Doctor Who fan music
Fans of Doctor Who have created a number of professional and semi-professional music projects. Some have recorded in the filk genre, while others have formed pop-rock bands.
History
The 1980s-1990s
The novelty band The Bessies, made up of Chris Taberham and Peter Finklestone, played the convention circuit. They released a 1991 four song audio cassette called Beat 'n' Bop.
2000s
Professional comedy musician and Who fan Mitch Ben has several Doctor Who-based songs in his repetoire which he has played on BBC Radio and at live concerts. Just one, "Dr. Who Girl", from his Radio Face album, has gotten an official release.
A newer innovation, Time Lord Rock (or Trock) is a genre of music created by Alex Day. He formed a band, Chameleon Circuit, which included himself, Charlie McDonnell, Liam Dryden and Chris Beattie, and promoted it via YouTube and MySpace. It takes it inspiration from Wizard Rock, a genre of music created by Harry Potter fans who sing about the Harry Potter universe.
An interview with two of Chameleon Circuit's members featured in Doctor Who Magazine 410.
The Trock movement has gained significant traction with the success and popularity of Chameleon Circuit's first album.
In August of 2009, indie label DFTBA Records released Trock On!, a compilation of trock songs written by their most popular artists who perform TROCK songs.
2010s
On 18 May 2010, Parry Gripp (lead singer of Nerf Herder) wrote and performed a song entitled "Doctor Who", containing several references to Doctor Who. This song was written as part of his "Song of the Week" series of songs. [1]
On 29 March 2011, Stephen A. Willis posted in the world's main Doctor Who online forum, suggesting a virtual orchestra and choir called the Doctor Who Fan Orchestra. He offered his arrangement of Murray Gold's "I am the Doctor" and mixed together the audio recordings and video recordings. Since then, it has come up with many well known Doctor Who soundtracks by Murray Gold, such as "This is Gallifrey", "Vale Decem", "Rose's Theme" "Doomsday", all main Dalek themes and music from The Impossible Astronaut.
While working on his 2012 album BiTrektual, a collection of humorous Star Trek and Star Wars songs, dark cabaret singer Aurelio Voltaire wrote and recorded "It's Bigger On the Inside", a bawdy tribute to the Doctor and the TARDIS, due to overwhelming fan demand that a Doctor Who song be included.
On 22 February 2014 American nerdcore rapper Devo Spice released I Am the Doctor, a comedy concept album based on Doctor Who. The album contains 12 tracks: one centred upon the eras of each of the eleven television Doctors which had appeared at that point, and a track paying general tribute to the series. The album features cameo appearances by Katy Manning, Peter Davison, and Sophie Aldred.
On November 22, 2013, the American Trock band known as Legs Nose Robinson, released their first single, "The Oncoming Storm," as part of a tribute video to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. One year later, they released their first EP, with "The Oncoming Storm" as its title track. With subject matter including the Weeping Angles, River Song, and the Doctor's relationship to his T.A.R.D.I.S., the EP culminated in a farewell to the 11th Doctor with "Goodbey Bowtie."
In early 2015, LNR began playing live shows in their native Tennessee, and they are currently working on their first full length album. They have also begun to put out a series of webisodes, called "The UNIT Files" that explore the alien personas that they adopt on stage and in their videos.
On the 22nd of July 2015 Australian geek pop singer-songwriter Meri Amber released an album of Doctor Who inspired songs called Pop Goes The TARDIS. The album includes 13 tracks, two of which are parodies (She's Blue and If Only I Couldn't Turn Back Time), one which is mash up of ten songs that made guest appearances on the show (Doctor Who Guest Song Mash) and ten other original tracks.
External links
- io9.strung out on science fiction - It's Not Filk - It's Trock!
- DFTBA Records Wiki - Chameleon Circuit
- "I Am The Doctor" - first music video by Doctor Who Fan Orchestra
- "It's Bigger On The Inside" - Official YouTube Video by Aurelio Voltaire
- "Pop Goes The TARDIS" - Meri Amber
Footnotes
- ↑ Parrygripp.com - Song of the week for May 18, 2010. accessed 11th July 2010
