One creator, who calls himself GPK, is a drum and bass producer from Pennsylvania who cut his teeth as a producer in the Pittsburgh area and then moved to the State College area to finish a degree in mathematics. He’s had several releases on vinyl (Core, Reapa, Signal) from 2005 to 2008. And in 2011, he started his own record label Mechanical Advantage, a label that focuses on finding unpublished/ undiscovered talent.
Now he’s created a new full length album called Night Science that contains over 18 tracks, designed to take listeners on a journey through a post-apocalyptic landscape with a man an his robot in search of new music. In addition to the music, listeners who check it out on Youtube can watch the story unfold via an animated comic.
Check it out.
What inspired you to do this?
As a child, I had an Empire Strikes back book with an audio cassette that read the story to you and told you to turn the page via a laser cannon sound. While creating the album I wanted to standout as much as possible. Creating a DJ style mix has been done a million times. I never felt that individual tracks were a great way to present electronic music. So, taking the idea of the Empire Strikes book I figured it would the most entertaining option to combine a comic with the music that I was creating.
What kind of experience you have with comics prior to this project?
I was a child of the 90s. I spent A LOT of time in Pittsburgh’s finest comic shops staring a Jim Lee/ Rob Liefeld characters with too many pockets. One of my most memorable stories was Batman vs. Predator. The surprise ending has always stuck out to me. I loved to read Marvel What If…? That cover art for What if… The Fantastic Four Received Different Powers? was great! I think Reed Richards just got turned into a flying brain. I really feel out of comics a year or two after the death of superman. I have a renewed interest in comics. I recently picked all the issues of Sleepwalker. From that I learned about the League of Losers. Which has a similar premise to the comic that I story boarded. What if the music that I created, that would normally be forgotten, was some of the only music to survive?
How long did this album and comic take to create? And who helped you?
The music took a span of 4 years. I deleted A LOT of songs. Nearly 40 songs were created in the process. The entire album was learning task in audio production. I was also completing a mathematics degree in a very aggressive math program. Meaning that I was only able to work on music during the weekends or holidays.
Chris Miranda, took my crude storyboard drawings and turn them into something amazing in around 6 months. I could not have asked for better results. He kept in every idea and expanded on them. My favorite thing was all the different font styles that he was capable of.
Nate Kling, received the scans and the all the page flip, candle, monster animations took about a month. Mike McPuff, did the cover art in about a week. I sent him a picture of my very first electronic music studio and he worked his magic.
Tell me about the story. Who will it appeal to?
The story is about a man and his robot companion looking for new music. The Night Science album is discovered along the way as one of the few pieces of music to survive. If there is a sequel, I don’t want to give too much away about the landscape or why the environment is the way it is. I think the story should appeal to any teenage/adult comic fan of nearly any genre.
What do you hope to see happen with this project?
Any validation from the comic or music community would be great. A project like this isn’t necessarily the path to great success. Niche genre of music and a comic with characters no one has heard can be a difficult sale. I have received some great feedback from visual artist and musical artists that I never expected to get feedback from. But if people watch the video and an enjoy the comic and music that is all that I can ask for.
Learn more about this unique project here.
