Check Out This Interview with the Head of Ongaku Overdrive Kent Ward About the Upcoming Zelda Tribute Concert Power, Wisdom, and Courage
Posted on November 09 2018 by Kristen G. Rosario
You can put your passion into anything you cherish, no matter what it is. Some put there love into sports, others put it into art, while others devote it to video games. That is what one man I’ve actually known personally the last few years has done. Kent Ward has taken his love for the nerd music culture and has expanded it for all of Florida to see.
Kent runs a group here in Florida called Ongaku Overdrive, which are dedicated to showing everyone just what nerd music scene is all about. For over five years, Kent has had numerous events celebrating video game music with fans and gamers alike. That just goes to show how dedicated Kent is to his craft.
In about a week, Ongaku Overdrive will be throwing a new event called Power, Wisdom, and Courage. This concert is not only a tribute and celebration of the Zelda series, but also to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Ocarina of Time.
Since I only live about 5-10 minutes away, I got a chance to sit down with Kent and talk more about Ongaku Overdrive, as well as what to expect from Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Here are just a couple of the questions I got to ask him. If you want to see and hear everything I talked to him about, make sure to check out the full interview in the video above!
Kristen: “For those who don’t know let them know what own Ongaku Overdrive is all about because I know what it’s about.”
Kent: “All right, so Ongaku is the Japanese word for music and that’s primarily what we’re about. So if you’re familiar with things like Nerdapalooza or MAGFest, this would come along those lines but all a little bit more otaku flavor. We focus on video game bands. Nerdcore, hip hop, chiptunes. And showcasing prominent acts from those communities several times a year here in Orlando. We’ve grown a little bit to showcase other things that would be linked with independent games, artists, spenders, and some stuff of that nature.”
Kristen: “So what was your original inspiration for starting the group? I know you’ve been a fan for a while now but you only just recently a few years ago started up. Describe what was the original inspiration for that.”
Kent: “So around this time in 2012 Nerdapalooza was still active in Orlando and that was the big music festival at the time. But for whatever reason they didn’t seem to have much of an interest in reaching out to the anime community. We didn’t really see them at Anime Festival Orlando and they didn’t really seem to have a presence at MegaCon which at the time had a prominent anime trend.
So I was pretty much frustrated by them and I really didn’t talk to any Nerdapalooza staff about it. I talked to people that were close to them and the idea that there was no crossover with their music or anime which I thought was bull crap was on there and Nerdapalooza as were other people that were anime fans but feel like there needs to be way more people. So my thought process was ‘well they’re not going to try to reach out to the anime community, then I will’. So I’m still running this anime club called Propeller Anime out of Orlando, Florida.”
Kristen: “Right.”
Kent: “So we’re going to do a charity event, a holiday charity party with the toy drive and all that good stuff. But I thought, you know, this might be a good idea to start seeing if my theory’s true by fellow if you put in like really good nerdy music acts in front of the anime fans and they would take that very well.”
Well it looks like Kent’s went through some early testing before bringing Ongaku Overdrive to life. Make sure to check out the full interview in the video above and don’t forget to keep it locked here to Zelda Dungeon as we will continue to bring coverage in regards to Power, Wisdom, and Courage.
You can also keep up with Ongaku Overdrive through their official website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Patreon, YouTube, and Twitch pages! Also let us know what you think in the comments below!
Kristen G. Rosario is an Editor who joined Zelda Dungeon back in September of 2015. His current goal is to become a full-time video game journalist, hoping to eventually gain a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. While he pursues that dream, he not only takes care of his adorable dachshund Angel, but also helps run a YouTube channel with his brother. The Zelda series is a quest he hasn’t fully completed yet, but hopes to get there one day.
