Watching someone play video games can be boring, but watching someone play video games while a live rock band shreds the soundtrack is pure entertainment. Bit Brigade does exactly this. The five-member rock band continuously and meticulously play the soundtrack of classic NES games while their gamer does a live speed run through the game. Consisting of Bryant Williamson and Jace Bartet on guitar, Luke Fields on bass, Mike Albanese on drums, and Noah McCarthy on the NES, Bit Brigade is set to commence their upcoming tour, making stops across the entire United States. Their live performances are exhilarating as the band perfectly times up their music to the gameplay all while the audience holds its breath hoping McCarthy doesn't make a mistake. First releasing their album, Contra in 2007, Bit Brigade has continued to tour and make music. Following their debut album, Bit Brigade released Castle Bandia (2011), MegaBand (2013), Ninja Band (2014), The Legend of Zelda (2014), Metroid (2015), Mega Man II V2 (2016), The Legend of Zelda V2 (2017), Mega Man 3 (2019), Ninja Gaiden (2020), and DuckTales (2022).

Bit Brigade Live in Concert

Forming in Athens, Georgia, in 2004, Bit Brigade was founded when Williamson suggested playing the soundtrack to Contra while McCarthy did a speed run, originally calling themselves Contraband. Ahead of their time, Bit Brigade's idea of creating a show around watching someone else play video games came seven years before the popular streaming site Twitch. Having a master NES player was key to Bit Brigade's idea. Their NES player, McCarthy, stated in an interview with engadget.com, "I've just always been good at video games." McCarthy has always been a video game master, having grown up with his older brother and friends watch him quickly tear through classic NES games. Bit Brigade has performed the soundtrack while playing a number of NES games, including Contra, Mega Man II, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania 3, Castlevania, Zelda, Metroid, Batman, Ducktales, and Mega Man 3. With a niche following, their music has hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify and the live recording of their Mega Man II show at MAGFest X has more than 600,000 views.