Synth Player Wanted for Paid Video Game Music Tour

Extra Lives, an established international interactive concert experience featuring classic video game music, is looking for one more excellent synth player to join our Aotearoa roster.

Our first NZ tour is now completely booked, and we have a paid North Island driving run available Oct. 20–25: NZD $1,500 total musician pay, plus travel and accommodations.

Extra Lives is an interactive video game concert where the audience votes on their phones to steer a branching adventure story while a live band performs the soundtrack in real time, inspired by classic games from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.

Auditions will be held in person while we’re touring Aotearoa Sept. 23–Oct. 3:

Sept. 23–26: Christchurch/Nelson
Sept. 28: Wellington
Sept. 29: Rotorua
Sept. 30: Hamilton
Oct. 2–3: Auckland

You’ll be asked to prepare and perform three specific pieces with excellent accuracy, sound patching and groove.

Ideally, you…

• dig retro video games and would like to be part of an immersive adventure that touches the hearts of nerds and non-nerds alike
• are an excellent, versatile synth player
• have IEMs and are comfortable with click tracks, playback systems and tightly synchronized live performance
• can transcribe intricate, often-difficult parts from recordings without charts or help
• respond to all communication promptly and without missing stuff
• have the chops to hang in any musical genre (our VGM runs the gamut from heavy rock to Basie jazz to Latin grooves)
• can make great sounds/patches for each song, and bake in volume and EQ changes
• stay calm, resourceful and solutions-oriented when technical problems arise under pressure
• are the sort of musician who naturally understands signal flow, routing, DAWs, MIDI, playback rigs or live tech systems
• enjoy figuring out how complicated systems work (and fixing them when they don’t)

The Oct. 20–25 run is the immediate opportunity, but we’re building a long-term NZ roster rather than hiring for a one-off tour. Most individual Extra Lives engagements in Aotearoa pay around NZD $300 per musician, with required travel and accommodations covered separately.

Ready to apply?

Please email extralivesmusic AT gmail DOT com with:
• your contact info
• where you’re based (or where you could audition)
• links where we can see/hear your playing, emphasizing anything relevant to what we do
• your favorite video game character
• your social media accounts
• anything else relevant you’d like us to know: Ableton Live, playback systems, FOH/live sound, lighting, coding, arranging, MD experience, tech troubleshooting, etc.

Due to our admin schedule we’ll only be able to consider applicants who follow the above directions exactly. We’ll reach out to schedule an audition with applicants who are a good fit.

Know somebody who sounds suspiciously perfect for this? Please send this their way.

To the next level!

Extra Lives