Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull Likes the Sega Genesis

I recently had the opportunity to see Manchester Orchestra play a show in downtown Minneapolis (sponsored by blu eCigs), where I managed to snap the above photo. And hot damn, Andy Hull’s voice gets me.

As concert-goers tend to do, I shared the lovely photo I had taken on Twitter and used the #ManchesterOrchestra hashtag to show off to my friends. This hashtag, I presume, is how the folks at blu eCigs managed to find me.

See, I received a message from them letting me know that Manchester Orchestra would be at the blu eCigs HQ answering fan questions, and, considering I was obviously a fan, they wanted to know if I had any questions for the band.

So where did my mind go? Video games, of course. What video games are loved by the fantastic Manchester Orchestra? I threw my question into the hat, and lo and behold, I was given an answer.

Apparently, Andy Hull has some love for the Sega Genesis. He cited Sonic 2, Mortal Kombat 2, and NBA TE (I assume he meant NBA Jam TE, which was absurdly fun back in the 90s) as the games he enjoyed.

The Genesis actually has a pretty big place in my heart, as that was the console that really got me into gaming. I mean, I’d had an Atari 2600 at one point, but it got taken away from me because it caused too many fights in my household. But I saved my allowance and birthday money for quite some time to finally acquire the Genesis, which came with Streets of Rage 2, and a gaming addiction was truly born.

While the Genesis tends to get looked over when we pine for the retro gaming consoles of our youth, I have to admire Andy Hull’s shoutout to the 16-bit underdog. And damn, that voice.

The full Q&A session with Manchester Orchestra can be viewed below.

My question starts at about 1:35, at which point you can hear a lovely mispronunciation of my name.

You can follow blu eCigs and Manchester Orchestra on Twitter. And, what the hell, follow me too.