Twelve Foot Ninja guitarist Steve "Stevic" MacKay recently sat down to fool around with the new Latin Cuban Percussion pack from audio software wizards Toontrack and ended up with a new version of one of the band's best-known songs, "Coming For You." Rather than let it waste away into oblivion, the band decided to bring it to the fans, asking you all to come up with your own vocals for the reworked track in a contest hosted right here on MetalSucks.
And Twelve Foot Ninja fans delivered! With entries from 16 different countries, it was tough to choose just three winners, but after much deliberation Stevic has chosen his favorites, all of whom win sweet audio software from Toontrack. What's more, he provided individual commentary on each winner's entry as well as a handful of honorable mentions!
Before we get to the winners, here's what Stevic had to say about the whole process:
"It was actually incredible to hear so many interpretations of this track from all over the world (16 different countries!). We also observed many of the entrants approached this track with a cocktail of imagination and humour, peppered with a bit of apocalyptic prophecy – that pretty much sums up Twelve Foot Ninja! Hahaha
"We really want to thank everyone who participated and spent their time writing and recording. So we will do that now; thank you everyone who participated and spent their time writing and recording.
"Those who didn’t win or didn’t get mentioned; we drew your names in the sand and danced around them in a special ceremony of gratitude drenched in our own blood and faeces."
Without further ado, here are the winners, along with notes directly from the man himself.
Grand prize
Braden Lyster
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Contest entry:
Forrester Savell mix:
"We really enjoyed Braden’s versatility, musical intuition and plastic flamingo playing. He went to quite a bit of effort with the video creation; rocking a 'They Live' mask in the freakout bit, an elaborate light show and some horrifying maraca playing. The lethargic rap parts actually work really well! 'I think it’s dreamtime, I’ve been counting sheep' has been stuck in my head for a couple of days. Good work, mate!"
Runner up
Nina Li
Bedford, NH, United States
"Topical. Informative. Educational. I loved the Dora narrative mixed in with killer cassowaries. 'The math is upside down.' Nice play on words with the 'fowl malevolence' (I see what you did there!). From 3:02 I felt inspired and respected Dora the Explorer on a higher plane. Put a smile on my face."
Second runner up
Dylan Bradley
Greenbrier, Arkansas, United States
"Brandon Boyd eat your heart out! Great voice dude! Shit lyrics though (haha geddit?)"
Honorable mentions (in no particular order):
Lila Krishna
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
"Particularly liked your treatment in the second part of the first verse! Some really cool stuff going on here. Some cool BV’s also!"
Daniel Rosa
Bedizzole, Brescia, Italy
"Really liked your vocal tone! 2.20 was quite a note!"
Carl Berner
Oslo, Norway
"Some really cool rhythmic things happening in the metal sections in particular!"
Sterling Jackson
York, PA, United States
"Really unique tone in the verses! I think you’ve got something interesting happening (and it’s not the fedora)."
Teiva Truesdale
Primrose Valley, New South Wales, Australia
"A fellow Aussie! Something about this stuck out to the band. A cool tone and some really interesting melodic and harmonic ideas!"
