I’ll let Rosalie explain everything you need to know about this amazing new site!
Hi Rosalie, great to meet you!
Tell us what Crotchets and Chocobos is:
It’s lovely to meet you too! Crotchets and Chocobos is a blog dedicated purely to the music from video games. It features interviews with well-known video-game composers, information on new releases, reviews of game soundtracks, reviews of live video-game music concerts and more.
How did you come up with the idea for the site? Did it just hit you like a blast from Ifrit?
So, I study music and for 3rd year we had a project module. We could do anything we liked as long as it was music related and rather than writing an essay on jazz or something along those lines, I had my heart set on doing a project about video-game music, and thus Crotchet and Chocobos was born.
Although I’ve since handed in all the written work for my project, I’m carrying on with Crotchets and Chocobos. I used the project module as a motivator to do something I’ve always wanted to do, run a site about video-game music so I’ll keep writing about video-game music until I’m old and wrinkly!
Why should people come to Chocobo’s and Crotchets? What kind of people do you hope visit? Other than people who wipe their feet on the way in obviously.
People should visit Crotchets and Chocobos because there isn’t that many blogs or sites purely dedicated to video-game music. There are some really awesome ones but not as much as there should be. And even then, where else could you read cool interviews by well-known game composers?
Where the pre-existing video-game music websites focus on new releases and where to buy the latest game soundtracks, Crotchets and Chocobos is about the music and the composers. You could read from tons of sites when the next Halo OST will be online but only on sites like Crotchets and Chocobos will you read that Grant Kirkhope’s favourite game music is from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or get to watch Austin Wintory play Still Alive from Portal.
I want gamers to visit, obviously but I also really want people that aren’t gamers. I want to change peoples’ misconceptions about video-game music through what I write. I want everyone to know that game music should be as highly regarded as any other form of music. It’s not just bleeps and bloops anymore, it’s beautifully written scores and cute catchy beats and awesome rock anthems.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Are you a musician gamer, a gamer musician, or something else?
Well, I’m actually the last surviving Cetra, which is one of the worlds’ oldest races and I’m traveling with my friends to save the planet. Ahem, in reality I’m a 22 year old gamer who’s near the end of a degree in Music.
I’ve been studying music since I was 5 years old but I’ve been gaming since I was one year old.
You only get to play one game forever. All other games disappear for you. Which game do you choose?
Final Fantasy VII. However, Shenmue comes in at a close second.
So Chocobo’s….. you’re going to talk about Final Fantasy music a lot, right?
Haha. Well, maybe a little bit! I have to admit, whenever I think about the best video-game music I always think of the Final Fantasy series. Not so much with their recent games but from X and older. I just liked the idea of having a name that involved alliteration and tied in music and gaming!
We are having a massive, ongoing debate on CDT about what the best Final Fantasy is. Which do you think? It’s Tactics right? Right? RIGHT? (I think its Tactics)
That’s a topic that gamers will never, EVER stop debating about. Can I be boring? I’m gonna be boring, FFVII for me. People say it’s over-rated but I think it’s just talked of so highly because it’s just that good! The music, the characters, the plot, the battle system, the mini-games, the level design: all amazing.
And what game has the best soundtrack of all time?
Final Fantasy VII. (You already guessed I was gonna say that, right?) I know to some that may sound really, REALLY obvious but I can remember the first moment I heard the music to that game to vividly. I was with my mum at her friend’s house when I was younger and her friend’s partner had a PlayStation. He set it up for me and put in the first disc of FFVII. I remember after the first fight you have as Cloud, I put down the controller and just listened. I was totally hypnotised by how amazing the music was and I still am to this very day.
Who’s your favourite game composer?
You’ve probably guessed from my previous answers but Nobuo Uematsu. Last November, at Distant Worlds, I got to meet him and tell him that he was my favourite composer and that it’s thanks to him I study music and he was so lovely about it. I still can’t believe that actually happened. My signed Distant Worlds program is framed on my wall and I’ll always remember that day as being the best day of my life.
We couldn’t believe the level of talent you have managed to chat with. Austin Wintory! Wow. Any chance you have other big names coming up?
Yes! Austin’s a lovely man to chat too! Well, I do have some other interviews coming up shortly but I don’t want to give TOO much away! All I can say if that if any of you guys are L.A Noire or Jet Force Gemini fans, you’ll be very happy!
Can we recommend some? We love Akira Yamaoka (long shot I know), but I have some kind of weird man-crush on Jasper Byrne too. See what you can do!
I love Akira Yamaoka too! He’s on the list of game composers I’d love to chat to! I recently covered one of his tracks, ‘You’re Not Here’, originally from Silent Hill 3, for the Crotchet and Chocobos VGM EP, ‘Pixel Dreaming’, which is available now on Bancamp at: http://crotchetsandchocobos.bandcamp.com/ All the proceeds from the EP will go towards the charity Childsplay.
Finally, what’s your dream for Crotchets and Chocobo’s? Like, what would make you think, “WE DID IT!”
Aw man, to be honest, a lot of my dreams as someone who writes about video-game music have already came true! I think if you told my younger self what I’ve done so far, she wouldn’t believe you!
I’d love Crotchet and Chocobos to be a household name when it came to video-game music, like IGN or Destructoid is to gaming journalism as a whole.
But I think what would make me really go, ‘Oh wow’ would be to be invited to events like E3 or the Spike VG Awards as a guest, things like that. Or Video Games Live inviting the ‘director of Crotchet and Chocobos’ on stage to perform. As cheesy as this sounds, I already feel like I’ve made it after being given all these amazing opportunities by so many amazing well-known game composers! Video game composers are the coolest people you will ever meet.
Thanks Rosalie, you’re one of the coolest people we’ve ever interviewed!
Go there everyone. Right now! Click here.