"I'm a cartoon nerd from way back"

Some of the most fun I've ever had in the studio, has been while singing music for animation projects or voicing cartoon characters.       Recording  the theme music for Clash Royale, was a prime example. Back in 2016,, I was asked to record this hysterical parody version of Queen's "Flash Gordon" with custom lyrics about the game, Clash Royale, a new spin-off of the hugely successful game "Clash of Clans".  I was given the instruction that I should be careful not to "sound too much like Freddy Mercury", for which I laughed and said, "no problem…on my best day, I couldn't sound like Freddy's one-of-a-kind, rock-god tenor majesty.... not to worry!"   So, I created this character of a half-crazed muppet who was also a heavy metal frontman.  I was trying to channel Justin Hawkins, the lead singer from the band "The Darkness", ( whom I reve and a little bit of Gonzo from The Muppet Show.  That was my character.  When I was done everybody in the production said it was great, we laughed,  and we all loved it, confident that we had created something funny, rockin', quirky, and clearly not the original.

A week later we got a note from the legal department saying we needed to do it again because "it sounded too much like Freddy Mercury".  You can't make this stuff up. We re-cut a few sections added some other harmonies and “voila”. the rest is history. Honestly this is one of my favorite studio projects ever.