MMvsUSAF, or Mega Man vs. the United States Air Force, is a Chicago-based duo of eccentric producers Sean Bires and Dave Walwark. Armed with drum machines, guitars, hand percussion and mics, we play electronic dance/pop & hiphop.
Dave Walwark
is the producer and guitarist/frontman of the rock/hiphop duo SpeedLimit, known for their impromptu jams around the Chicago and Oak Park area. Both creative and practical, Dave gives MMvsUSAF its energetic pop drive.
Sean "I guess this makes me the United States Air Force" Bires
is the eccentric IDM producer behind the solo project, Renzu. With a mind for tech & toys, Sean is the operator of the MMvsUSAF music rig.
Mega Man vs. the United States Air Force
is the outlet for electronic dance music that Sean & Dave always wanted but never had until, after many weekends of clubbing, they were inspired to roll their own set.
Q&A
Who writes the songs?
Both of us deserve equal credit. We present each other rough song sketches and polish them up to completion together. Some of our songs come out of Guitar-ESX1 jam sessions. It's in effect difficult to identify "Sean" songs vs "Dave" songs in the set... there's a lot of overlap.
Mega Man vs... what?
Early in the project, Dave's little brother said one of our draft songs sounded "like Mega Man vs. the United States Air Force". This nonsense yet strangely apt description became our band name.
What's the music rig made of?
A Korg ESX-1 sampling drum machine paired with a Korg EMX groovebox sits at the center of the music rig. A TC Helicon Voicelive on Dave's pedalboard does customized harmony/chorus and other vocal effects. We're thinking about a DMX-controlled lighting rig for future shows.