At the top of their official website they proclaim, “Although skilled in a range of conventional musical instruments, we chose the iPhone and iPod Touch to create our music.” That’s right. Technology has been taken on a whole different level when the members of iBand decided to combine their love of music and modern gadgets.
The Creation of iBand
iBand is composed of three creative minds who are all in their mid-twenties. There is Marina who plays the piano and provides the vocals. Roger plays the bass and guitar. Then there’s Seb who plays the drums. Of course, these musical instruments are all formatted versions of iPhone and iPod Touch applications.
When I asked iBand how long ago they had decided to become this unusual but unique band, their answer was, “We’ve had the thought of making a band that uses the iPhone’s potential for some months now.” Their idea became a reality when programmers Mark Terry released “iAno” in mid-February, which is a piano for the iPhone, and when Shinya Kasatani released “PocketGuitar,” which one can guess is the guitar for the iPhone.
iBand Fans From Around The World
Originally, for their first “jam session,” they added on the Nintendo DS for rhythm. This video, which was posted on YouTube a few days after the band’s formation, has now attracted more than 2 million viewers since February 17th, 2008. When I asked what song they were playing, I was informed it was just all improvisation. Since their first video, they have now also experimented with the iPhoneSynth and the BeatPhone.
Gaining popularity for their pocket sized musicianship; iBand decided it was a good idea to launch an official website. This website allows fans to read updates as well as watch new “jam sessions.” The site also includes pictures of the process of composition, recording, and set-ups. Although they have been asked to put ads after their videos, they inform site visitors that they prefer donations.
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