Ninja Sex Party
Ninja Sex Party | |
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![]() Ninja Sex Party on the set of their music video "Next to You" in 2012, as Ninja Brian (left) and Danny Sexbang. | |
Background information | |
Origin | New York City, New York |
Genres | |
Years active | 2009–present |
Members | Dan Avidan Brian Wecht |
Website | http://www.ninjasexparty.com |
Ninja Sex Party (often shortened to NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht, created in 2009 in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two thirds of the video game-based parody musical trio Starbomb together with frequent collaborator Arin Hanson, and as a part of the YouTube Let's Play webseries Game Grumps, also with Hanson.[1]
The work of Ninja Sex Party typically consists of synthpop or rock-oriented humorous songs, frequently on the topics of sex, seduction, love, or fantasy, with Avidan and Wecht portraying the characters of Danny Sexbang, an idiotic, exuberant, and strangely-dressed hypersexual Jew, and Ninja Brian, an uncommunicative, homicidal ninja; however, their 2016 cover album, Under the Covers, saw them take on serious music for the first time, covering 12 songs originally released during the 1970s and 1980s. To date, NSP has released four studio albums, in addition to two albums as a part of Starbomb, while also releasing original, non-musical material on their YouTube channel.
Career
2009–2012: Formation and early career
Avidan, who previously sang in the bands The Northern Hues and Skyhill, initially conceptualized the band.[2] In need of a producer, Avidan was introduced to Wecht, who was musical director of a comedy troupe in New York,[3] by mutual friends at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.[4] The band was formed in early 2009 with Avidan going by his stage-name/character "Danny Sexbang" & Wecht by "Ninja Brian". Inspired by The Lonely Island and Flight of the Conchords, Ninja Sex Party is about "a Jewish superhero who wears a unitard, with his best friend who's a ninja, and together they sing songs about dicks, and try to hit [unsuccessfully] on women."[4]
They began performing together that summer, appearing in various film festivals, including SXSW, Dragon Con, and the LACS.[5][6][7] They have been awarded "Best Comedy Video" by Industry Power Play, as well as the "Trophy of Awesomeness" on Vimeo's video website.[8][9] They won "Best Comedy Video Short" and "Best Comedy Song" in Improvisation News' 2010 INNY Awards.[10] Their video "Sex Training" also appeared on the Comedy page of The Huffington Post.[11]
In 2011, they released their first album, NSFW, on iTunes. It includes many of their songs featured on YouTube.
2013–2014: Strawberries and Cream, Game Grumps, and Starbomb
The band released their second album, Strawberries and Cream, in April 2013. On the week of May 4, 2013, the album debuted at #9 on Billboard's Comedy Albums charts.[12]
In July the band released the single "Party of Three", off their third album. The song featured an appearance by animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson.
In late June, Jon Jafari left his position as co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps,[13] and was replaced with Avidan by Hanson.[14] Avidan would also join Ross O'Donovan as co-host of the Game Grumps spin-off show Steam Train, where both play PC games.[13]
In September 2013, the band composed "Dick Figures: The Movie: The Song" for Mondo Media's Dick Figures: The Movie soundtrack.[15]
In late 2013, Avidan, Wecht, and Hanson teamed up to create a side project band named Starbomb, with Avidan as the lead singer-songwriter.[16] The band writes parody songs about video games, bringing together the sexually provocative music stylings of Ninja Sex Party and the video game-based humor of Hanson.
