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The Advantage

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This article is about the rock band. For their debut album, see The Advantage (album).
The Advantage
OriginSacramento, California
GenresInstrumental rock, nintendocore, video game music
Years active1998–present
MembersRobby Moncrieff
Ben Milner
Carson McWhirter
Spencer Seim
Past membersNick Rogers
Forrest Harding
Cassie Stewart

The Advantage is an American rock band from Sacramento, California that formed in 1998 and specializes in doing covers of music from old NES games. The band is considered to be one of the original pioneers of the Nintendocore genre and widely praised for bringing video game music into the spotlight. Named after the NES joystick controller of the same name, the Advantage offers their own style and blend of video game rock. The band consists of Robby Moncrieff (guitar), Ben Milner (guitar), Carson McWhirter (bass) and Spencer Seim (drums). Former Nevada Union High School students Nick Rogers (guitar & bass) and Forrest Harding (guitar) are the two original members who started the band. Cassie Stewart was occasionally featured on bass as well.

1998-2006

The idea for the Advantage began at a talent show in Nevada City, CA, when drummer Spencer Seim saw a two-person band, consisting of Rogers and Harding, perform video game songs. Seim, who attended high school with Rogers and Harding, asked if he could play drums for them and was accepted. At the time the band was called Generic. Harding eventually had to leave the band due to moving out of state which prompted Seim to combine high-school friends and Generic bandmates Carson McWhirter, Ben Milner and Nick Rogers. The name of the band was eventually changed to The Advantage and upon signing to Kill Rock Stars affiliate 5 Rue Christine Records (5RC) in 2004, the band released their debut self-titled album, The Advantage. During the tour of their debut album the band released, Da Advantage EP, in 2004 through their own label T.A.R. (The Advantage Records) and sold it at shows. Two years later in 2006 after replacing Rogers with guitarist Robby Moncrieff, their second full length record, Elf Titled, was also released on 5RC Records. Again in similar fashion to their first EP, the band released their second EP, Underwear: So Big! EP, through their own Advantage Records label during their 2006 tour and sold it at shows. After the release of Elf Titled, the band toured for a short while before entering a hiatus.

2010-present

In 2010 a compilation album, B-Sides Anthology (AKA: B-Sides), was released by Obstructive Vibrations in digital download format. It contains all of the material from Da Advantage EP and all of the material from the Underwear: So Big! EP (except for track 3, Gradius II - Boss) plus a few extra rare tracks. The band also played a brief tour in 2010 mostly in Japan consisting of only a handful of shows.

The band released a live album in 2013 called Rock Bottom: Live from Bottom of the Hill through their Bandcamp page in digital download format only. which consists of songs from the June 24th, 2006 live performance at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, CA. They also released a compilation album of edited tracks in 2013 from the Self Titled, Elf Titled, and B-Sides albums. Both albums were released by the bands own label, T.A.R.

In 2014 the band released the live album Live from: The Great American Music Hall. It contains tracks from the February 27th, 2004 live performance at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco where they opened with Ester Drang for John Vanderslice and Pedro the Lion at the 2004 Noise Pop Music Festival.

The Advantage have covered songs from these NES games: Air Fortress, Batman, Batman: Return of the Joker, Bubble Bobble, Bionic Commando, Blaster Master, Bomberman II, Castlevania, Castlevania II, Castlevania III, Contra, Double Dragon II, Double Dragon III, DuckTales, Fester's Quest, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy III, Ghosts 'N Goblins, Goonies II, Gradius II, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, The Guardian Legend, Karnov, The Legend of Zelda, Marble Madness, Mega Man II, Mega Man III, Metal Gear, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden II, Solar Jetman, Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, TMNT, TMNT II, Willow, and Wizards & Warriors.

Discography

  • Released as "Generic" or "Jenerik": Gay Nerd (Pre-2003) Self Released
  • Released as "Generic" or "Jenerik": Rad Dude (Pre-2003) Self Released
  • The Advantage (April 6, 2004) 5 Rue Christine Records [1][2]
  • Da Advantage EP - 2004 Tour CD (October, 2004) The Advantage Records (T.A.R.)
  • Elf Titled (January 24, 2006) 5 Rue Christine Records
  • Underwear: So Big! EP - 2006 Tour CD (August 2006) The Advantage Records (T.A.R.)
  • B-Sides Anthology (September 7, 2010) Obstructive Vibrations
  • Rock Bottom: Live from Bottom of the Hill (May 30, 2013) The Advantage Records (T.A.R.)
  • Edits (Oct 31, 2013) The Advantage Records (T.A.R.)
  • Live from: The Great American Music Hall (February 27, 2014) The Advantage Records (T.A.R.)
  1. Official Bandcamp
  2. Official Facebook
  3. Kill Rock Stars Bandcamp
  4. Amazon (B-Sides)
  5. The Advantage discography at MusicBrainz

References

  1. ^ Official Bandcamp. Bandcamp. Retrieved 27 September 2015
  2. ^ Official Facebook. Facebook. Retrieved 27 September 2015
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