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Counting Down - The Musical
My name is Prince, your robotic servant. I'd be happy to help you get where you need to go...Oh you find this site confusing? Let me file that for you, my good sir, under things I don't care about....There! Problem solved! Oh, and good news. I figured out where you can go...
THE PEOPLE BEHIND COUNTING DOWN
DR. KROG - CREATOR, DEMO FEATURED VOCALIST
"It's worth telling you I'm a psychologist. I like psychological art. I like meaning. I got into music to help manage big feelings. Needed big music to match. Don't worry about me. Everything about me is in the project. Go learn about robots. Or perhaps the talented collaboration team for our first demo!"
AVERY BRITT - FEATURED VOCALIST
Avery Britt (she/her) is a mezzo-soprano earning an undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia, doubly emphasizing in Music Performance and Music Composition with a certificate in Film & Media Scoring. Avery is the primary vocal lead in the demo of Counting Down, showing off her range and abilities for three unique parts: Harriett the Speaker, Claire Horizon, and Northstar. The soaring haunting yearning of Counting Down is brought to life by her amazing voice and vocal choices. Avery currently studies with Dr. Amy Petrongelli and has previously worked with Dr. Wanda Yang Temko, Professor Michael Hadary, Broadway performer Amy Spanger, and musical theatre vocalists in the Atlanta area. In Athens, she performs with the UGA Opera Theatre, where she appeared as Julia Bertram in Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park and Serpetta in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera under the direction of Daniel Ellis. Other university singing opportunities include performing at the UGA Morehead Honors College Convocation and singing solo and ensemble work with the UGA Hodgson Singers, Repertory Singers, University Chorus, and UGA Treble Choir. Britt has recently been involved in the new music scene, performing works at the UGA New Music Festival this past February and in multiple student composition recitals. She still stays true to her musical theater roots through performances with regional organizations including donor cabarets held by Alumni Musical Productions. Along with performing, Britt is a composer, conductor, and music director with experience in concert music, contemporary music, media music, and musical theatre.
JACKSON LEE - FEATURED VOCALIST (Not Pictured)
RHYS (KROG JR.) - ART, SOCIAL MEDIA, WEB DESIGN
"Don't worry about me either, I'm just here to get it out there. If you're reading this, I did my job!"
WE ARE SEEKING SINGERS OR MUSICIANS TO CONTRIBUTE (PAID). USE THE CONTACT FORM TO REACH OUT!
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Written and Composed by Dr. Krog
Demo Release with Performances by:
Avery Britt (Harriett the Speaker, Claire Horizon, PhD., Northstar Horizon/Black Star)
Jackson Lee (Eddie, Sam)
Dr. Krog (Tyrant, Prince, Jones)
Additional writing and vocal arrangement:
Avery Britt
All filters and tuning are effects on human singing. No AI was used.
ABOUT THE ART
All official pixel graphics are done by Rhys. Any concept art, comics, or sketches were done in an earlier phase of the project by commissioned artists or Dr. Krog.
ALL artists were paid with the intent of commissioning real art done by humans. If any graphics used for social media or concept art pieces posted are found to be generated by AI, please use the contact form to let us now, so we can remove it. This project may be about robots, but it is made strictly by humans.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
"Warning: This section is too detailed. It's best appreciated by those who enjoy trivia and finding hidden gems. Maybe go listen to some music or look elsewhere." - Your Humble Robotic Servant, Prince Horizon.
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Counting Down is about grieving. And generational family trauma.
The original idea was inspired by an old Commodore 64 video game called “Countdown to Shutdown.” Release 40 years ago, the game featured 8 “androids,” of varying attributes, controlled the player and tasked with entering a nuclear power plant and cooling the core before a meltdown. The game is simple in design, but rich in data and provided an ample canvas for me to create my own narratives.
I played this game in earnest between the ages of 7 and 9. I knew these bots, despite them having no descriptions beyond a well deployed attribute system. Gary Yorke designed this game - he created tons and tons of total killer C64 games (look him up). Anyway - this one really got me. I was always captivated by these bots and (for me) their doomed mission to the core.
It represents a pivotal time in childhood development; maybe a time when a kind of cataclysmic shattering took place. And cores melted down...
If we’re getting closer to the truth, Counting Down is about a lot of things. Meaning and identity and time. My brother had a bad accident in there. My dad had a brain anyeurism but lived on - albiet with a different personality. Family came apart at the seams and reformed and fell apart again, over and over, as is the way of things...
And like those robots in the burning Reactor I can trace the first alarm to the meltdown in these cataclysmic childhood dramas. Metaphorically and literally (at least in terms of the game), I could never could stop the meltdown. That was a long time ago. I didn't always realize how much it bugged me that I always lost the game.
More recently, in the two months before my father died, I wrote the first draft of Counting Down. I got as far as I could with it. And it sounded like a wild concept album. I found a killer collaborator and advanced music while she brought the pain.
And so we've arrived. I've sent the robots into the reactor again, back through time to the scene of the original meltdown - to ask could I change the past - should I just meltdown - can I save them - can I save me?
Do they win this time? Can I find forgiveness and mercy? Do I even want to?
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This DEMO RELEASE of COUNTING DOWN is something we feel is worth sharing, and we hope worth inspiring others to collaborate.
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Original Still from Countdown to Shutdown on C64
<<<<WARNING - MAUDLIN PITCH DETECTED - GET BACK TO THE ROBOTS >>>
World Building:
So in Counting Down, my bots are no human controlled androids. They are rich, complex, emotional beings brimming with unique motivations, neuroses, and idiosyncrasies. Fundamentally, they are friends, lovers, and well rounded, interesting people. And they face an existential threat even greater than a nuclear meltdown. They grapple with what it means to be alive at all as they each strive to grow and change. And when we think of counting down to a meltdown, it’s not just a power plant anymore. It’s an emotional meltdown, or even the breakdown of reality, set against the easy-to-understand conflict that captivated me as a child.
In a sense, these aren’t songs and this isn’t music. This is psychological art about GRIEVING:
Beauty
Friendship
Longing
Determination
Nobility
Freedom
These are the collapsed stars of my heart. Compressed into a singularity to gravitationally warp time. Because that is what I am doing. I'M BENDING REALITY WITH YOU. I don’t need to play the game again. I need to finish a story. This is how I stop the meltdown. This is how I save everything the way I couldn’t as a child.
Before the clock counts down…
So now you're in the black box too....Sitting beside me. In the code. What's it going to be? Acceptance? Anger? Denial? How about something totally different?