Years active 2009–present Record label Ninja Sex Party | Website ninjasexparty.com | |
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Origin New York City, New York, U.S. Associated acts StarbombSkyhillTupper Ware Remix PartySteel Panther Albums Under the Covers, Attitude City, Strawberries and Cream, NSFW Profiles | ||
Ninja Sex Party (often shortened to NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht, created in 2009 in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two thirds of the video game-based parody musical trio Starbomb together with frequent collaborator Arin Hanson, and as a part of the YouTube Let's Play webseries Game Grumps, also with Hanson.
Contents
- 20092012 Formation and early career
- 20132014 Strawberries and Cream Game Grumps and Starbomb
- 20152016 Attitude City Under the Covers and collaborations
- 2016present Cool Patrol
- Members
- Discography
- Songs
- References
The work of Ninja Sex Party typically consists of synthpop or rock-oriented humorous songs, frequently on the topics of sex, seduction, love, or fantasy, with Avidan and Wecht portraying the characters of Danny Sexbang, an idiotic, exuberant, and strangely-dressed hypersexual Jew, and Ninja Brian, an uncommunicative, homicidal ninja; however, their 2016 cover album, Under the Covers, saw them take on serious music for the first time, covering 12 songs originally released during the 1970s and 1980s. To date, NSP has released four studio albums, in addition to two albums as a part of Starbomb, while also releasing original, non-musical material on their YouTube channel.
2009–2012: Formation and early career
Avidan, who previously sang in the bands The Northern Hues and Skyhill, initially conceptualized the band. In need of a producer, Avidan was introduced to Wecht, who was musical director of a comedy troupe in New York, by mutual friends at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. The band was formed in early 2009 with Avidan going by his stage-name/character "Danny Sexbang" & Wecht by "Ninja Brian". Inspired by The Lonely Island and Flight of the Conchords, Ninja Sex Party is about "a Jewish superhero who wears a unitard, with his best friend who's a ninja, and together they sing songs about dicks, and try to hit [unsuccessfully] on women."
They began performing together that summer, appearing in various film festivals, including SXSW, Dragon Con, and the LACS. They have been awarded "Best Comedy Video" by Industry Power Play, as well as the "Trophy of Awesomeness" on Vimeo's video website. They won "Best Comedy Video Short" and "Best Comedy Song" in Improvisation News' 2010 INNY Awards. Their video "Sex Training" also appeared on the Comedy page of The Huffington Post.
In 2011, they released their first album, NSFW, on iTunes. It includes many of their songs featured on YouTube.
2013–2014: Strawberries and Cream, Game Grumps, and Starbomb
The band released their second album, Strawberries and Cream, in April 2013. On the week of May 4, 2013, the album debuted at #9 on Billboard's Comedy Albums charts.
In July the band released the single "Party of Three", off their third album. The song featured an appearance by animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson.
In late June, Jon Jafari left his position as co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps, and was replaced with Avidan by Hanson. Avidan would also join Ross O'Donovan as co-host of the Game Grumps spin-off show Steam Train, where both play PC games.
In September 2013, the band composed "Dick Figures: The Movie: The Song" for Mondo Media's Dick Figures: The Movie soundtrack.
In late 2013, Avidan, Wecht, and Hanson teamed up to create a side project band named Starbomb, with Avidan as the lead singer-songwriter. The band writes parody songs about video games, bringing together the sexually provocative music stylings of Ninja Sex Party and the video game-based humor of Hanson.
On the week of February 15, 2014, Starbomb, the group's eponymous album, would hold the #1 spot in Comedy Albums for 4 consecutive weeks. Starbomb also reached #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers charts for 2 consecutive weeks, starting with the week of January 4, 2014. In July, 2014, Ninja Sex Party performed a concert for San Diego Comic-Con International at Nerd HQ, Petco Park. They also released the music video for "Why I Cry" during the concert.
2015–2016: Attitude City, Under the Covers, and collaborations
In 2015, two singles were released by the band Tupper Ware Remix Party, collaborating with Ninja Sex Party, titled "The Hit" and "Baby, NYC".
Their third album, Attitude City, released on July 17, 2015. It was one of the top 20 best-selling albums on Amazon.com, and peaked at #1 on Billboard's US Comedy Albums chart.
An album of cover songs, Under the Covers, was released on March 4, 2016. The album features guests appearances by Tupper Ware Remix Party and Super Guitar Bros.
On August 3, 2015, Ninja Sex Party performed with Steel Panther at their House of Blues venue, singing "Party All Day." The bands have collaborated on multiple occasions, with Steel Panther making a cameo in the band's "Road Trip" music video, and providing vocals for "6969."
On October 7, 2015, Avidan released the one-track album Firefly with Peter Lennox. The two had previously worked together as the atmospheric band Skyhill from 2006 to 2007. The album was acclaimed for the band's "maturing in both lyrics and sound" over their previous album.
On February 23, 2016, a music video was released for their cover of "Take On Me"; the video for their cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was released one week later, on March 1, 2016. On March 4, 2016, Under the Covers was released to the public. The album debuted on the Billboard charts at #9 in Top Album Sales, #2 in Independent Albums, #3 in Rock Albums, and #17 in the Top 200 Albums.
2016–present: Cool Patrol
On October 18, 2016, a music video was released for the lead single off their fourth album Cool Patrol. On February 16, 2017 the music video for the second single off Cool Patrol, "Eating Food in the Shower," was released.
Members
Discography
Songs
6969Attitude City · 2015
Dinosaur Laser Fight2011
If We Were Gay2011