At the Charleston Pour House, Bit Brigade’s music is performed live alongside a gamer’s onstage run of classic video games. The Athens, Georgia, group’s format makes the gameplay part of the musical performance: the band follows the action in real time.
The Charleston Pour House event listing says Bit Brigade will perform live soundtracks to “The Legend of Zelda,” “Castlevania” and “Tetris” as a gamer plays on a screen. A separate search snippet in the venue's listing points to Thursday, Nov. 19, with doors at 7:30 p.m. and the show at 8:30 p.m.; confirm those details against the current listing before heading out. The venue says the show is restricted to guests 21 and older, with “no exceptions.”
Noah McCarthy, whom Bandcamp Daily describes as the band's official “Player One,” handles gameplay at every performance. In Charleston, he is expected to run live speedruns of “Castlevania” and “The Legend of Zelda,” according to the Post and Courier. The newspaper also reported that audience members can sign up at the merchandise table for a one-on-one Tetris match against McCarthy, with the band playing as the game unfolds.
A Live Set With Two Moving Parts
The whole project traces back to a gaming session, not a jam session. Per the Post and Courier, Bit Brigade's concept originated when guitarist Bryant Williamson and original guitarist Andy Pruett were playing Contra together, and the idea for a band built around live gameplay took shape from there. Williamson has said he and his bandmates were already fans of NES music and had performed NES tunes with their other band, Cinemechanica, before Bit Brigade existed in its current form, according to the Post and Courier.
Williamson said, “We had the band already. We just needed gamers,” according to the Post and Courier, referring to the recruitment of Noah McCarthy and Jimmy Geisler. A Flagpole account traces Bit Brigade’s origins to 2003 and calls it Athens’ “wildly popular video game cover band.” On Bandcamp, Bit Brigade describes its format as rock covers of full NES and SNES soundtracks performed while its gamer speedruns the game live onstage.
The Music Has to Follow the Run
The band’s arrangement has to respond to the run rather than play as a fixed backing track. For the Zelda performance, the musicians plan McCarthy’s route in advance and coordinate changes in the music with events in the game, including boss fights and victories, according to the Post and Courier. The newspaper also reported that McCarthy has adjusted his route in some cases to help the music land at the right moments.
The format allows for contingencies when a run goes off course. A 2018 LEO Weekly article described performances built around McCarthy’s gameplay strategies, with backup plans in case something goes wrong. The same outlet documented the band performing the original Zelda at Louisville’s Zanzabar in April 2018.
The format has carried the band well beyond Georgia over the years. A 2017 account in USA Today described Bit Brigade playing “wildly dynamic and perfectly realized soundtracks to classic Nintendo games” while McCarthy played live onstage during a Louisville stop, as reported by USA Today. Bandcamp Daily's writer recalled catching the band at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus performing a DuckTales and Mega Man III double bill, and noted that Bit Brigade's club shows tend to sell out well in advance. Williamson has said the band typically builds its touring schedule around gaming conventions such as PAX, MAGFest and XPO, as reported by Flagpole, a detail that underscores just how deeply the act is woven into gamer culture rather than treating video games as a novelty hook.
Behind the scenes, the band relies on a pre-loaded digital console to keep its game files ready to go at every stop, according to Bandcamp Daily. The same profile notes that Bit Brigade is selective about which NES titles make the cut, choosing only games with enjoyable play, strong soundtracks, and a speedrun McCarthy can pull off reliably night after night. The Post and Courier also recounts a Mega Man II boss being selected out of the usual order.
Video-Game Music Beyond the Speedrun
Video-game music has also gained recognition in formats separate from live gameplay. GRAMMY.com reported that Stephanie Economou won the first Grammy in the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media category in 2023 for her “Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök” soundtrack—recognition of a score, not a live speedrun. The Kennedy Center describes the University of Maryland's Gamer Symphony Orchestra as a collegiate ensemble devoted to orchestral video-game arrangements, another distinct concert format. Games Done Quick, by contrast, describes its events as charity marathons featuring speedrunners who raise money for charity; its stated fundraising purpose differs from Bit Brigade’s pairing of live music and gameplay.
Arts Beyond the Stage
A single concert is only one part of the state’s arts economy. The South Carolina Arts Commission says the state’s arts-related economic cluster supports employment representing 5.5% of South Carolina’s total employment base and generates $5.7 billion in wages and salaries.
