Gum Nut

Gum Nut was the first of Matt Breslau's musical projects. Its heavy use of MIDI instrumentals marks a distinct period of music creation for Breslau, as this project is the only one to use them.

History
Gum Nut was created in 1999 by Breslau and an unnamed helper, who was enlisted because Breslau wanted to create music but did not understand how to record it at the time. Since 1999, the helper has remained uncredited at his or her own request, reiterating in 2016, "I wanted to help, but not be a part of the band. I also didn't want anyone to know I was making music with a seven-year-old, but that's just me."

The name Gum Nut was chosen by drawing a handful of Scrabble tiles from a bag. The words "Gum Nut" were arranged from the six letters drawn.

Gum Nut's library of songs was never made publicly available, and as such, it has been unfortunately lost to time. However, Breslau has stated that many of the MIDI-created songs were heavily inspired by popular video game tunes from that time, and others were full-fledged covers. According to Breslau, the most notable example might be "Strum It (Mario to the Extreme)," a cover of the Barrel Volcano theme from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

In 2001, Breslau retired Gum Nut in order to create and focus on The Sheep Gang.