Nerdcore has a large underground following that mainstream music doesn't know what to do with but is trying to embrace, with artists such as MC Chris, Pixelh8, MC Larz and MC Frontalot recently breaking through to mainstream attention.
Popular culture at it's finest, the zombie, ninja, pirate, wizard, video game enthralled rappers and rockers of Nerdapalooza Southeast 2008 celebrated obsession at Taste Restaurant, an event spanning two days for $30.
"I guess Weird Al and Devo would qualify, but they don't really follow along the nerdcore movement," said co-host Logan Donahoo. "They're kind of pre-nerdcore, they're kind of the grandfathers to the movement."
Nerdapalooza began as the brainchild of John "Hex" Carter on March 17, 2007. While living in Calif., Carter worked at a battle of the bands for a local college radio station. A ska/rap band Tsutain Guu Faita performed a cover of "Inspector Gadget" and a song about mitosis.
"That's when I discovered I really loved nerd music," Carter said, wearing the first ever Nerdapalooza T-shirt drawn out in marker.
"It's the third Nerdapalooza, but it is the only one of its size," said Josh Thew, co-host and event coordinator. "[Carter] moved [Nerdapalooza] out here [to Florida] because the nerdcore scene and geekcore scene is a lot stronger than [California]; this is the central area, the nerd Mecca if you will."
Rob Tobias who performed as mCRT brought Nerdapalooza to Florida by way of Gainesville in 2007.
Fans represented, wearing the band shirts of the artists set to perform, nerd related T-shirts with slogans like, "Nerd Life," "I [heart] geeks," "Science is awesome" and costumes ranging from pirates, ninjas, robots, monsters and Lucha Libre masks. A guy in a banana suit proves that anything can make you a nerd. The only requirement being is you have to like something to the point of it consume your whole life.
"Never before have so many nerds come together for the purpose of rocking together," Carter said.
Local, national and international nerd core, wizard rock and geek rock artists performed Friday and Saturday for 12 hours, featuring Mr. B, Pixelh8 via exclusive video from England, MC Frontalot, Sudden Death, the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo tour, Kondor Krew, Zombies! Organize!!, Marc with a C, MagiTek and Killer Robots to name a few.
"I think nerdcore expresses who I am because it's a combination of both the hip hop and the nerd culture," said Andrew Grey, a Rollins College student and host of "Talk Nerdy to Me" on WBRK 91.5FM and sponsor of Nerdapalooza. "Hip hop is generally a tight knit community, you've got a lot of bling, backwards hats and gangster rap, then you add nerds to it and mix it all together and you get this explosion that is just wonderful.
"I realized there wasn't a lot of nerdcore shows in the Orlando area … There are a lot of good local acts. I really took the initiative to get it out to everyone else. I wanted to be the voice of the nerds here in Orlando."
Two rooms divided the venue and fans switched back and forth as sets alternated between. The natural lighting of the main dinning room looked similar to a sci-fi set from Metropolis with walls laden with Bawls energy drink advertisements and comic book posters. The other room begged for Resident Evil zombies with dark red walls and chessboard black and white tile floor, mixed with the nerdcore theme and art for sale.
Erin Pyne from A House of Black sang to her folk- techno mix about her addiction to Harry Potter with songs titled "My Boyfriend is a Deatheater," "Wrock Fan Girl" and "First Kiss," a narrative in the perspective of Ginny Weasley after her break up with Potter in book six.
Chozo and Inadequate rapped in the wearing black from fedoras to shoes about Mario searching for Princess Peach for the less altruistic reason of sex, online fan forms, zombies eating your neighbors, gangster life and snatching candy on Halloween with MC Gigahertz.
During lulls between sets, hand-held consoles, drawing pads, card games, novels from sci-fi/fantasy series and laptops came out as well as heated debates over the superiority of games and comic books.
MC Gigahertz, traveling all the way from Tacoma Washington, followed suit with an array of costume changes from a Devo "Whip it" outfit of yellow and geometric hat, to a jacket with question marks with matching tin foil chain and a monkey hat. He rapped about Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica - a dance party interrupted by enemy attack and Star Fox 64, "Do a barrel roll." During his set, Gigahertz took off his shirt, and some in the audience came forward with dollar bills.
During the dinner break, Taste Restaurant provided their late night menu of finger food, including grilled wraps and a hot bowl of Hot Tots! with dijon aioli mustard and spiked ketchup.
"We're the world's only pirate hip hop group," said Dan Dolan of Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew, who was decked out in pirate gear and insisted they didn't need vitamin C. "Avast me mateys. What do you call a pirate with two eyes, two legs and two hands? A rookie."
The crew passed out eye patches and hooks enticing the crowd to participate, "When I say 'yo' you say 'ho,'" and "all the real swashbucklers wave your hooks in the air, wave them all around like you just don't care."
Nerdapalooza Southeast 2008 was sponsored mainly by A Comic Shop, EMPluse Records, Troma Entertainment, CarNinja and benefiting Child's Play Charity donating video games.
"This is kind of like the practice run of the show, next year is going to be more diverse and sound," Thew said. "We're throwing around the ideas of having a concert con, all geek-related booths of Xboxes and PS3s."
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