Hey you engineering majors, where's your robot band? JBOT has his: Captured by Robots.
JBOT isn't really his name. His name is Jay Vance. But in response to such hard-hitting questions from the Daily Lobo such as "What is your name?" he squirmed and lied.
When the Daily Lobo interviewed him in front of the Launchpad Monday night, JBOT was standing with fake guts dangling off his shirt and serious S&M gear strapped with heavy chains to his body. He used to play with ska bands The Skankin' Pickle and the Blue Meanies. Then he got sick of the rock-star mentality and the unreliability of humans and made some musicians he had more control over - robot musicians.
We asked him why he started to make robots.
"Have you ever played in a band?" JBOT asked. "In the beginning I thought it would be easy because they [the robots] would all do what I wanted them to. That ended up not being the case, but it's still easier than having two-faced band members not knowing where their coming from, not being able to communicate with them, having them come to shows drunk or starting songs at wrong tempos."
On stage he wore a leather mask, reminiscent of the gimp in "Pulp Fiction," and was regularly demeaned and degraded by the robots.
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Drumbott 0110, GTRBOT 666, AUTOMATOM, The Ape Which Hath No Name and the Ape's son are the automated musicians who "captured" JBOT and force him to tour. On stage, they insult him, they insult randy audience members, but most importantly, they play music. It took Vance more than five years to get them where they are today, and he is not about to let any of the secrets of his machining leak out to the press.
The 'bots are not wig-wearing samplers, they are fully automated musicians.
"This one guy the other night was like, 'I like your props,'" Vance said. "And I said they're not fucking props, they're the musicians, jerkoff. They are as much musicians as you or I. When they play, it's an acoustic deal. They're strumming the strings, the strings make the sound that goes into the amplifier. Therefore, they're the musicians."
And like musicians, the 'bots are subject to imperfections. The crowd rallied for Vance as he simultaneously performed a guitar solo and got GTRBOT 666 to turn back on mid-set.
But really, as clichÇ as it sounds, this band is all about the music. Though it appears at first as one big gimmick, the songs themselves are well constructed and fairly complex.
The show itself was engaging beyond the robot factor. A lot of energy came from Vance's interaction with his robots, in addition to the anomaly of a robot band at the Launchpad. The concept was so obscure, that even the jaded hipsters were involved and responsive to the show.
And when one audience member got rowdy and started shouting offensive things at Vance between songs, there was nothing like the timing of his response.
"You've got problems man," he said, deadpan, from behind his S&M mask surrounded by his robot band with fake guts coming out of his tee shirt.
You just have to wonder if Vance tells all his deepest secrets to those 'bots during lonely nights on the road.
