Marc Martel - Under Pressure - Featuring One Vision Of Queen (Queen cover)

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Whoever said, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” undoubtedly had a future worldwide pandemic in mind. We musicians have evolved into hypersocial beings who rely, nay, depend, on close proximity to accomplish our goal of making that sweet, sweet, harmonious sound. These extraordinary times call for an extra helping of creativity to achieve that goal, and unlike the days of the Spanish flu, I’m grateful that today’s technology affords us possibilities of approximating that irreplaceable feeling of “being there.” And while you can’t catch us live just yet, hopefully this will serve to reignite that craving for what the world is missing while we figure this ish out.

It was our guitarist, Tristan Avakian, who first suggested we do an at-home version of “Under Pressure.” I loved the idea immediately, and I’ll tell you why. As you probably know, I’ve been making these “One-Take” videos for quite some time now, and while “Under Pressure” is one of my favorite Queen songs, I’ve never attempted it on my own because of how it relies so heavily on the bass line. I’ve tried to come up with a solo arrangement on the piano and guitar a few times, but always fell dreadfully short of the magic that Queen and Bowie captured in their arrangement. Without that key counter-melodic, counter-rhythmic bass line, the whole thing falls apart, and I wasn’t interested in re-inventing the song into some kind of emo ballad. I’ll leave that to someone else - someone younger, maybe in the indie or electric pop world, and who pronounces ‘u’ like normal English speakers pronounce ‘i.’ (Sorry. Had to get that off my chest).

In this video, we have stayed true to the “One-Take” formula; everyone playing their part all the way through, without video edits, just like we do at our live shows (even down to the hand claps, which Brandon sneakily plays on his keyboard). I compiled the whole thing, mixing audio, and painstakingly figuring out how everyone has been making those Brady Bunch-style videos.

We had a blast making this! I was so impressed at how quickly it came together that we may just have to do this again soon. Of course, we’re not reinventing the wheel here, as many have gone before us and done something similar. But I hope you enjoy this first foray into the land of at-home band performances by One Vision of Queen.

No, it’s not live… but close enough… at least for now.