GameFace: The Shins
- March 19, 2007 10:57 AM PST
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GamePro is proud to present its newest feature, GameFace, where celebrities, athletes, and entertainers show off the gaming side of their lives.
This, for the record, is not Marty's GameFace.
For our inagural installment, we sat down with Marty Crandall, keyboardist and resident gaming nut of The Shins, to discuss his gaming credentials. Step up the mike, Marty, and show us your GameFace!
GamePro: We heard that you guys were all big gamers, so we thought it would be interesting for our readers to get to know what you guys are like as gamers. So, I guess the first thing that I want to start with is: what do you guys play?
Marty Crandall: Well, [the band's drummer] Jesse and I are definitely the biggest influences on the rest of the band. It's hard once you are in a tour bus and not playing, so everybody usually gets into the spirit, but it is usually Jesse and I that are the instigators. One thing everybody can get along with is Guitar Hero. Everyone has at least played that a few times. [Guitarist] Dave got it for Christmas, so he is a fanatic and he's off and kicking everyone's ass now. It's kind of ridiculous, to the point where it's almost not fun because he's too good! [Laughter]
GP: Do you think the fact that he is a guitarist is helping him out?
MC: I think so. He's just all music-minded like that, and he's really good at playing by ear, even if it is not a guitar. It definitely does have a lot to do with the fact that he has been metal trained in the school of "hook and metal arts" so he can hammer on; he's up and down the neck pretty easily.
GP: So besides Guitar Hero, what else do you guys play?
MC: We met this woman named Molly O'Donald, who I think is some kind of marketing guru for the 360. We met her in New York one night and she gave us Gears of War. Actually, it was like the Gears of War's release party and every person who showed up there got that game free which we didn't expect.
We just got Jesse's Xbox Live account hooked up and we are kind of starting to play the game online, but those kids are just brutal, man. If they don't want you playing with them, they just kick you right off. They turn on you if they don't like you--guys on the same team. It is not easy, man. They're crazy good, and really like to take advantage of the guys who they know are the green kids, the new ones.
Considering he listed Contra as one of his favorite titles, we're guessing Marty has the 'Konami Code' memorized.
GP: So on that topic, did you ever get competitive in between the band members when you play together?
MC: Not too much, no. Guitar Hero, yeah, somewhat, I mean, you'll get Dave giving you the horns or throwing a beer at you or something, but nothing too bad. Halo multiplayerthat actually would be the extent of competition. We would actually get angry at each other during some of those battles.
GP: Is there a lot of trash talk going on?
MC: Yeah, there is trash talk. Actually, Jesse likes to talk trash. On Gears of War online these kids out there they like--they pull it out of you--they want you to talk trash.
GP: What system did you start gaming on?
MC: Well, I guess the first thing I ever played was with an Atari 2600 that my dad brought home which was the coolest thing in the world at the time. I think it was like Space Invaders and Pac-Man and your standards. That machine was probably my first--probably like '79 or '78.
GP: Yeah, somewhere around there.
MC: My first introduction was my dad playing Asteroids and Missile Command. Actually, that was a pretty big one. I went from there and I had the NES and Super NES. I definitely have always been a "Nintendo kid" and so has Jesse. I never actually have been a PC guy. I never had a good computer so I never really had that luxury. I missed out on a few things. I'm definitely not a WarCrafter or anything like that.
Home consoles sort of raised me--the original NES was definitely my favorite. All those early Konami games were so much fun, like Contra.
Add Marty to the growing list of people who are impressed by Gears of War.
