"Genius Encouraging Genius"
By: Geoff Teach
Just over a year ago, a young man, percussionist, and aspiring composer became inspired, and although he surely did not know it at the time, this inspiration would lead to internet fame and make his music fan’s dreams come true. On the outskirts of Milwaukee, Kyle Hanneken (at the time, aged a mere 18 years old), had, as he puts it, “an absurd idea.” “During my senior year in high school, I’d say it was sometime in mid-October, 2012, I thought to arrange a piece of concert music for my high school’s (Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Wisconsin) wind ensemble. All the material came from one of my favorite video games of all time, ‘MDK’ (Shiny Entertainment). I created twenty separate pieces of music, with some instruments doubled or tripled, entirely by ear for a seventeen minute monster of a medley,” says Hanneken, now 19, and attending the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. “The work required to accomplish this,” he continues, “spanned from October of 2012 until May of 2013. I spent over an estimated four hundred and fifty hours creating the entire project.” Allow me to repeat that for you so it doesn’t just blow over your head too quickly: FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY HOURS! I’m not half-bad at math, so as a man who works an average of seventy hours a week, Kyle’s work, by comparison, would be the equivalent of nearly six and half full-time work weeks, all while attending his notoriously stressful and busy senior year of high school. But wait, there’s more...oh, so much more...
“In addition to arranging the music, I compiled game play footage from YouTube that was shown above us as we performed the piece live. I edited the footage to ensure that big explosions would occur on downbeats, etc., and in order to make this flawless, I conducted to a click. It was one hell of a process! But it remains, in my eyes, my greatest musical achievement to this date,” explains Hanneken. To marvel at this performance, just press play below:
Now, after taking this in, you’ve had quite the introduction to Kyle’s utter brilliance in composition and showmanship. However, while Kyle was writing his self-proclaimed opus-to-date, yet another stroke of lightning struck his music-addled brain. “Around mid-December, I was in the thick of the ‘MDK’ arrangement process, and every year, the group of percussionists in my high school’s Wind Ensemble perform a Percussion Ensemble for Wisconsin’s Solo & Ensemble Festival. Our band director had casually mentioned that the judges will accept student arranged or composed ensembles if it reaches a specific level of professionalism,” says Hanneken. “This sent my head spinning. Between the Buried and Me’s ‘The Parallax II: Future Sequence’ had just been released a month earlier. We had been reviewing potential percussion ensembles to perform, one of which was entitled ‘Sabre Dance’ (composed by Russian arranger Aram Khachaturian). This piece is undoubtedly similar to BTBAM’s ‘Bloom’ in its style, at least in the beginning, anyway. The sharp, driving eighth-notes would allow even a layman to make the connection. ‘Sabre Dance’ reminded me of ‘Bloom’, and combining what my band director mentioned about student-arranged pieces, I was instantly inspired,” explains Hanneken. Now quickly to recap, Kyle was right in the middle of the epic task of his “MDX” composure when hit with this next “Bloom” idea…all four hundred and fifty hours of it. “Plus,” he continues, “it would be the perfect excuse to take a break from the relentless arrangement process that was ‘MDK’.” Yes, you read it correctly. Mr. Hanneken figured it would be a good break from arranging one incredibly complicated piece to write yet another, equally complicated piece. And yet, even despite all that was going on around him in terms of school work, social life, musical practice and study…”I dove in head first, and in less than two weeks later, [the] music was in my fellow musicians’ hands!” Less than two weeks. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Between the Buried and Me or their track, “Bloom”, do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with the song before reading on, and then, watch Kyle and his ensemble’s performance of his arrangement:
Amazingly performed and arranged, Kyle and his troupe’s video took only a short amount of time, in the grand scheme of things, to be noticed by those other than the friends and family of the performers. “The video didn’t truly blow up until about two weeks after it was posted,” Hanneken relays, and while the video was not intended to be anything other than a nice video account of a high school ensemble’s performance for a state festival panel of judges, it became something much more incredible…”The only reason it blew up was because Between the Buried and Me (and to be more specific, the band’s drummer himself, Blake Richardson) posted the link to their Facebook page,” says Hanneken, and considering that the young man idolizes Richardson, Kyle’s reaction was naturally one of shock and awe. “I will never forget [the moment I found out], I was sitting in a Walgreen’s parking lot when a friend of mine texted me saying BTBAM had shared it. Initially, I thought he was joking with me. I logged onto Facebook, and sure enough, there it was!” exclaims Hanneken, continuing with an admission, “I’m not ashamed, I broke down and cried for a solid two or three minutes. My biggest musical inspirations, AND my favorite drummer of all time had not only seen my video, but also [personally] shared it, and added the note: ‘By far one of the best BTBAM covers that’s ever been done. – Blake’…It may sound strange, but I can firmly state that the band’s sharing of the video changed my life.”
