Who?:
Just saw this today, so a belated Merry Christmas to the Jerks and ChasRock. Yall had a few questions about "& Company" entries so I'll try to answer them. "Spintown & Company" is made up of myself & whoever I decide to commission or offers to be part of a project I've got creative control over. 4 of the 6 musicians who were a part of the "& Company" covers were musicians I've hired on multiple projects & I basically consider my go to guys when I need something.
Eric Ames - My main man who I've hired to do a lot of crazy things that he's never done before. But whether I tell him to write a
polka medley of 15 different Minecraft parodies, a
parody of a Mel Brooks rap, or a serious
song I wrote lyrics for about my grandpa who passed away...he always comes through.
Pravin Fernando - If I need to recreate an instrumental for a parody song Pravin is often my guy. I've had him recreate backing tracks from
memes more than a decade old & I've had him recreate the instrumental for an
11+ minute "Weird" Al Yankovic original that I wanted to parody. This was the first time I've asked him to do something different & I thought he came through as he always does.
DZAN - He's become my go to guy
when I need a rapper. This was the first time I've asked him to rap about something other than Minecraft. I'm sure he appreciated that.
Joe Romero - I had him write a song for a family member as a Christmas gift a couple years ago. I was impressed with his work, so when it came time for Nur Ein Round 0 I checked to see if he was free & up for the job. He was, and he was just as fast & professional as the time he wrote the Christmas song. So when he said he was down to do all 8 rounds, I just kept using him & continued through SpinTunes. He was the main guy for all the songs in both contests. We did collab with a couple others, but Joe was doing the heavy lifting.
This was the first time I've hired Phoebe Carter & Thomas Penninger. I also left my name off these songs since I just do lyrics, and there really wasn't anything for me to contribute creatively.
Why?:
Why did I pick those songs to cover instead of picking songs from the current SpinTunes? There were plenty of great songs to pick from in the current contest. However I kinda wanted to say "thank you" to a few of the people that helped me A LOT back when I ran SpinTunes. I wanted to do that by having covers made of their work.
Dave was there from the start, meaning he was involved in discussions about what the first SpinTunes would look like. He's been a competitor, shadower, judge, guest judge, gave tons of advice and he took control when I decided to step down as show runner. Very few have had an impact on SpinTunes in so many ways. So I picked a Dr. Lindyke song, and I've always liked that rap. It also featured Denise Hudson, another SpinTuner there from the very beginning.
Tom is another who was there from the beginning. He's competed, shadowed, given advice, and run the LP's so much better than I used to do back on the U-Stream days. I think a shadow from round 1 of the first contest is very appropriate given how long Tom's been such an important part of this community. It's also a good song!
Matt And Donna really made an impact with their songs when they first joined. I mean...they won. Then Matt decided to make my life easier & all our songs look better by giving us FREE album art every contest. Even when he's not competing he's generously continued to give this tiny contest a professional look. I liked "A Tight Spot" back when Matt And Donna first submitted it, and it's still on the thumb drive in my car.
Micah...I mean he's currently doing a better job with this contest than I ever did. And I still care about the contest even if I don't run it anymore, so I very much appreciate his work. The song choice was obvious...and a good way to start the LP with a surprise for everyone.
I don't plan to compete in SpinTunes again since I only have interest currently in doing Minecraft songs for my channel. But I kinda like the idea of having a cover made of a SpinTunes song from years ago. So it's possible (since Micah said it was ok) you might see a cover from "& Company" in a bonus round in the future. As long as it doesn't get in the way of a "Today's The Day" cover...priorities after all! ;p
I also contacted the original artists, so they all know about the covers. And yes Chas I did stockpile them a bit. The only 1 that was done completely in the round 5 window was the one that Joe did. There was going to be a 5th cover, but I attempted to hire a new person, and they failed not only to complete the project, but failed to even contact me again after they agreed to do the project. So yeah...maybe that one appears in the next SpinTunes?
