Ninja Sex Party

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Ninja Sex Party
NSPRepublikHawaii.jpg
Avidan (left) and Wecht (right) performing at The Republik in Honolulu on February 22, 2019, with TWRP drummer Havve Hogan in the background.
Background information
Also known asNSP
OriginNew York City, New York, U.S.
Genres
Years active2009–present
Associated acts
Websiteninjasexparty.com
Members

Ninja Sex Party (often abbreviated as NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht. They formed in 2009 in New York City and are currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two thirds of the video game-based musical trio Starbomb, together with frequent collaborator Arin Hanson. Avidan joined Hanson's YouTube Let's Play webseries Game Grumps as co-host in 2013.

The work of Ninja Sex Party typically consists of rock or synth-pop-oriented humorous songs, frequently on the topics of sex, seduction, love or fantasy, with Avidan and Wecht respectively portraying the characters of Danny Sexbang, an idiotic, exuberant, hypersexual Jewish man constantly trying to hit on women, and Ninja Brian, an uncommunicative, homicidal ninja with Erectile Disfunction. However, their Under the Covers cover album series that started in 2016 saw them take on a non-comedic approach to music for the first time, covering songs from the 1970s and 1980s.

To date, NSP has released eight studio albums (five consisting of original material, and three cover albums), in addition to three albums as a part of Starbomb. Wecht initially acted as record producer and performed all instruments on their early albums, until they started working with producer Jim Arsenault (and later Jim Roach) and backing band TWRP in 2015. Wecht and Avidan have appeared in Tupper Ware Remix Party's own works, either as individuals or as Ninja Sex Party. Since May 2018, Wecht also portrays Ninja Brian on his own live comedy show titled Ninja Brian's All-Star Variety Luau Spectacular.

Career[]

Formation and early career (2009–2012)[]

Avidan performing with his previous band Skyhill in 2008

Avidan, who previously sang in bands such as The Northern Hues and Skyhill, initially conceptualized the band.[2] In need of a band member, Avidan was introduced to Wecht, who was the musical director of a comedy troupe in New York,[3] by a mutual friend at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Julie Katz, a member of Wecht's comedy troupe (who would later be featured in their music video "The Decision"), to whom Avidan had asked if she knew any musicians.[4][5] The band was formed in February/March 2009[6] with Avidan going by his stage-name/character "Danny Sexbang" and Wecht going by "Ninja Brian".[5] However, the character "Danny Sexbang" was originally named "Danny Sweetnuts" before being changed to "Sexbang" as Avidan felt the name seemed "stronger."[7]

Inspired by The Lonely Island and Flight of the Conchords, Ninja Sex Party was about "a Jewish superhero who wears a unitard, with his best friend who's a ninja, and together they sing songs about dicks, and try to hit [unsuccessfully] on women."[4]

They began performing together that summer, appearing in various film festivals, including SXSW, Dragon Con, and the LACS.[8][9][10] They have been awarded "Best Comedy Video" by Industry Power Play, as well as the "Trophy of Awesomeness" on Vimeo's video website.[11][12] They won "Best Comedy Video Short" and "Best Comedy Song" in Improvisation News' 2010 INNY Awards.[13] Their video "Sex Training" also appeared on the Comedy page of The Huffington Post.[14] All their early music videos were directed, shot, and edited by Jim Turner, who was the only person paid for his involvement; all other people participating were friends working for free.[5]

In 2011, they released their first album NSFW, on iTunes, which contained both original songs, and all of their previously released songs on YouTube.

Commercial success and side projects (2013–2015)[]

The band released their second album, Strawberries and Cream, in April 2013. On the week of May 4, 2013, the album debuted at #9 on Billboard's Comedy Albums charts.[15]

In July the band released the single "Party of Three", off their third album. The song featured an appearance by animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson.

In September 2013, the band composed "Dick Figures: The Movie: The Song" for Mondo Media's Dick Figures: The Movie soundtrack.[16]

Tupper Ware Remix Party (from left to right: band members Doctor Sung, Commander Meouch and Lord Phobos) became Ninja Sex Party's backup band in 2015.

In late 2013, Avidan, Wecht, and Hanson teamed up to create a side project band named Starbomb, with Avidan as the lead singer-songwriter.[17] The band writes parody songs about video games, bringing together the sexually provocative music stylings of Ninja Sex Party and the video game-based humor of Hanson.

