Oct

6

And now for something completely different…The art of the late night Rock Band session

Filed Under Uncategorized 

I live a pretty awesome life. In general, I work a ton (but love what I do), have amazing family and friends, and live right where I want to. All in all, not a bad gig by any stretch. One of my guilty pleasures is rocking out with friends on Rock Band. Especially if we’re doing it after a night of bar hopping. It’s hard to explain the amount of fun had by 4+ people when you’re shouting at the TV and trying to press a series of buttons in rhythm.

“Late night Rock Band/Guitar Hero” as it is generally called, does not happen by itself however. It takes a series of elements coming together to form the atmosphere necessary for a rock session. You might think you have a crew together and you’re leaving the bar to go rock when suddenly they start dropping like flies. You might be sure that you’ve got the makings of the greatest rendition of “Wanted Dead or Alive” when suddenly interest begins fading and like dominos everyone falls.

My roomate and I own both Rock Band and Guitar hero, and have for about a year now. As such, I believe that I am uniquely qualified to share my thoughts on how to instigate a great late night rock session. These are just my thoughts, so feel free to agree/disagree and share your own viewpoints. Who knows if we get good responses on this, maybe I’ll do a series of random “how-to”s.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Rock Band or Guitar Hero Game - I personally recommend Rock Band because four people can play at once and there are more songs available for download on the PS3. Also, everyone can play to their strengths as opposed to Guitar Hero where only two people can play guitar. This is a preference call however.
  • 1 TV - The bigger the better
  • 1 PS3/Wii/Xbox - Required to play the game on. Any of the above will do, as you certainly don’t want to be buying a system just to late night rock. If you want advice on which system to buy, do a google search. I can’t tell you people everything!
  • 1 Set of large speakers (subwoofer highly recommended) - Let’s be honest here, the whole idea is to ROCK. Those wimpy speakers that are part of the TV just aren’t going to cut it. At the house we’ve got a 5.1 setup and we’ve solved plenty a poor song or session with “Uhh, it just needed to be louder…”
  • 2 - 4 Willing and engaged participants - Without the crew this whole thing is impossible, so this just might be the most critical ingredient. I thought about giving advice here on exactly who you want to join you for the session…but the fact of the matter is that skills don’t matter - you want people who are gonna be fun, won’t wimp out early, and aren’t afraid to make an idiot of themselves. One word of caution here: that girl who doesn’t really want to join you, but is tagging along because of some boy or lives nearby…get rid of her! She’s (or He’s) like a cancer that will only infect other players and drag everyone else down! She’ll get tired early, whine, and eventually kill the buzz. Seriously, get rid of her!
  • 1-2 Rounds of Red Bull related alcoholic drinks - These are for drinking at the bar
  • 1-2 Rounds of beers or other drinks - These are for drinking at your Rock Session

Instructions:

  1. Meet up with your friends at dinner, a bar, or wherever your favorite hot spot is. Enjoy one another’s company, laugh, drink, and repeat. Regardless of a good rock session you might as well enjoy the night. Get this one right or everything else will be thrown off!
  2. As the night goes on, keep an eye out for who might make up your 2 - 4 Willing and engaged participants. You want to scout the crew early and be prepared to prep them as the night goes on.
  3. Plant the seed. Throw the idea of a late night rock session out there and see how your potential participants react. Actually this can be very helpful in screening your participants so this might arguably come before the previous step.
  4. Drum up support and interest. Once people are talking about the idea, this is your chance to generate some buzz. You don’t want to seem pushy, but want to get a few people excited who will help you spread the gospel as the night goes on.
  5. Step up to the bar and order those Red Bull related alcoholic drinks. I can’t stress this one enough! If you want to have a really great session, you’ve got to man up and buy the fuel. I’ve seen one too many sessions go downhill early simply because the participants weren’t adequately energized. Combining Red Bull with alcohol has additional benefits as well. Alcohol helps lower individual inhibitions, meaning the chances of you finding that participant who is willing to step up and sing go up with each drink (to a point). Note: Neither I, nor Event Seek condones abusing alcohol. Drink up and have fun, but seriously don’t be an idiot.
  6. Just before you’re getting ready to leave the bar/restaurant remind everyone about their excitement to play Rock Band/Guitar Hero. This only serves to drive one last push to bring people to rock out. Whether you are going to your house or someone else’s, you don’t want to fumble the ball on the 10 yard line. One final push to put the ball in the end-zone.
  7. Insert Game, turn on TV and Speakers, and enjoy!
  8. Serve drinks to anyone who asks and don’t forget to be a gracious host. Remember you are laying the foundation for future late night rock sessions. Just like in life you don’t want to burn bridges, when it comes to late night rock sessions you want everyone to have a great time as well. Each satisfied participant only means it will be that much easier next time.

Thats it! Hope you have a few great rock sessions in your time. We should all be so lucky…
 

Posted by: Connor Fee

Comments

Leave a Reply