Hip Hop, Nerds, and Twisted Humor Combine On A New CD By Sudden Death

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 7, 2008 -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


In 2007, Sudden Death dominated The Dr. Demento Show with their unique blend of hip hop and comedy. Now, in 2008, those hit songs are available on their new CD entitled "Fatal Error."

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Hip Hop, Nerds, and Twisted Humor Combine On A New CD By Sudden Death

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http://www.suddendeath.org

"Fatal Error" features 16 tracks of funny hip hop songs (both originals and parodies), two bonus tracks, a video interview with Sudden Death members Tom Rockwell and Thom Uliasz, and a fully playable video game. The song topics range from nerdy subjects like computers, video games, and cell phones to twisted topics such as STDs and a man who is "hung like a horsefly."

"I'm a nerd. I always have been," says Sudden Death front man Tom "Devo Spice" Rockwell, who has been invited to perform at Nerdapalooza this July in Orlando, "so that shows through in my music. I perform at science fiction conventions a lot, and I've done songs about Star Trek, Doctor Who, and other nerdy subjects. This time around, I hit video games and technology pretty hard. And I have a pretty sick sense of humor, so you get that, too."

Many of the songs on "Fatal Error" were released throughout 2007 on The Funny Music Project, also known as The FuMP. The FuMP releases two free songs per week under a Creative Commons license by various comedy acts. Sudden Death is a Core member, or regular contributor, to The FuMP and helped drive much of its success.

As songs were posted to The FuMP, they caught the attention of legendary radio personality Dr. Demento, whose weekly syndicated program of comedy music is what launched "Weird Al" Yankovic's career. Sudden Death was by far the most requested artist on The Dr. Demento Show in 2007. Four songs repeatedly made the weekly Funny Five countdown of the most requested songs of the week. A fifth song by another artist featuring Sudden Death front man Tom Rockwell also made the countdown. By the end of the year, the final countdown of the most requested songs of the year featured Sudden Death in four of the top five positions, including the number 1 and 2 slots.

Sudden Death's most downloaded song from The FuMP is "Pac-Man," a parody of "Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem. The song struck a chord with classic gamers who are frustrated with modern games that often feature beautiful graphics but boring or frustrating gameplay. In the song, Rockwell jokes about the various Pac-Man sequels and spin-offs that were produced - Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man - jumping to the conclusion that Grandma and Grandpa Pac-Man must be next.

"The idea of a Grandpa Pac-Man game is one of those silly things that I thought I could have fun with, so I made it," says Rockwell. The end result is a fully playable Pac-Man parody video game which is included on the CD. The game is called "GrandpaC," and instead of the lead character opening and closing his mouth in the classic Pac-Man fashion, GrandpaC keeps his mouth open while his dentures open and close to eat the wafers. The four ghosts are present, but exhibit signs of aging, such as canes and wheelchairs. In addition to power pellets, the game features a coffee mug (which makes GrandpaC move faster) and an ED pill (which makes him move extremely fast).

Besides the Akon parody, "Fatal Error" features parodies of songs by Busta Rhymes, Soulja Boy, Run-DMC, and Newcleus's classic breakdancing song "Jam On It."

"The 'Jam On It' parody was a real challenge," says Rockwell. "That song is 114 lines long and clocks in at over eight minutes. That was a lot of work. It was fun, but it was a lot of work."

The song is titled "I'm On It (Wikipedia)" and pokes fun at the early days of Wikipedia when entries were often vandalized or just comically inaccurate. These days, Wikipedia appears to be very selective about the topics they allow on the site. Articles about web comics seem to consistently be deleted. For this song, Rockwell enlisted the help of FuMP founder Rob Balder. As an author of two web comics, PartiallyClips and Erfworld, the latter of which was named one of the top graphic novels of 2007 by Time magazine, Balder was eager to participate in the song.

"Fatal Error" also features most of the other artists from the FuMP making guest appearances on various songs. Tim "Shoebox" Crist of Worm Quartet lends his vocal skills to "Pac-Man" and the Run-DMC parody "My Atari." The great Luke Ski, who is Dr. Demento's most requested artist of the 21st century, lends his impressionistic talents to "World Robot Domination," doing an impression of Futurama's robot, Bender. Carrie Dahlby took Mariah Carey's part for the Busta Rhymes parody "Give It To Everybody." The Gothsicles perform on an original song about the classic video game Duck Hunt called "Why Can't I Shoot The Dog?" and Possible Oscar performs on a semi-serious rant about the state of the music industry in a song called "Take Back The Music."

"I am very opposed to DRM," says Rockwell, referring to digital rights management that many record labels have put on their CDs and digital downloads. "If people want to share my music, I say let them." The Recording Industry Association of America disagrees and has filed thousands of lawsuits against individuals, from children to senior citizens, for sharing music online. This is the main point in "Take Back The Music," and Rockwell has put his music where his mouth is. Not only does this CD not contain any DRM, but it has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial-Share Alike license. This license gives the user explicit permission to share, remix, and adapt any songs on "Fatal Error" for any not-for-profit use without fear of reprisal.

"I figure I may lose a 99 cent download here and there, but everyone who shares my music with one person just made me one more potential fan, and I am nothing without my fans," says Rockwell.

"Fatal Error" is available now from FIDIM Interactive's web site www.fidim.com, as well as Sudden Death's web site www.suddendeath.org, and The FuMP's web site www.thefump.com. The album will also appear on Amazon.com and iTunes in the coming weeks. Radio edits and review copies are available from FIDIM Interactive by contacting Tom Rockwell by email at tom@fidim.com or by phone at 201-317-2732.

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More information can be found online at http://www.suddendeath.org

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