Blood makes noise

How did the band form and what does the band name mean? 

Battlemode: Battlemode is the combination of solo chiptune artists: Astrologic (Astro), Bifflecup (Biff), and Sam Mulligan. As solo artists, we’re three very different iterations of chiptune music. Biff and Astro first experimented with collaborative chiptune in a previous project, Triheart. In 2020, Triheart lost a bandmate and so we rebranded as Battlemode. 

We started as a duo (Astro & Biff). For our second single, Battlemode asked Sam Mulligan to collaborate on a song about friendship. Sam thought it was a cute idea, so we wrote “BFF” together and made a music video recreating, and reimagining scenes from our teenhoods set in 2004. From there Sam started helping out Battlemode with posters and insta videos, tagged along on a couple weekenders to help out, and then they couldn’t get rid of him!

Battlemode is named after a gameplay mode in Mario Kart – dubbed “Battle Mode” – in which players compete, and fight… but in the spirit of fun. In a shallow sense Battlemode connects because it’s from a video game, and we use video game software to write our music. Going a little deeper, Battlemode is a metaphor for how we express music, and navigate the music industry. It’s competitive, laboring, and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately it’s just chiptune, and we’re just trying to have a good time!

First concert that you ever went to? (Locally and National acts)

Biff: When we were kids, there was a radio station in Boston, Oldies 103.3, that my mom would always blast in the car. Every summer, Oldies 103.3 would put on a free summer concert, and host popular bands from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s at the Hatch Shell. My first concert was one of these summer series headlined by The Monkees (before Davy Jones died). Years later, our guitarist, Sam Mulligan, opened up for Mickey Dolenz at North East Comic Con!   

Sam: My first concert that I remember going to was the Rustic Overtones in Portland, Maine. Growing up in Maine, Rustic were the biggest band to come from where I came from, their lead singer has the best voice ever (in my opinion), and they had a horn section and were just the coolest. I never got to go to their shows because most were at 21-plus venues. So when they had an all ages show at the State Theatre it was a big deal. I remember being so psyched to be there! I had started playing guitar right around then and I think that’s what really got me practicing and wanting to get on stage.

Astro: My first big concert was Slipknot’s subliminal verses tour. It had Slipknot, Lamb of God, and a big local metal band Shadows Fall. As an early teen I got into Korn and Slipknot and my teen friends and I were crazy excited for this show. We drove to the Tsongas Arena and I made out with some girl. I got a really cool shirt from the tour that lasted me forever. Slipknot’s drummer even did the pentagram lift spin around in the sky show. It was one of the best days of my youth for sure. 

What’s your writing process like?

Battlemode: Our songwriting process usually starts with chiptune. We use real chiptune instruments (Dirty wave m8 and a gameboy with LSDJ). The “M8” is a newer instrument by Dirtywave, which is a similarly sized (to a Gameboy) handheld music making machine. It was made by another chiptune artist, Trash80, who was inspired by the gameboy music program, Little Sound DJ, and made this device to take it a few steps further with synthesis, samples, and MIDI capabilities.

We’ll bring chiptune ideas to each other that we’ve made on the gameboy, and then build everything on top of that. Once we’ve got the foundation of the songwriting done, then we reassess where the chiptune elements will fit into the song. It’s something we love to hear in the background to really fill out the sound. Gameboy bass is one of the coolest sounds ever.

What other artists or songs inspire your music?

Biff: “Meow” by Anamanaguchi. Anamanaguchi are the unofficial kings of chiptune. I think this song really broke the mold on what chiptune could be. It’s a hyper evolution on standard chiptune from Nintendo, SNES video game tracks, while still holding the soul and color of chiptune. Though the track is almost a decade old, and there have been amazing chiptune songs since, I think this track still represents the peak of chiptune. 

“Easy To Hate” by Waterparks: Awsten Knight from Waterparks is a huge role model for me right now. Waterparks combine color, humor, and listenability into a single package. This was the track that sent me down a Waterparks rabbit hole.

“L’amour Toujours” by Gigi D’agostino: This track from the year 2000, was one of my introductions to electro-pop. I used to wait for it to play on Kiss 108. I had never heard anything like it before. I probably was familiar with Eiffel 65’s “Blue”, and Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” (both also being pretty influential to me); but this track was less cartoony. It toned down the absurdity, and found more human tones through electronic music. 

“Candide Overture” by Leonard Bernstein: My primary instrument is violin. My mom signed me up for orchestra in the 4th grade, and I’ve been playing ever since. I was introduced to this piece in a college orchestra by American 20th century composer, Leonard Bernstein. This piece is in constant movement, leading listeners on a melodic flight. Though Battlemode melodies have to be a little toned down and applicable for electropop, I look to “Candide” and Bernstein on how to make melodies exciting, and colorful.

Sam: I love Atom & His Package and this song, “Nutrition,” was on a 45 record that I bought on a whim just because the album art was really funny. It’s a photo of Atom at a live show but his arms are super small – I think it was cut and pasted from a couple different photos because this was before Photoshop. Anyways, I got it and listened to it as soon as I got home and it wasn’t like anything I’d heard before. Atom & His Package was punk rock but he didn’t have a typical live band. He programmed all of his backing tracks on a Yamaha general MIDI sequencer, I think it was a QY700. And I loved how it sounded. It was the first time I really thought about programming a drum machine or computer to play music with. Unfortunately those Yamaha sequencers were too pricey for me at that time.

Fast forward a few years and I stumbled upon chiptune music, and discovered one of my favorite all time musicians, The J. Arthur Keenes Band, who was using a gameboy to write his backing tracks. This song, “Foe Paw” is one of my faves by him, and it was really cool and inspiring to hear how he incorporated the gameboy. It just sounds so good! Also, gameboys and an LSDJ cart were much easier for me to get than the expensive Yamaha thing.

