Allow me to date myself for a moment: when I was 12, I walked to a local record shop and purchased Primus' Sailing the Seas of Cheese ... on a cassette. Little did I know that some 17 years later that the band's bassist and vocalist, Les Claypool, would be providing music for a videogame. Would it have changed anything? Would I have picked up a copy of C & C Music Factory's Gonna Make You Sweat instead? Probably not. 

To the point: Gamecock Media Group and developer Red Fly Studio's have announced that Claypool will be providing original, in-game music for their Mushroom Men titles when they ship later this year on the Nintendo DS and Wii. This would normally be the part where I snag a quote from the press release, but Claypool rambles on and on about hunting, so you'll have to check the jump for his full spiel. 

The official Mushroom Men Web site has also been update, and now features the Les Claypool written theme song. Don't forget to check out our previews of both Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars for the Wii and Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi for the Nintendo DS.

Mushroom Men Hard To Find In Real Life, Easy To Find Online

Now Featuring Music Courtesy of Les Claypool

Cockpit, Austin, TX – April 11, 2008 – Gamecock Media Group today announced that a completely revamped Mushroom Men website is alive and thriving on the internet [www.MushroomMen.com]. The site is packed with new information about Red Fly Studio’s “Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars” for Wii™ and “Mushroom Men: Rise of The Fungi” for Nintendo DS™, and also features original music by Les Claypool that will be used in-game.

“Getting Les Claypool involved with Mushroom Men has always been a dream scenario! Having him on board and collaborating with everyone is a really exciting time for the project,” said Kris Taylor, Co-Founder and Art Director of Red Fly Studio. “Now with the new website up and running, we hope people can really come and get a vibe for what we are creating with the Mushroom Men universe.”

In both versions of the game players are thrust into a raging war taking place between enemy factions of mushroom men. As a brave Bolete, players view the world from the entirely surreal perspective of a three inch high mushroom, transforming common household trinkets and trash into weapons and tools that wreak havoc. The game will feature rich environments we, as humans, take for granted, and an entertaining combination of exploration and combat.

MushroomMen.com is the go-to source for all the latest information about the world of boletes, morels, amanitas, and lepiotas. Sprouting from simple links; viewers will find rendered art, videos, characters, weapon systems, screenshots, gameplay footage and more. For those with ears, they’ll be treated to Les Claypool’s (of “Primus” fame, and the creator of the theme songs for South Park and Robot Chicken) exclusive mushroom-inspired character and theme music. The original tracks will play an important role in the game’s audio gameplay experience.

"When Mushroom Men was first presented to me I was coincidentally on the perpetual late fall hunt for the elusive King Bolete mushrooms which dot the West Sonoma County landscape where myself and my family dwell,” said Les Claypool. “The yearly quest for these fabulous, fungal delicacies has become a bit of a seasonal obsession for myself and my two children over the past few years. Coupled with my son's obsession with fantasy gaming, it was all I could do to get anything else done around Rancho Relaxo once he got wind of the impending Mushroom Man game and the creator's interest in having me do the soundtrack. After seeing the design material and mock-ups online, I was queried on a daily basis whether or not I had ‘talked to the Mushroom guys’ and would they be sending us a beta version to try out. I knew at once that this was an opportunity to gain massive brownie points in the eyes of my offspring, a feat that becomes more and more difficult the closer they get to adolescence. Thanks Mushroom Men."
MushroomMen.com features the latest information about Mushroom Men and will be continually updated with new content over the next several months.