Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Miracle of Sound
- by Ninja Ross, 29 March 2012*
*(Originally published on the Put It In Your Eye blog) So, around this time last year I heard "Age of the Dragon" on The Escapist and I was blown away. It's an epic rock song about one of my favourite games! And there was more to come and more on Miracle of Sound's Youtube channel! Since then, Miracle of Sound (AKA Gavin Dunne) has become one of my favourite musicians of all time. And today he answered a few of my questions. Because he kicks ass. _Did you honestly have any idea you'd be so popular?
I had no idea the gaming song niche I discovered would be so popular and I am delighted that it was. I believe that if you work long and hard enough for something your chances of it happening are at least drastically increased. Will you be doing any more covers? I think I speak for most of your fans when I say your version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow was awesome. I tend to avoid covers due to copyright issues and the fact that I love writing my own stuff. That cover was a birthday gift for my girlfriend, I wasn't even sure if I was going to post it on the web but I'm glad I did now as people enjoyed it. Will we get to see some of your older songs from Lotus Lullaby on your Miracle of Sound channel? There are painful legalities involved with those songs that I'd rather not get into. But yes, eventually they will be mine to do with what I wish. Where did the names Lotus Lullaby and Miracle of Sound come from, anyway? Long stories... Miracle Of Sound is the name of a Lotus Lullaby song I wrote, which was a simple little song about how awesome music is. Hence 'The Miracle Of Sound' - it just means that music is great in general. I started using it as my username on the Escapist and I became known to people as MOS so I kept it! It's also a reference to Soundwave form Transformers. As for Lotus Lullaby, the Lotus Flower is associated with rebirth and new life. So it was a way of saying 'catharsis and rebirth through song'. Last year must have been incredible for you with the success of songs like Sovengarde song and The New Black Gold. Have you got any plans to outdo yourself this year? I always do my best to keep improving. I feel that some of my best songs have been made in early 2012 and yet there is always room for improvement. Listening to fan feedback is a big thing for me - constructive criticism helps me to perfect the craft. So in short: Yes, I hope to always outdo myself! Since "Legends of the Frost", with Malukah, was so popular do you plan on doing more duets? Yeah, why not? I think Malu and I will be doing a Mass Effect song at some stage. I rarely find people I actually want to work with though - she's kind of one in a million in that she's an amazing singer as well as a skillful producer and arranger. _Your game commentaries
are incredibly interesting; you tackle issues like Woody's rape comment
and how youtube icons treat their fans, as well as talking about video
games. Will we be seeing more of this soon?
I haven't had time for any commentaries lately due to music commitments but yeah, I set up a new gaming channel just for that so I hope to get back into it soon. Just how much do you hate second chance? Haha! I have stopped caring to be honest. I gave up on COD, it has the potential to be amazing but every year they fuck it all up with 2 or 3 game breaking imbalances. What is your preferred gaming platform? Ideally I'd love a beastly PC. But due to my financial situation, for now I am primarily a 360 guy. What albums have you been listening to recently? Nightwish - Imaginaerium, Lamb Of God's new one (which was a bit 'meh' compared to their last 3 or 4), lots of Rammstein and lots of cheesy 80s and 90s pop. You've always been upfront with your lack of musical education. How did you get started in music, was there an inspiration? I knew the second I picked up a guitar at 14 and played my first chord - this was what i wanted to do with my life. It's the only thing I've ever been good at! You've only really hinted at your past (family issues and drugs). Will you be releasing an autobiography at some point in the future? Haha who knows? It would be arrogant at this stage to presume anyone would want to read it. But I will definitely tell a little bit more about my past in the future in some way, some day. Do you intend to release more personal or more political songs in the future? Yes. When I get more time to! Are you often asked if you know Bono? It seems like people think all Irish people know Bono. Yes I do get asked that and no, I don't know him. Thing is, U2 are seen quite casually over here. If you saw them walking down the street it would be like 'oh look there's U2', not 'AAAAAAAARG OH MY GOD ORGASM'. You recently played a live Gig in Ireland. Will you be doing more in the future? A tour, even? No plans for that right now. Don't have the money! Your taste in music is very varied. Is there any genre of music that you refuse to do? I avoid rap because, with a few exceptions, I don't believe it requires very much effort or talent to create. I can generally find things I like in any genre though, even rap (for example I love early Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, Eminem, all that good stuff but if you play me a Soulja Boy or 50 Cent record I'll take it out and snap it in two). What games are you looking forward to most, now that Mass Effect 3 has been released? GTA5 is the big one this year I think. And I will be a very happy man if Fallout 4 is announced soon. Have you ever thought about doing songs for other aspects of Geek Culture? For example, films and comic books. Yep. I'm thinking of doing more stuff like that this year, possibly starting with a Game Of Thrones song. _Miracle of Sound can be found here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound?page=1 https://twitter.com/#!/miracleofsound http://www.facebook.com/MiracleOfSound http://www.youtube.com/user/miracleofsound?ob=0&feature=results_main And you can buy his songs on Bandcamp and also search for him on iTunes. |
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