Revel Lever®

Funny article in Slate today as Sleater-Kinney’s guitarist Carrie Brownstein tests out the new video game Rock Band. In describing the playing experience between the video game versus being a real-life rocker she posits this:

Rock Band: Tetris meets Simon meets karaoke. You need to have hand-eye coordination and be moderately literate (if you are the singer). There are no monitor mixes to fuss with, and your sound is consistent. Actually, your sound never changes, which kind of gets old. However, if your band messes up, you are mercifully and magically removed from the gig and you get to start over.

Real band: It’s hard to beat the visceral high of playing live and creating something spontaneous. But if your band is having an off night, you still have to stand there in front of a crowd and finish the set.

Sleater-Kinney’s guitarist tests out Rock Band. - By Carrie Brownstein - Slate Magazine