While many people know Chrissy Costanza as the vocalist for Against The Current, the New Jersey native has been playing video games her whole life. We had a chance to speak with the artist about their previous collaboration with League of Legends, what current games they’ve been playing, and what’s next for their musical career.

MP3s and NPCS: What was your earliest gaming experience?

Chrissy Costanza: Oh man, it was actually when I was 3 years old! My mom thought computer literacy would be extremely important (go mom) and sparked my love of gaming right away! I'm pretty sure the first game I ever played with either Freddie Fish or Putt Putt. I have such good memories of both. 

MP3s and NPCs: Against The Current got to collaborate with Riot Games for a pair of singles promoting League of Legends. How did that entire deal come about?

Costanza: That entire experience was a dream come true! I started playing League of Legends when I was around 16 years old, and I had been playing it in the studio a few years later when we were doing our first full length album I believe. Our producer happened to know someone over at the Riot music department who he had toured with back in the day and mentioned that an artist he was working with was playing in the studio (whoopsie) when she should have probably been writing. A few demos later and we were recording “Legends Never Die” for real! A couple of years later they needed a singer for “Phoenix” as they wanted to do a dual female vocalist, so I was lucky enough to get called back on the team. 

MP3s and NPCs: Arguably, one of your biggest performances ever was at the 2017 League of Legends World Championship finals, which had about 60 million viewers. What was running through your head knowing you'd have a massive amount of eyes watching you from around the world?

Costanza: Oh just pure terror honestly. It was the coolest moment of my life, but I had done very little, if any, "TV" or broadcast type performances and the stage was MASSIVE. Just hitting the marks at a walking pace without sprinting down the stage, much less singing while doing it, was terrifying. But getting to be a part of such a massive performance with dancers and an orchestra and an AR dragon was so insane, much less doing it for my favorite video game. I couldn't have even dreamed that up! 

MP3s and NPCs: A few years ago, you were able to work with VENN. What was that experience like being able to be part of a streaming network?

Costanza: That was such a great experience and honestly a perfect storm in terms of timing to make it happen. With the whole touring industry shut down at the time, it was a crazy different world going into a studio every day to interview gamers/streamers and more and just play games but call it a job. I met some of my best friends at VENN and moved out to LA for it and am still here to this day! I'm so beyond grateful to have gotten to be a part of it.

MP3s and NPCs: When you're on the road, do you have time to game in between concerts?

Costanza: I always bring a gaming laptop with me, but I usually end up gaming mostly on my Switch or even my phone now just because it's hard to have the space in green rooms and on the tour bus to set up the laptop. My dream is to build some kind of roadcase that opens up into a gaming stage with mouse and keyboard all built in ready to go. 

MP3s and NPCs: You started a YouTube channel over a decade ago, but you've been recently showing off your gaming skills on Twitch. How was it making the transition from creating content for your channel to having gaming livestreams?

Costanza: I really love live content. Playing live shows is my favorite part of being a musician, so it makes sense for me, I love just being able to be candid and raw and hang out with my community in a more casual way. We have a lot of fun and I'm really lucky that we've built a really positive atmosphere. 

MP3s and NPCs: What current games have you been checking out? Are there any future titles you're excited about?

Costanza: I just finished Baldur's Gate 3 before this last tour and loved it. I think I'm probably going to either play through Divinity II for the billionth time or start another Total War campaign soon as I still haven't gotten to Warhammer 3 but LOVE Warhammer 2. I'm really behind on new releases, I'm in one of the phases where I've been going back to all my comfort games!

MP3s and NPCs: This year saw Against The Current collaborate with From Ashes to New and VOILÀ for some tunes. What's the future for Against The Current? 

Costanza: We just did a few collaborations and finished up a festival run after doing our full world tour last year! I think we've finally toured Fever more than anyone should ever tour off just an EP (but that's what we tend to do) so it'll be time to rest up, recover and then plan out our third full length record when we're ready!

Costanza recently released their debut solo single “7 Minutes In Hell” and announced a solo tour across the U.S. with VOILÀ. Tour dates and new music can be found here.