The main Mark The Hammer YouTube channel has more than half a million subscribers, while its English-language alternative boasts close to 100, 000.īoth accomplished, analytical, artistic minds, it feels key to Start Again’s success that the duo see gaming as a chance to switch off – less interested in graphics and game engines than narrative drive and world-building. He’s since been picked up as the live guitarist/keyboardist for Italian pop-hip-hop icon J‑Ax.
Learning piano aged eight, he quickly graduated to electric guitar, bass and drums. “I was three years old when I first played on a Game Boy,” he smiles into the light of a bank of monitors, “and I never stopped.”įor readers not in the know, Mark is the uber-talented multi-instrumentalist who’s gained a reputation for uploading incisive, tongue-in-cheek videos to YouTube like Irritating Guitar Lessons and How To Create A Black Metal Song… Without Any Talent.
It’s the safe space.”ĭiablo’s heroes work best when joining forces, and 30 minutes further north, in the town of Saronno, we meet Marco Arata – AKA YouTube sensation Mark The Hammer – Cristina’s collaborator on Start Again, and a playful like mind. “There’s this big table that was supposed to be for dinners with friends, but as we would go out to eat instead, I decided to use it for something that I like, and filled it with computers, monitors and consoles. “It’s actually part of my living room,” she laughs. A laid-back, dressed-down counterpart to her imposing onstage alter-ego, she is surrounded by stacks of proudly-displayed paraphernalia, from a plushie of Gremlins’ Gizmo and photos of her band, to figurines of her favourite virtual characters, spare controllers, and the ubiquitous energy drink refrigerator.Īnyone familiar with Cristina’s Twitch streams wondering if this might be a carefully-arranged studio space should think again. Speaking from her high-backed gaming chair in front of an impressive PC set-up this morning, she looks ready for battle.
Fittingly, it’s against that shadowy backdrop that Cristina joins us today, to discuss Start Again, her musical collaboration with the minds behind thrilling 3D, HD remaster Diablo II: Resurrected.
0 kommentar(er)
