Austinist on the Road: Indieroke visits Coachella for Sony PS3's SingStar launch!

As with our un-ending Indieroke dilemma and quest, the challenge (summed up by Paulina Bozek, Game Director for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) is to continuously add more songs to keep the collection fresh. Alex Hackford, Head of A&R, filters through the world of music today to decide on what tracks may be best suited for the game, taking care of the licensing as needed. He is quick to stress that this is an egalitarian process where emerging bands can also contribute, a far reaching new niche that could be utilized for the act's personal advancement.

SingStore currently houses 200 "English Version" songs (and each disc comes with 30) which is probably not the vast selection a player may desire but new songs are expected to be added every month. And while "filter" process would largely eliminate the "unpopular" karaoke songs for the best, it could also undermine the personal choice element of the whole experience -- there's is only so much choice if what you are choosing from is a tightly regulated database of songs (to be fair, a universal issue that encompasses all karaoke institutions). But in combining the worlds of gaming, music, user generated content, and yes, social networking, SingStar for PS3 takes the karaoke experience to a new level -- somewhat like PlayStation meets iTunes meets YouTube meets MySpace -- a four pronged assault set to challenge conventional karaoke bars and also allow the party to take place at anyone's home, while being accessible by everyone. In fact (and naturally) we couldn't not inquire whether it would be made available for bar events based on our own quest for bar-roke perfection -- the affirmative answer was along the lines of an "absolutely." No official word on whether Indieroke events may offer a stab at this game in the future but you'll read it here first.

Coachella, besides the insane lineup, is also home to many an art exhibit and the impeccably air-conditioned "Welcome to the New World of Gaming" tent. We wandered in on both our days (25th and 26th) at the festival to check out how the crowd was responding to SingStar in that environment. The centre-stage with the requisite two mics and one screen for the players, and a couple of bonus screens for the attendees (a must according to some Indieroke fans) made for a comprehensive set-up. There were also 2 smaller kiosks to each side of the stage for those not inclined to be in the spotlight. Comprehensive ratings ranging from "Good" to "Okay" to "Aweful" marked the various versions we enjoyed while at the tent. Main stage highlights included "Ordinary World" (Duran Duran) and "Suspicious Minds" (Elvis Presley). Even at 3 p.m. or so, the demand seemed reasonably strong, a queue was forming -- an impatient prospect was not too impressed by the time being taken on one of the side booths although the resulting selection of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The French Prince's "Summertime" eased the tension! Other stellar contributions by the Coachella-goers at Empire Polo Field included "Toxic" (Britney Spears) and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (Cyndi Lauper). But the true test of the weekend was yet to come -- what could we expect when the game was made available (with booze!) at an exclusive After-Party (free booze even) hosted by T-Mobile and Tone Def at Tradition Aviation, an airport hangar in Thermal, CA, five miles from the festival?

Divided into two main areas (not counting the burger van courtyard), the PlayStation SingStar Lounge and what could only be called the T-Mobile "Dance Party", the event went a long way in consolidating our belief that this thing was going to be entice even more shenanigans after-hours than it did in the afternoon runs. In comparison to Indieroke, early results were parallel -- for every Scissor Sisters sing-along there was a Whitney Houston moment, multiple performances of The Killers were matched by the balladry of Mr. Big. Evergreens like "Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean, "Cherry Pie" by Warrant and "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay made for a similarly diverse playlist while "Let's Dance" (David Bowie) was a selection during day as well night. The energy level and enthusiasm stayed high in the lounge even as the clock ticked close to 4 a.m. Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" was accompanied by some able dance routines by the singers and matched by an extremely vocal, often boisterous, and occasionally cheeky host. (We heard many a "Hi Baby!" blurts among other less mentionable things!) There was apparently a choice moment when former WCW and WWE legend (?) Stacy Keibler took the stage to do The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?", which we unfortunately missed, having taken a moment to sample DJ MomJeans' (a.k.a Danny Masterson, a.k.a "Hyde" from That 70's Show) set in the T-Mobile room. Further star power was contributed by an appearance (but sans SingStar performance) by Incubus singer Brandon Boyd. Regrettably no one seemed to have the courage to present their take of "Drive" by the California band. As the night waned into the morning hours, we took in our last few SingStar efforts, enjoyed DJ MomJeans' Hyde's mixes n' mashes (which at one time satisfied the floating crowd with Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, and The Outfield in the space of a few minutes), and finally made our way home from a day well spent researching the current state of cutting edge karaoke.

Oh, and before we end, a few selected stats learnt during the Saturday brunch presentation hosted by Sony along with BNC at the serene La Quinta Resort & Club (which ended with a live performance of Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" by the sporting PlayStation duo of Managing Producer Petro Piaseckyj and Sr. Manager of PR Jennifer Clark) -- Various specifically titled discs -- 90 of them (SingStar '80s and SingStar Rock Ballads to name just two) have been available since SingStar's launch in 2004 with 1,300 licensed songs. Each disc comes with 30 songs but of course, fans are encouraged to download much, much more off the afore-mentioned SingStore, for a small price of course. You can also check out samplings of the various international song lists for the PS3 version via Wikipedia. The game has sold 13 million units worldwide -- 5 million in last year alone. And yes, it is a whole lot of fun and one heck of a party in an easily accessible package.