“Night Shift” by Lucy Dacus is such a cool song, I love the build-up, and it works its way up to a huge payoff that’s so fun to sing along to. I love songs that surprise me, and I think it’s such a cool move to have that killer ending that’s so different from the rest of the song and so powerful and save it until three-and-a-half minutes into the song, and then rock it out for just about as long. I’d love to be able to listen to this song again for the first time, it’s so good.

Astro: “Stan” by Eminem: This song really inspires my music because it’s story telling is top notch. It also is a super creative way to come up with a song and using hip hop with dark tones. The emotion it gives is really striking.

“Stick Pit” by Buckethead is known as a virtuoso code for a reason. Its energy is infectious; the way Bucket masters his instrument while painting a picture with the music and using only instruments without vocals is always something I admire to achieve with my sound. Something not only technically but super playful and fun.

“Dans La Buerre” by Roboctopus is a Gameboy music wiz.The intro the this track gives me chills. The way he uses only a Gameboy to create such emotion is admirable and the specific samples he uses have directly Influenced my style. His entire Gameboy style just feels at home to me. 

What’s the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be its own thing?

Sam: Personally, I like it when the live experience is different than the recorded version. I saw a band that was on tour playing their big album from many years ago, and it sounded almost exactly like the recorded album. It was kind of a letdown because tickets were expensive, and they didn’t really interact with the audience much at all. On the way home after the show I thought, “I guess I could have just listened to the album.” I’ll leave that band anonymous - I don’t want to talk shit! But then I saw another band, Primus, doing the same thing years before; on tour playing a big album from early in their career (Sailing The Seas Of Cheese) in full and it was totally different – they had extended intros, ad libbed parts of it, had guest musicians come out for a couple songs, and played some longer versions of songs. It was a totally different experience and super fun! 

So I’d rather do that, and I don’t think people are going to shows to hear perfect renditions of the recorded songs. With the backbone of our songs being pumped out by the gameboy or M8 synthesizer – essentially little computers -- we could lean towards trying to play perfect versions of our songs, but it’s so much more fun to change it up. Kris is a wizard at manipulating the gameboy and M8 in real time, and that helps each performance be a little different and fresh.

Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been? Best shows? Worst shows?

Biff: We have toured! A couple of our favorite runs have been: September 2022 with Teenage Halloween and September 2023 with Cheem.

he tour with Cheem was particularly inspirational as to what a music venue could look like! This tour motivated us to open up our own DIY venue out of a movie theater, The 4th Wall! Though we’re able to score some shows at mid-size venues in our homebase, Boston, it’s harder to get non Massachusetts/Rhode Island established venues to take a chance on us. When we tour, we rely on DIY venues to host us. 

As for the worst show, this was from a gig we did from when we were Triheart. 

Triheart was a really interesting, fulfilling project, but it needed a ton of editing. We were a rap, chiptune, violin trio – which is a really specific taste. I think some people really liked us because we were different, but others found us to be cringe. One time we were even called a, “Dumpster fire.” I learned a lot from being in Triheart – there were tons of lessons in how to be a band and how to navigate the music industry.

This show in question took place in February 2020 (Covid was a thing, but hadn’t hit the U.S. yet, and people were definitely still out and about). We had absolutely no following. I very naively thought the remedy to this was to get out of Boston more to play shows (NYC, Providence, Hartford). I emailed some of the bigger spaces in Providence for availability, and Alchemy actually responded. Out of the open dates they listed, the most attractive date was Sunday, February 20. I felt so accomplished that I was able to land a weekend date at a mid-sized venue in a distant city. I didn’t want to screw this up!

I knew this show was going to cost me money… and I was having a terrible time filling this bill. Either bands couldn’t do it, or bands weren’t responding to me. I remember spending weeks researching local bands and making inquiries. After weeks, I found some really cool bands with followings: Snowhaus and Wax On. 

I think both these bands are defunct now, but they were pretty cool at the time! I think I offered Snowhaus $300 to $400 and Wax On $200. I don’t think I would spend this much on a guarantee for this level of band nowadays, but I was desperate, green and eager. I put a lot of effort into marketing with the tools available to me. I definitely spent a good amount on Facebook and Instagram ads. I also remember having fliers made and taking a day trip down to Providence to flier. 

As the date approached, I was getting amped! A Providence friend texted me, writing he had seen my flier and was excited I was playing in his city. He apologized to me, wishing he could attend, but was hosting a Super Bowl party. 

This is when my heart sank to my stomach – I had booked my show on the night of the Super Bowl. Excuse the stereotype, but us homosexuals have never been particularly knowledgeable about sports. I didn’t even realize the Super Bowl was in February. Looking back, it did seem suspicious a mid-sized club was offering a weekend date to a band of our caliber. 

Absolutely nobody came to the show. I think the only reason Wax On and Snowhaus even played their sets was because I paid them. I felt bad for the bartender on duty, so I made a point to buy tons of drinks and leave a big tip. All in all, this show probably cost me close to $1,000, all for nothing. Word of wisdom to bands navigating the music industry: Learn when the Super Bowl is, and avoid booking shows that date at all costs.

What’s up next for the band?

We have tons of releases and shows coming up, but our two major event highlights are:

Hack The Planet Day on September 15 – a 35mm screening of “Hackers” (1995) with a guest appearance from original actor, Renoly Santiago, and visual/audio pre-show by Vkash, Wubson, and Battlemode.

And here is a scoop: Boston Bit Down March 6 to 8, 2025 – a three-day chiptune festival with 30 chiptune acts representing different facets within the genre! We haven’t announced it yet, so Blood Makes Noises gets it first!