shows the games being
played while Hindman and Drummond control them live. The duo use different cords to turn left and right in Mario
Kart; they guide a Pong paddle up and down by raising or
lowering the pitch, and hitting certain notes will trigger special attacks in Mortal
Kombat. All of this is
accompanied by classical guitar music.
Hardware
hackers and gadgeteers will find it all quite interesting, and music fans
should be entertained by this new way to combine music with visual art. Game design nerds should also find the
concept intriguing as well. Audiences who are just looking for an interesting show will no doubt
enjoy the novelty of the project, not to mention the audience participation
section called Team Tetris.
In Team
Tetris, audience
members are invited onstage to play two guitars. One guitar pulls tetris pieces to the left, the other guitar
to the right. A third person is
given a Wiimote to control other functions like rotating, while the rest of the
audience screams out instructions. It’s a chaotic example of teamwork.
Although
Hindman and Drummond have been performing this project for years, the
performance I saw introduced a new piece in which the pair attach Wiimotes to
their guitars to play a first-person shooter hunting game called
“Guitar Hunter Hero.” By aiming
with a standard Wiimote, and hacking the Wii so that certain chords “Fire”
their virtual guns, the two guitarists set about killing things… WITH
MUSIC!
It’s a very unique
experience, and an informal sort of performance – certainly something that
musically-inclined geeks should try to catch. Unfortunately, the current incarnation of Modal Kombat only ran for two performances and you won’t be able
to catch it this time around. However, information about upcoming performances is available at Modal
Kombat’s website. While nothing is
scheduled as of this writing, you can sign up for their mailing list.
The show was part of a
festival of video game-themed theater and performance art which is still
running throughout July. There are
six other shows and all of them have performances in the weeks ahead. For more information on the others
pieces in the Game Play Festival, check out the Brick Theater’s website, and
keep an eye on Player Affinity for reviews of all the projects.