The NESkimos


The NESkimos are an independent American video game music cover band from St. Augustine, Florida. They are known for their songs based on video game music, as well as covers of songs from popular television shows and movies.
The name 'NESkimos' is a portmanteau combining the initials of the Nintendo Entertainment System with the word Eskimos. This is a nod both to the practice of third-wave ska bands in the early 1990s fabricating band names that somehow involve the word "ska" and to the DOS-based Nintendo emulator NESticle, which the band's founder Dr. Wily credits as giving him the idea to cover NES music.
They fancy themselves a video game cover band that, rather than try and recreate songs note-for-note, opt to artistically explore and expand upon the songs they cover, via creating additional parts or creating lyrics. The NESkimos have gained a following on their web forums, and they allow fans to download all their music, for free, from their website. They perform in clubs throughout the Southeast United States, and have made appearances at MAGfest and PAX.

History

The NESkimos were formed in St. Augustine, Florida in 2002 by founding members Dr. Wily, Mario, and Simon Belmont.
The NESkimos dissolved in 2007 after their last performance at PAX '07. Their lineup at the time was Dr. Wily, Johntendo, and Dylan. Their drums had been programmed after the departure of Mario from the band in 2006.
2012 saw a return of the NESkimos headlining video game conventions in the southeast United States like Ancient City Con and Nerdapalooza. The NESkimos also released two new song demos to fans in 2013 through their forums.

Lineup

The band members prefer not to go by their real names, and instead have adopted internet personae based on videogame icons.
A few songs also feature guitar solos from The Shredder, and one song features Napalm Man on alto saxophone.

Discography

Due to legal reasons, the NESkimos have not released any form of CD, but instead release all their songs in MP3 format on the Internet, and provide album artwork.