On the week of February 15, 2014, Starbomb, the group's eponymous album, would hold the #1 spot in Comedy Albums for 4 consecutive weeks.[17] Starbomb also reached #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers charts for 2 consecutive weeks, starting with the week of January 4, 2014.[18] In July, 2014, Ninja Sex Party performed a concert for San Diego Comic-Con International at Nerd HQ, Petco Park. They also released the music video for "Why I Cry" during the concert.[19][20]
2015–present: Attitude City, Under the Covers, and collaborations
In 2015, two singles were released by the band Tupper Ware Remix Party, collaborating with Ninja Sex Party, titled "The Hit" and "Baby, NYC".[21][22]
Their third album, Attitude City, released on July 17, 2015. It was one of the top 20 best-selling albums on Amazon.com, and peaked at #1 on Billboard's US Comedy Albums chart.[23]
An album of cover songs, Under the Covers, was released on March 4, 2016. The album features guests appearances by Tupper Ware Remix Party and Super Guitar Bros.[24]
On August 3, 2015, Ninja Sex Party performed with Steel Panther at their House of Blues venue, singing "Party All Day."[25] The bands have collaborated on multiple occasions, with Steel Panther making a cameo in the band's "Road Trip" music video, and providing vocals for "6969."[26][27]
On October 7, 2015, Avidan released the one-track album Firefly with Peter Lennox.[28] The two had previously worked together as the atmospheric band Skyhill from 2006 to 2007.[29] The album was acclaimed for the band's "maturing in both lyrics and sound" over their previous album.[30]
On February 23, 2016, a music video was released for their cover of "Take On Me"; the video for their cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was released one week later, on March 1, 2016. On March 4, 2016, Under the Covers was released to the public. The album debuted on the Billboard charts at #9 in Top Album Sales, #2 in Independent Albums, #3 in Rock Albums, and #17 in the Top 200 Albums.[31][32][33][34]
Members
- Band members
- Dan Avidan – lead and backing vocals
- Brian Wecht – keyboards, guitars, bass guitar, backing vocals
- Session/touring members
- Arin Hanson – spoken vocals (2011–present)
- Tupper Ware Remix Party – backup band (2015–present)
Discography
- NSFW (2011)
- Strawberries and Cream (2013)
- Attitude City (2015)
- Under the Covers (2016)
References
- ^ Milne, Gregory (2013-11-07). "Ninja Sex Party: Tales of Strawberries and Cream". Living Myth Media. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help). Archived from the original - ^ Milne, Gregory (July 11, 2013). "Ninja Sex Party: Tales of Strawberries and Cream". Living Myth Magazine. Living Myth Magazine. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ Augustborn, Nicolas (9 January 2013). "Ninja Sex Party Interview". YouTube. Nicolas Augustborn.
- ^ a b Nelsen, Lydia (24 May 2013). "Ninja Sex Party Interview on Lydia Wants to Know". YouTube. Third String Kicker. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ "SXSW Lineup: Friday, March 11". Sched.org. Sched. March 11, 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ "Music Videos". Dragon Con. September 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ Garcia, Conrad (April 19, 2011). "Live Review: 3rd Annual L.A. Comedy Shorts Festival". DisarrayMagazine.com. Disarray Magazine. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ Industry Power Play (December 11, 2009). "Industry Power Play on Twitter". Twitter. Industry Power Play. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
Congrats to last night's winners: Ninja Sex Party, Junk Science, Scott Beowulf, Doble Filo and Meeting of Important People!
- ^ Bright, Dennie (December 14, 2009). "The Trophy of Awesomeness". Vimeo. Vimeo, Inc. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ "2010 INNY Award Winners". Improvisation News. ImprovisationNews.com. November 3, 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ Hartsell, Carol (27 January 2011). "'Sex Training' with Ninja Sex Party". Huffington Post.
- ^ Comedy Charts, Billboard. "Billboard Comedy Charts". Billboard.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ a b Amini, Tina (2013-06-26). "Fans Are Upset Over YouTube Duo 'Game Grumps' Break-Up". Kotaku. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Is JonTron and Egoraptor's Breakup The End of 'Game Grumps'? Fans Sound Off on Social Media - New Media Rockstars". NewMediaRockstars. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
- ^ "Dick Figures: The Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes. Apple. September 24, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ Herrera, Kayla (2016-03-07). "You Need To Watch This Catchy And Adult-Rated Music Video About Legend Of Zelda". CINEMABLEND. Gateway Media. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
- ^ Charts, Billboard. "Billboard Comedy Charts". Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ Heatseeker Charts, Billboard. "Billboard Heatseeker Chart". Billboard.com. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- ^ "Maker Studios to Make an Appearance at Comic-Con 2014". VideoInk.
- ^ Maker Studios. "Ninja Sex Party Live at NerdHQ". Polaris.
- ^ TWRP (January 23, 2015). "The Hit (feat Ninja Sex Party)". Bandcamp. TWRP. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ TWRP (September 12, 2015). "Baby, NYC (feat Ninja Sex Party)". Bandcamp. TWRP. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ "Comedy Albums". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ Looney, Dylan (March 31, 2016). "NINJA SEX PARTY RELEASES COVER ALBUM". easttennessean.com. The East Tennessean. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ Elliot, Gordon (4 August 2015). "Steel Panther: House of Blues Webcast". YouTube. Gordon Elliott. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ "Road Trip - NSP". YouTube. Ninja Sex Party. 22 April 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ Ninja Sex Party (July 20, 2015). "Ninja Sex Party · AMA Highlights". AMA Highlights. Reddit. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ Skyhill (October 7, 2015). "Firefly". CDBaby. Skyhill. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
- ^ "Biography". Skyhill. Squarespace. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
- ^ Tishma, Riley (November 18, 2015). "Skyhill "Firefly" Review". E-Torch!. WordPress. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
- ^ Top 200 Albums, Billboard, 2016-03-26, retrieved 2016-04-26
- ^ "Independent Albums". Billboard. 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- ^ "Rock Albums". Billboard. 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- ^ "Top Album Sales". Billboard. 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2016-04-26.