Tucked away in an industrial section of West Midtown Atlanta is Terminal West, an intimate concert venue that hosted Galactic Empire and Bit Brigade, with support from Button Masher (Jake Silverman), on Sunday night. Located inside the King Plow Arts Center, this 625-person–capacity space was originally a 1930s iron and steel foundry, and it still maintains its industrial-chic vibe with exposed brick, steel, and high ceilings. With the weather in the pleasant low-70s, fans, including a handful of patrons in full Star Wars regalia, arrived early and then filled the standing-room-only, general-admission space as soon as the venue doors opened at 6:30 p.m.
Clicking the start button on the night at 7:30 p.m. was Jake Silverman, also known as Button Masher. Armed with just his Mac and Novation keyboard, Silverman delighted the early crowd with his video-game-inspired electronic compositions, set against the companion backdrop of a large video screen showcasing retro-gaming nostalgia segments.
Of particular note, Silverman received the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, for his and Charlie Rosen’s arrangement of “Meta Knight’s Revenge” as recorded by the 8-Bit Big Band. In 2024, he was also nominated for a second Grammy for his work with Rosen on their arrangement of “The Last Surprise,” in the category of Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. As mentioned on his official site, Button Masher can be heard performing with notable artists such as Phoenix, the 8-Bit Big Band, Evan Marien, Adam Neely, Sungazer, Andrew Huang, and DJ Cutman.
Terminal West leveled up at 8:15 p.m. with Galactic Empire, the galaxy’s foremost instrumental Star Wars cosplay heavy metal John Williams tribute band. While almost impossible to describe without seeing it with your own eyes, imagine a Star Wars convention colliding with a high-octane heavy metal show, equal parts nerdy, theatrical, and musically impressive. The Galactic Empire experience sits perfectly at the intersection of fandom culture and hard rock, guitar-driven showmanship. Tracks like “The Imperial March,” “Cantina Band,” and “Duel of the Fates” stayed surprisingly faithful to the original compositions, albeit just louder, faster, and executed with the attitude of spacefaring metal villains.
Not to be overlooked for their Star Wars dedication, Galactic Empire has expanded “to this universe,” as they put it, delivering enjoyable renditions of the “Superman” theme as well as the thunderous theme from “The Terminator.” In fact, if you pick up their latest release, Cinemetal, which dropped a few weeks ago (October 24), you’ll be treated to additional musical twists on songs from other popular film franchises, including “Avengers,” “Indiana Jones,” and “Harry Potter.” Galactic Empire is a musical force to be reckoned with and a supercharged spectacle for any universe.
Galactic Empire
Carson Slovak — Bass (aka “OD-66”) and co-producer
Grant McFarland — Drums (aka “Blastbeat”) and co-producer
Josh Willis — Guitars
C.J. Masciantonio — Guitars
Chris Kelly — Lead guitar
The boss level of the night belonged to Athens, Georgia–based rock band Bit Brigade. Founded in 2004, Bit Brigade is currently on the road promoting their performance as “blasting through a full glitchless speedrun of Mega Man X, clocking in at under an hour. All Robot Masters will be defeated, and all Suit Upgrades will be acquired on our journey to defeat Sigma. The soundtrack will contain not only tracks from Mega Man X, but also X2 and X3, as well as some bonus classic Mega Man tunes.”
As unusual as it may sound, the solid musicianship of Bit Brigade typically performs the soundtrack of an NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) game live as a musical companion to speedrunner Noah McCarthy’s gameplay projected on a big screen. It was definitely a first for me, but I was clearly in the minority on Sunday night. The multi-generational Atlanta crowd was cheering and laughing throughout as Bit Brigade brought Mega Man X to life with their live soundtrack perfectly synced to the on-screen speedrun.
Galactic Empire and Bit Brigade barrel-roll through the galaxy for another week, with their final cantina stop at the Crafthouse Stage & Grill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, November 25th.
Bit Brigade
Bryant Williamson – Guitars
Mike Albanese – Drums
Luke Fields – Bass
Noah McCarthy – Speedrunner
Taylor Washington – Guitars
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.