A little about the album:

On this album I indulged in three styles of music that have a special place in my heart. Some of them may seem a bit silly but I still love them. These styles I speak of are Japanese Anime Pop, American Indie Rock and Video Game Music.

For a good portion of my teenage years I was a big fan of Japanese Animation ( "Anime" for short). Back then I would spent all my money on Anime videos and comics, stay up all night watching videos and playing video games. One year I spent a whole summer night and day making a Anime fanzine with some of my friends. Keep in mind this was when Anime was still a pretty exotic thing here in the United States. So it was a very exciting time for me, full of overly optimistic teenage ambition. During this period I acquired a taste for the opening and ending themes from the Anime shows we'd watch, and I began a small collection of Anime music that I have today and still listen to occasionally. This music is very nostalgic for me and I've always wanted to make something like it.

A tid bit of trivia: The song "glass staircase" is based on a scene from a Anime OAV series called "Video Girl Ai".

Along with Anime music I drew from American Indie Rock, which isn't that strange. But the video game music is perhaps a little odd. In my opinion some of the most impressive modern instrumental compositions can be found in video games. I'll particularly site examples from games during the late 1980's and early 90's: Super Mario Brothers, Castleveinia, Double Dragon, Gauntlet. Songs from those games had memorable melody's, atmosphere and could be listened to for hours on end. The first time I really found myself moved by a video game's music was while playing Final Fantasy 3 (it was called FF6 in Japan) on Super Nintendo. Since then I've been a fan of this music, so I wanted to draw from that too. I threw it in the pot and stirred it a little.

One of the new resources I acquired while working on this album was a sequencing program, which gave me the ability to basically score the musical notation on my computer. And it would play the music for me. On most of the tracks I used the sequencer for drums, or some of the basic sounds, and mixed them with real recorded instruments that I would play. And there you have it, "Video Game Birthday Party".

In retrospect there's more I'd like to do in these genre's. Perhaps I will learn Japanese and make real Anime Pop songs. Hahaha ... I'm serious.

The Live Show, Video Game Birthday Party KARAOKE!!!:

Following some of the album's themes I decided to perform these songs in Karaoke Style. I would bring my P. A. to shows and dress the speakers up as funny anime monsters with fuzzy tummies, and call them my "Sound Monster Band". Through them I played edited versions of the songs from V.G.B.P., minus the vocals, and I would sing along. Here's some footage that someone shot of one of the few shows.
rickolus 10/27 @ art show sea walk hotel



Album Credits:
Songs written and recorded by Richard J. Colado

All instruments played by rickoLus

This album was recorded during from Fall 2006 to Spring 2007 at The Green Shed studio in my backyard in Jacksonville Beach, FL. Some of it was also recorded in my room and my pantry.

Special Thanks to:
Ben for helping me learn how to sequence drums and stuff, Jeremiah for naming the album, Chris and Mark from Julius Airwave for keeping your gear at my place, Bryan Blades for letting me borrow those wicked mic's and pre, my family and friends, Lillith for having a little red bike, Otaku Summer 1996, Nintendo and Pocky. Arigato.