Paul and Storm
From Homestar Runner Wiki
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Origins | Arlington County, VA |
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Genre(s) | A cappella Comedy |
Members | Bernie Muller-Thym Storm DiCostanzo Paul Sabourin Richard Hsu |
Discography | Bendy's Law (1997) The Life and Times of Mike Fanning (2000) Brontosaurus (2002) |
Producer | N/A |
DaVinci's Notebook (DVN) was an a cappella singing group consisting of Bernie Muller-Thym, Greg "Storm" DiCostanzo, Paul Sabourin, and Richard Hsu. The group was active from 1994 through 2004. Sabourin and DiCostanzo continue to perform as the musical comedy duo Paul and Storm.
Paul and Storm have contributed to and collaborated with Homestar Runner, typically by providing original songs.
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Contributions to Homestar Runner
Although it is a point of contention which band member first discovered homestarrunner.com, DaVinci's Notebook became fans of the site after seeing a content warning July 4, 2001 post on Memepool.com. Paul used his "mad Interwebs stalking skills and a phone book" to get in touch with The Brothers Chaps — finding Don Chapman's information through a WHOIS search and eventually convincing the brothers to come see a DaVinci's Notebook performance in Atlanta. Remarking that "it was early enough in their career that they were more flattered than creeped out when I tracked them down," a friendship was born.
"Ballad of The Sneak"
The Brothers Chaps asked DaVinci's Notebook to write a theme song for The Sneak. Aside from describing it as an Old-Timey version of The Skate Party's The Cheat Theme Song, free rein was given in the songwriting.
Storm drove the direction, structure, and writing process, and passed lyrics back and forth with Paul (mostly over email). The line "The Cheat, The Cheat" from the original song was used as a starting point, and the song structure roughly follows the original. The chronological inconsistencies (references to Tammany Hall, the Hully Gully, the Kaiser, prohibition, etc.) were, for the most part, intentional; partly to keep with the overall feel The Brothers Chaps had established with the toons, and partly to see if people would point them out. The trumpet instrumental at the one-minute mark was originally made for a previous Paul and Storm project that similarly used an old-timey style.
Paul did much of the vocals and recording on a Gateway 2000 PC. A long Christmas wrapping paper tube was used to make it sound like it was being sung from a megaphone. Storm recalls that they finished fairly quickly; though they worked on it in between a lot of other projects and tours over a month, the actual work time was only a handful of hours. Paul and Storm gave no input on the animation; even the random sound effects were added mainly to see what visuals The Brothers Chaps would create to accompany them. The "Ballad of The Sneak" toon appeared on the Homestar Runner site about a month after the song had been sent in.
Paul and Storm consider "Ballad of The Sneak" to be inadvertently their first "Paul and Storm" song, as the other two members of DVN had no involvement in its production. It was later released on the Paul and Storm compilation EP Shame and Cookie Dough. When rereleased on Homestar Runner Original Soundtrack Volume 1 in 2020, the song was credited simply to "Paul & Storm".
"Theme from Stinkoman"
A theme song for Stinkoman was briefly played at Georgia Tech in 2007, described as being from "The guys from DaVinci's Notebook [...] the same guys who did this cartoon called 'The Ballad of the Sneak' on the website". The full song would not be released until 2020, first on Homestar Runner Original Soundtrack Volume 2 and then in the Stinkoman 20X6 Intro Cinematic later that year; both releases credit the song to "Paul & Storm".
Other work with The Brothers Chaps
The Brothers Chaps also helped with animation, writing, and voice work for the 2014 parody holiday special "The Paul and Storm Nondenominational Perennial Holiday Special".
Matt Chapman also appeared onstage at their shows to perform such songs as Trogdor and the Strong Badia National Anthem.
Dragon Con 2008
Strong Bad introduced Paul and Storm at Dragon Con 2008:
STRONG BAD: Ladies and gentlemen! Klingons and Daleks! Bobas and {disappointed} Jangos. B-list celebrities and their entourages of hangers-on! I am called Strong Bad! I urge you to take a moment, put down that vinyl bust or that pewter figurine you're thinking of buying, and give a warm, sweaty welcome to Stormy Paul and the Forecasts! ...What? Paul and Storm? Well that's a huge waste of one cool name and one Paul name. I'm outta here. Anyways, give it up for Paul and Storm.