On the week of February 15, 2014, Starbomb, the group's eponymous album, would hold the #1 spot in Comedy Albums for 4 consecutive weeks.[18] Starbomb also reached #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers charts for 2 consecutive weeks, starting with the week of January 4, 2014.[19] In July, 2014, Ninja Sex Party performed a concert for San Diego Comic-Con International at Petco Park. They also released the music video for "Why I Cry" during the concert.[20][21]

In 2015, two singles were released by the band Tupper Ware Remix Party, collaborating with Ninja Sex Party, titled "The Hit" and "Baby, NYC"; from that point on, TWRP became NSP's backing band on both live shows and studio releases, while also serving as their opening act on live shows.[22][23]

Their third album, Attitude City, released on July 17, 2015. It was one of the top 20 best-selling albums on Amazon.com, and peaked at #1 on Billboard's US Comedy Albums chart.[24]

On August 3, 2015, Ninja Sex Party performed with Steel Panther at their House of Blues venue, singing "Party All Day."[25] The bands have collaborated on multiple occasions, with Steel Panther making a cameo in the band's "Road Trip" music video, singer Michael Starr providing vocals for "6969", and Satchel performing guitars on "Limelight".[26][27]

On October 7, 2015, Avidan released the single "Firefly" with Peter Lennox.[28] The two had previously worked together as the atmospheric band Skyhill from 2006 to 2007.[29] The album was acclaimed for the band's "maturing in both lyrics and sound" over their previous album.[30]

Under the Covers albums and Cool Patrol (2016–2019)[]

On February 23, 2016, a music video was released for their cover of "Take On Me"; the video for their cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was released one week later, on March 1, 2016. On March 4, 2016, Under the Covers was released to the public. The album features guests appearances by Tupper Ware Remix Party and Super Guitar Bros.[31] The album debuted on the Billboard charts at #9 in Top Album Sales, #2 in Independent Albums, #3 in Rock Albums, and #17 in the Top 200 Albums.[32][33][34][35]

On October 18, 2016, a music video was released for the title song of their next comedy album, Cool Patrol, which features YouTube personalities Jacksepticeye and Markiplier. On February 16, 2017, the music video for the second single off Cool Patrol, "Eating Food in the Shower," was released.[36]

Ninja Sex Party performing in Dallas in August 2018, as a part of their "Tour de Force" tour.

On June 28, 2017, the band announced on their Facebook page that they have completed all the songs for their second cover album, Under the Covers, Vol. II, and its release date of October 27, 2017. The following day, they released the official track listing for the album. On October 11, 2017, they announced that fans can pre-order a deluxe signed version or a deluxe unsigned version, both including posters. The next day, they released a music video for their cover of "Pour Some Sugar on Me".

On October 2, 2017, the band announced that their Rock Hard 2017 Tour was complete, and thanked everyone who participated in the tour.[37]

In November 2017, Avidan mentioned in an episode of Game Grumps that NSP had finished most of the recording of Cool Patrol and that the band is aiming for a June 2018 release for the album.[38][39] On March 6, 2018, the band released their new original song "Orgy for One" alongside its music video on March 6, 2018. Later that day, they confirmed that most of Cool Patrol's post-production was completed, with the band aiming at a "probable July release" which would be preceded with two new original song releases in the meantime.[40] On May 8, 2018, they announced that they were currently recording Under the Covers, Vol. III, and were aiming for a mid-2019 release.[41]

In May 2018, Wecht debuted Ninja Brian's All-Star Variety Luau Spectacular, his own recurring live musical comedy show in which he portrays his Ninja Brian character, minus Avidan.[42][43][44] The band also started a new tour, titled Tour de Force, concurrently with the release of the new album, from June 11 to October 19, 2018.[45]

On June 25, 2018, the band released the music video for the song "Danny Don't You Know", along with the official release date of Cool Patrol, August 17. The video featured actor Finn Wolfhard, a friend of Avidan since he had appeared on Game Grumps in January 2017 and a fan of the band, as a younger Danny Sexbang.[46] The band called "Danny Don't You Know" their "favorite-ever song", both musically and as a video.[47] It became the #1 trending video on YouTube.[48][49] Cool Patrol was released on August 17, 2018 and immediately reached #1 on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart, and remains there as of September 28, 2018.[50]

In August 2018, Avidan and Wecht hosted an AMA on Reddit where Avidan confirmed that "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult, "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel, "Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera, and "Down Under" by Men at Work would appear on Under the Covers, Vol. III. The duo then went on to tell RIFF Magazine that the album would also include covers of songs by Rush, Def Leppard, the Bee Gees, and Michael Jackson.[51] As of November 2018, ten tracks have been confirmed for the album.

On September 17, 2018, Ninja Sex Party, along with Tupper Ware Remix Party, performed a censored version of "Danny Don't You Know" on the late-night talk show Conan as a musical guest, making their live television debut.[52][53] This censored version, which replaced the word "fuck" with "heck" and "hell," was released on Spotify on September 21 under the title "Danny Don't You Know (Cool as Heck Version)".[54]

In December 2018, the band was selected by Billboard as the #1 Comedy Album Artist of the year, with Cool Patrol being selected as the #1 comedy album of the year.[55][56]

On January 5, 2019, Avidan announced an upcoming Ninja Sex Party song on his Instagram titled "Mystic Crystal", which he described as a "13-minute song about wizards."[57] On the March 26 episode of Game Grumps, Avidan revealed that the band was about to re-shoot a music video for their cover of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson for Under the Covers, Vol. III in the wake of the documentary Leaving Neverland, stating that "we can't align ourselves with that kind of stuff."[58]