Just how the video wound up before the band’s eyes was not much of a mystery for long. “A very close friend of the band’s, Brian Shields (Journalist for KRON 4 news in San Francisco, California, owner and founder of the Great New Metal website, and contributing writer to the Heavy Blog is Heavy site, as well), happened to stumble across it. He reached out to me, praising the piece, and told me that he had passed it along to the boys in the band,” says Hanneken. Now, I personally have been friends with Brian Shields for over two years, and I must admit that my first exposure to Kyle’s video of the “Bloom” arrangement was thanks to his post. In turn, I immediately shared it myself, proclaiming to all my friends who are BTBAM fans to check out the video, and those friends of mine who saw it then shared it, and so on and so forth. What this amazing process of thousands (and eventually millions, in some cases) of people sharing the same video is known as “going viral”, and “go viral” it did, indeed, with well over 18,000 views on YouTube at the time of publication of this article (which is more than the two fan-made videos (see above, one of them is posted in this very aricle) of the original band’s version of the song combined). But our mutual friend did not stop just with putting the video of Kyle’s arrangement in front of the band’s eyes. Oh no, Mr. Shields went another amazing leap further still. “Two weeks prior to BTBAM’s show in Chicago (at the Metro, 10/12/13, along with other rising metal superstars The Faceless, The Contortionist, and England’s The Safety Fire), Brian explained to me that he had arranged a meet and greet for me with the band on the day of the show,” says Kyle. Ever the generous metal head, Brian was able to procure this meeting by tickling the ear of BTBAM’s tour manager, and after taking in the show, Kyle got to meet the musical geniuses that sparked his own creative brainstorm.
“I was only able to shake Dan (Briggs, bass) and Dustie’s (Waring, rhythm guitars) hands, and unfortunately, Tommy (Rogers, vocals and keyboards) was nowhere to be found. I was also able to talk with Paul (Waggoner, lead guitars) for probably around five minutes or so, and the rest of my time with the band was spent almost entirely one-on-one with Blake,” raves Hanneken, and goes on, as if recalling what it’s like to be on Cloud Nine, “Also, the drummer of one of my other favorite bands, Veil of Maya’s Sam Applebaum was backstage, as well. The three of us hit it off awesomely and we just talked drums for the majority of the time. Toms, snares, tuning, cymbals, Tama, pedals, sticks…you name it, we probably talked about it,” recalls Kyle, and you can literally feel the excited smile in his words, even when just reading them in your head. But the kindness of the band and their words did not end there: “The most humbling experience was found within both Blake and Paul’s words,” says Hanneken, and what the stars told the young man is nothing short of exceptional. “More than once,” continues Kyle, “they both said how great of a musician I am. This made it difficult to breathe…my biggest idols telling ME that I am a great musician? What more could a man ask for?” inquires Hanneken, and honestly, if I were in his shoes, I truly can’t think of much more I’d want in life than that, either, or at least anything that could be quite as encouraging and inspirational, anyway. When I finally asked Kyle to wrap up his experience, he marveled, “No amount of words can do the entire experience justice. I am just so thankful for everyone who has encouraged and supported me along my musical highway, and that’s the bottom line.”
Taking these last couple statements into deep consideration, I cannot help but wonder how many countless musicians before Kyle had the most amazing experience of not only meeting his idols, but also to be praised by them, and what incredible effects such meetings have had on the history of music. Kyle’s amazing night would have never happened, though, if it wasn’t for his diligence, persistence, and his astronomical amount of good old fashioned hard work. Kyle’s “MDK” and “Bloom” projects have not only gained the young man access to and praise from his idols, but they have ultimately (and arguably more importantly) laid the foundation for success in his musical and compositional career moving forward into the future, and I don’t think I’d be too bold or over-the-top in stating that said future looks quite bright, indeed. Kyle Hanneken’s connection to Between the Buried and Me is now one not only of inspiration, but also encouragement, and I know that I will be keeping tabs on this young man as he grows into musical adulthood. One night does not a life make, but in Kyle’s case, his one night meeting Between the Buried and Me just could be the propellant he needed in life to shoot him into the stratosphere of musical superstardom.
(Top Left) The marquis at Chicago’s Metro Theater says it all…”SOLD OUT!” (Top Right) Kyle Hanneken (R) and Between the Buried and Me’s Blake Richardson (L) spread peace and metal. (Bottom Left) Kyle and Paul Waggoner share a moment backstage after the show. (Bottom Right) Paul, Tommy Rogers, and Dan Briggs perform for the packed house.