Name	I Fight Dragons
Background	group_or_band
Alias	IFD
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genre	Pop/Rock, Electronic rock, electropop, Chiptune, Nintendocore
Years active	2008–present
Label	Photo Finish / Atlantic
Website
Current members	Brian Mazzaferri (lead vocals, guitar, NES)Hari Rao (bass, NES)Packy Lundholm (vocals, guitar, NES, SNES)Chad Van Dahm (drums, NES)Bill Prokopow (vocals, keys, NES, NES Advantage, Power Pad, NES Zapper, Guitar Hero)
Past members	Laura Trainor (Vocals, NES, SNES, NES Advantage, Power Pad, Power Glove)Mike Mentzer (Vocals, Guitar, NES, SNES)Dave Midell (drums, NES)

I Fight Dragons is a rock band from Chicago. Their music combines pop/rock songs with original electronic sounds made using Nintendo Game Boys and Nintendo Entertainment Systems. They have released 2 EPs, 2009's Cool Is Just a Number and 2010's Welcome to the Breakdown, and have announced a forthcoming full-length album in 2011, named "KABOOM!". They are currently signed to Photo Finish / Atlantic Records.

Accolades

I Fight Dragons was named one of Alternative Press's '100 Bands To Watch' in their 2011 '100 Bands To Watch' issue.

I Fight Dragons was named The Best Emerging Chicago Artist of 2009 by The Deli Chicago, the Chicago branch of the national music website, The Deli Magazine. The award was based on three categories of votes: writers for the site, 6 independent jurors, and an online poll.

In May 2009, I Fight Dragons won the Chicago Metromix Rock 'n' Vote contest, Metromix's annual search for the best new Chicago band. The contest was based on three rounds: a curated first round by Metromix writers, an online voting round, and a live show with the final four bands. I Fight Dragons won the final round with over 50% of the audience votes.

Their self-released debut EP, “Cool Is Just A Number,” charted nationally at #169 on the CMJ College Radio charts, and has been featured across Commercial Radio formats in Chicago, on Alternative Rock (Q101), Top 40 (101.9 The Mix), and Independent Rock (93 XRT). Also, their song "Heads Up Hearts Down" has been in rotation on alternative rock station KTCL in Denver since October, 2009, reaching the #5 spot as of February 1, 2010.

History

I Fight Dragons was formed in 2008, and released their debut EP, Cool Is Just A Number on February 6, 2009 to a capacity crowd at Chicago's Elbo Room. They played at various clubs around Chicago in early 2009, including a Local Anesthetic showcase for 93.1 WXRT Chicago at The Cubby Bear, a final four show for the Metromix Rock'N'Vote Competition at LaSalle Power Company (which they won), a MOBFest showcase at the Elbo Room, and the main stage of the I AM Fest at the Congress Theater, which the band went on WGN National News on June 12 to play music and promote.

In June, 2009, Mike Mentzer left the band to pursue his own solo career and was replaced by Packy Lundholm, who had played drums on the band's first EP, and has since played lead guitar in the band.

On July 25, 2009, I Fight Dragons headlined the Metro in Chicago for the first time. This show was captured as a Live DVD, and a limited run of 500 numbered and signed copies of the DVD, entitled "Dragon Fight!", were released in January 2010.

In August 2009, they played the Chicago date of the Vans Warped Tour. Official Warped Tour Pit Reporter Tiffany Mink favorably reviewed the band's set on the Warped Tour website.

In August 2009, Dave Midell left the band to pursue humanitarian causes. Chad Van Dahm was brought in as the new drummer, and is currently the only non-original member in the band.

In September 2009, the band signed with manager J.J. Italiano of Steel Giant Management, and with booking agent Gabriel Apodaca of The Agency Group.

In October 2009, I Fight Dragons went on their first National Tour with punk group Whole Wheat Bread and nerdcore-hiphop artist MC Chris. They played 45 US shows from Oct. 1st to Nov. 24th.

In December 2009, I Fight Dragons was one of four bands that played at KTCL's "Not So Silent Night," at the Magness Arena in Denver, along with AFI, Say Anything, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

As of February 4, 2010, I Fight Dragons signed with Photo Finish / Atlantic Records, and went on to appear on the MTV "Too Fast For Love" tour, opening for 3OH!3, Cobra Starship, and Travis McCoy from April–June 2010. In his June, 2010, concert review, Rick Florino described the band as "one of the most unique, uplifting and unforgettable new acts on the scene."

On June 21, 2010, World Wrestling Entertainment announced that their song "Money" from their 2009 album Cool Is Just a Number would be used as the theme song for the inaugural WWE Money In The Bank Pay Per View.

On October 11, 2010, I Fight Dragons announced via their Facebook page that Laura Trainor would be leaving the band due to personal differences.

