an interview with CEECIDE: THE INTERSECTION OF MUSIC, COMMUNITY & GAMING

7/19/2021

ceecide: The Intersection of Music, Community & Gaming
A Minecraft Benefit

Musician, gamer, and supporter of Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, Jonathan aka ceecide evolved a fun idea with friends, into a digital festival build for charity … and he is not stopping at just one event!

We at Sweet Relief, had the opportunity to digitally “sit down” with ceecide and chat about this original idea, how it came to be, and upcoming projects in the queue.

Read ceecide’s Q & A below.

SR: How did you first hear about Sweet Relief? Are you a musician yourself?

CC: Yeah, I am a musician myself, I've been creating and working on various projects for about 4 years now and having just released a new song called "GODS"! I heard about Sweet Relief Musicians Fund after my team and I realized the help that we could provide to people, so we started researching charities and when we found Sweet Relief and how they helped artists during these times, I knew right away that I wanted to support them.

SR: We know that you started the [digitally based] Ceecide Festival as a creative outlet during the pandemic with a group of music community friends? What were the steps involved to make this “Minecraft festival for artists” a reality?

CC: It's kind of funny how it started! It really was just a quick idea said by my friend lunafreya and me, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to make it a reality. I started off by working on the festival by myself and contacting a few musicians that I knew personally, but after I started working with one of my teammates, the scope of the festival really grew. We started emailing and calling hundreds of bands, booking managers, artists. It was something that we did as soon as we woke until we went to bed. Aside from getting the artists, we had to think about the technical aspects of it. Although it's not an in-person festival, we needed to create a Discord server where attendees could listen to the music live, as well as a place for the artists to perform. We needed to set up and create a Minecraft server which involved paying for server hosting as well as creating an entire neighborhood block by block. Then we needed to stream the event on Twitch so we had other team members with a powerful enough PC do that, sound-checking all the artists, hosting the event, etc. Some people may think that because it's a virtual event that it's a lot easier but there are many aspects involved in getting it all running smoothly!

SR: Can you share a bit more about the festival that is now going to be in its sophomore year?

CC: We've been organizing these events for a little over a year now and we've really been able to grow, become more experienced, and expand what we're able to do in terms of the artists we bring on and the virtual worlds that we create. We plan to create more festivals and create a fun experience that can also help charities in the process.

SR: Such a neat idea blending the intersections of music, gaming, and charity … is this a niche you see becoming more and more popular in the coming years?

CC: Definitely! I think virtual events are great for being able to combine the best of in-person concerts like live music, an experience with other fans, and getting to see your favorite artists, while also bringing the benefits of a virtual world where we can create anything we want, bring together artists from across the entire world, and have it accessible to people who may not be able to go out to a concert venue in-person. I think it's absolutely going to become more common. We already have many artists who are doing live streams on Twitch or Instagram live, but having it inside of a virtual world like Minecraft or a custom game is not done by a lot of big artists right now. As in-person concerts come back, I think virtual ones are still going to stay here due to what we're able to do and they're only going to get more advanced and more fun.

SR: Can you give us a walk through of how an “attendee” can interact with the platform. What is their POV?

CC: So if you were to attend one of our festivals and enter the Minecraft world, you would be greeted with the location that we've built that explains a bit about the world, tell you to have the music playing alongside Minecraft, and then allow you to explore the world with all the other attendees. With our first festival, there was a neighborhood and various houses you could explore, as well as having the main stage that had a light show, fog, and the artists on stage. Our latest festival actually had an entire world to explore, over a million block area which is the equivalent of exploring 620 miles. We also created characters to talk to in the houses, as well as fun mini-games like a parkour map where you jump from area to area. It's a lot of fun and I think that's something we really wanted to focus on. I remember thinking, "I want to have an experience that we wouldn't be able to have at an in-person festival". So creating an entire world with a story and live music and characters was exactly what I wanted, and it turned out so well.

SR: Can you give us a little bit of the “why” you chose Sweet Relief Musicians Fund as the charitable partner for the Ceecide Festival?

CC: When we first started Ceecide Festival, I saw the musicians that were struggling because of the pandemic and I wanted to help however I could. At first, we were going to raise money for the few musicians that I knew, but as the festival grew, we realized how much help we really could offer. When we found Sweet Relief Musicians Fund and realized that they had the same goals as us, it made perfect sense for us to donate to them.

SR: What are some exciting things we can expect to see from you and the team in the coming years?

CC: You should certainly expect more festivals, more fun, more great music. We're able to organize about 4 festivals per year and each one only grows more extravagant! I don't think I've really talked about this to anyone but I'm working on a really special festival that combines a large, explorable world with live music and also a custom-built game with characters and a story. Like I said before, I think creating something that isn't possible in an in-person festival is one of our main goals. So being able to tell a story as a creator and artist while also having other artists contribute and play live music is something I really want to do. Though it may take a while to create a whole video game haha! In the meantime, we're still planning our other festivals that will be announced on our Twitter and Instagram.

SR: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

CC: Well, I just released a new song called "GODS" with my friend lunafreya! It's the first single from my new album "HUMANBEING". The full project explores our perception of bodies, how that changes through relationships, and musically it combines ambient neo-classical piano with distorted 808s, hyperpop vocals, and rock guitar solos. I'm very excited to release it soon!

Learn more about ceecide and the Ceecide Festival.

Photography credit Jasmine Kerbel / IG: @jasminekerbel

PRESAVE CEECIDE’S NEW ALBUM “HUMANBEING”

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