On August 1, 2019, German YouTube personality and musician Flula Borg released the song "Self-Care Sunday", featuring Ninja Sex Party.[59] On November 1, 2019, the band released a music video for their cover of "We Built This City" by Starship to promote pre-orders for Under the Covers, Vol. III.[60] The music video for their cover of "Down Under" by Men At Work was released on November 8, 2019.[61] The album was released on November 15.[62]

The Prophecy (2019–present)[]

On November 25, 2019, the band premiered a new original song, "The Mystic Crystal", their longest song yet at almost 12 minutes. They also announced that, despite having financed all their previous music videos themselves, the video they envisioned for "The Mystic Crystal" was too expensive to do so, and therefore started selling $20 pins for fans who wished to support the making of the video.[63] The pins were sold out on December 8, making the financing campaign successful.[64]

On December 14, 2019, the band released "The Decision Part 2: Ten Years Later", a music video celebrating the band's 10 year anniversary and acting as a sequel to "The Decision", Ninja Sex Party's second-ever song originally released on December 14, 2009; the video also revealed the title of their next original album, The Prophecy.[65][66]

On April 1, 2020, they released the music video for "I Don't Know What We're Talking About".[67]

On September 28, The Prophecy was officially announced for an October 16 release,[68] with the videos for lead singles “Thunder & Lightning”, “Wondering Tonight” and “It’s Bedtime” each being released respectively on October 2nd, 9th and 16th.

Public image[]

Wecht manages all Ninja Sex Party social media accounts, as well as Starbomb's and formerly Game Grumps.[69]

The mobile game Shooting Stars features a boss named Grump Dan, who is a reference to Danny Sexbang.[70]

Members[]

Ninja Sex Party performing with Tupper Ware Remix Party in Nashville in 2017. From left to right: Doctor Sung, Avidan, Wecht, and Lord Phobos, with Havve Hogan on drums in the background.

Band members

  • Dan Avidan (Danny Sexbang) – lead and backing vocals (2009–present)
  • Brian Wecht (Ninja Brian) – keyboards, programming, spoken and backing vocals (2009–present)

Session and touring musicians

Discography[]

Main article: Ninja Sex Party discography
Original albums
Cover albums

References[]

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  3. ^ Augustborn, Nicolas (9 January 2013). "Ninja Sex Party Interview". YouTube. Nicolas Augustborn.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Nelsen, Lydia (24 May 2013). "Ninja Sex Party Interview on Lydia Wants to Know". YouTube. Third String Kicker. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
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  41. ^ Jump up to: a b Ninja Sex Party [@ninjasexparty] (May 8, 2018). "tentative album schedule: August 2018: Cool Patrol December 2018: @starbomb 3 mid-2019: UTC 3 all w/ @TWRPband fuck" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
  42. ^ [1]
  43. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2018-07-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  44. ^ Wecht, Brian [@bwecht] (May 4, 2018). "Ninja Brian's All-Star Variety Luau Spectacular will be having its first-ever LA show at @theroxy on May 16th! Music! Comedy! Other weird stuff! With @SuperMegaShow @JPincorporated Sugar Rum Tantrum & more! Tickets: t.co/TD9RwhkdEd t.co/KINt2N4XzV" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
  45. ^ Ninja Sex Party [@ninjasexparty] (May 4, 2018). "We are proud af to announce...TOUR DE FORCE 2018! Come see us and @TWRPband rock your face/body/butt off!!! All tickets go on sale Friday May 11th at 10 AM local time! t.co/DqpAW21VwE" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
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  47. ^ Ninja Sex Party [@ninjasexparty] (June 26, 2018). "What a week! We just: - finished the first leg of Tour de Force 2018 - put out our favorite-ever song & video, Danny Don't You Know - announced the release of our next original album (Aug 17!) THANK YOU, everyone, for all your support this week - you're the best!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
  48. ^ Barrett, Sean [@mrseanbarrett] (June 26, 2018). "Wow! Our video is #1 Trending on Youtube! #ninjasexparty @ninjasexparty t.co/zH4Vqq4G4t" (Tweet). Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
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  59. ^ Ninja Sex Party [@ninjasexparty] (November 1, 2019). "Check out the first music video for Under The Covers Vol 3: "We Built This City" by Starship, featuring the amazing @TWRPband on instruments! t.co/T7YAGoEGCW" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
  60. ^ Wecht, Brian (2019-11-07). "ok so no big deal just gonna have a new music video out tomorrow just your usual thing where you go to australia and play a bunch of shows and film a sick concert video you know the thing we do all the time *yawn*". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
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  63. ^ Ninja Sex Party [@ninjasexparty] (December 13, 2019). "The pins are now sold out, which means the Mystic Crystal video is funded!!! Watch this vid to find out some more details, and THANK YOU! t.co/MbYvoKoC9I" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
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  67. ^ "Our new album "The Prophecy" comes out on October 16, and pre-sale signed copies (which come with an exclusive NSP pin!) go live this Friday, October 2! OMG!!!!!!!!". Ninja Sex Party's Facebook. September 28, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  68. ^ "Geek.com interview". Geek.com. September 13, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  69. ^ "Shooting Stars!". VGFacts. Retrieved 2018-07-27.

External links[]

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