On November 27, 2010, I Fight Dragons released their second EP, Welcome to the Breakdown at a CD Release show at The Metro In Chicago, IL. They indicated that this EP consists of songs written for their Photo Finish / Atlantic Records debut album, but which ended up not having a place on the album and so were released as an EP instead.

Starting on January 17, 2011, I Fight Dragons began recording their debut full-length album in Nashville with producer Matt Mahaffey (sElf, Hellogoodbye). According to their blog, the album is tentatively titled "Kaboom!"

According to an email sent to their email list on April 28, 2011, I Fight Dragons has stated the album will be completed in May 2011 with an eye towards a late summer / early fall 2011 release.

Email list

I Fight Dragons started an email list in February 2009 that has since surpassed 25,000 fans from everywhere around the globe.

I Fight Dragons has often sent new songs to their fans free of charge via their email list. To date this includes over 20 additional tracks. These songs include covers of other bands' songs (such as a chiptune cover of John Mayer's 'Heart Of Life') and remixes of their own music (such as the This Atlantic Remix of 'Welcome to the Breakdown'), as well as original pieces and an entry in Twestival's Imogen Heap-sponsored The Song That Never Was experiment.

On May 5, 2010, they released Overcool, a collection of 4 remixes of songs from Cool Is Just a Number, over the e-mail list. This collection is currently available to new subscribers to the list.

Additional Tracks Released to the IFD E-Mail List: The song "She's Got Sorcery", a preview from their latest EP, was sent out October 18, 2010. On November 10, 2010 the title track from the new EP "Welcome to the Breakdown" was sent for free. On January 10, 2011 they sent out a studio version of "I Fight Ganon," their rendition of the Zelda theme. On April 28, 2011 they released a live version of "Money", which included a rap from Kool Moe Dee's "I Go To Work" interwoven into the song.

IFD Amnesty2

#"Why Bother" (A cover of a Weezer song from their album Pinkerton, done for Pterodactyl Records' 8-bit Weezer tribute) #"I Fight Dragons Overture 1.0" (an experiment at combining orchestral scoring and chiptune music) #"The Process" (An Imogen Heap a cappella re-arranged and written and recorded with chiptune style music) #"No One Likes Superman Anymore (LSDJ Version)" (A remake of their song "No One Likes Superman Anymore" from their EP Cool Is Just A Number done with Little Sound DJ) #"The Faster The Treadmill... (Gameboy Version)" (A remake of their song "The Faster The Treadmill..." from their EP Cool Is Just A Number done with a gameboy) #"The Heart of Life" (A cover John Mayer's Heart Of Life using Little Sound DJ and Pixelh8 MusicTech) #"Rickroll + Mario" (A remake of Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up combined with elements of the Super Mario Bros. Theme) #"I Fight Ganon" (A cover of the Legend Of Zelda main theme) #"No One Likes Superman Anymore (Evil Robo-Dragon Remix)" (A remix of their song "No One Likes Superman Anymore" from their EP Cool Is Just A Number done by Evil Robo-Dragon) #"Chocolate Treadmill" (A Mashup of I Fight Dragons and Hidari done by Snake Eyes) #"The Future Soon" (A cover of a song by Jonathan Coulton) #"Air Man from Mega Man 2 (Packy Lundholm version)" (A cover of the Air Man stage background music from Mega Man 2 performed as an 'introduction video' by Packy Lundholm when he joined I Fight Dragons) #"And Your Bird Can Sing" (A cover of a song by The Beatles from the album Revolver) #"I Will Wait For You If You Do For Me" (An original song by I Fight Dragons) #"Don't You?" (An original song by I Fight Dragons)

The Advance Guard (Street Team)

The I Fight Dragons Street Team is known as the I Fight Dragons Advance Guard, which is a vital part of their touring and promotion, as well as its own internal social network.

Discography

Cool Is Just A Number (2009)

# Power Up (Intro) # The Faster The Treadmill # Money # Heads Up, Hearts Down # No One Likes Superman Anymore # With You

IFD Amnesty2 (2009)

Overcool (2010)

# Heads Up, Hearts Down (Acoustic) # The Faster The Treadmill (Gameboy-only Version) # Money (Klopfenpop Mix) # No One Likes Superman Anymore (Live at the Metro - July 2009)

Welcome to the Breakdown (2010)

# Welcome to the Breakdown # No Kontrol # The Power of Love # Proxima Centauri # Give it Up # Not I # Just Decide # She’s Got Sorcery (IFD Exclusive)

Cultural references

Their song "Money" was the official theme song for WWE's July 2010 Pay-Per-View WWE Money in the Bank.

References

External links

Official site

I Fight Dragons official Uvumi profile

Fan site

I Fight Dragons Advance Guard website (street team)

Category:Musical groups established in 2008 Category:Musical groups from Chicago, Illinois Category:Nintendocore musical groups