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| JULY 15, 2008 |
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I blame it all on Youtube. There I was.. just
sifting through the net bored to tears and I
pulled up the popular website to kill some
time. And there it was... one of the featured
videos on the front page... the robotic band...
THE TRONS. I was immediately intrigued by
the music, and the fact there was not a human
on the video, yet there they were, playing
human instruments... I had to find out more,
so after some digging on the net, I found a
contact to the band's manager (creator) Greg
Locke, who agreed to answer some questions
via email... So here they are all the way from
New Zealand... THE TRONS!!!
sifting through the net bored to tears and I
pulled up the popular website to kill some
time. And there it was... one of the featured
videos on the front page... the robotic band...
THE TRONS. I was immediately intrigued by
the music, and the fact there was not a human
on the video, yet there they were, playing
human instruments... I had to find out more,
so after some digging on the net, I found a
contact to the band's manager (creator) Greg
Locke, who agreed to answer some questions
via email... So here they are all the way from
New Zealand... THE TRONS!!!
BG: First things first... The idea of a robot band has existed for years,but yours is probably the
most unique and complete band I have seen (It's not electronic per say, but actual robots
playing music) How did this idea come about?
GL: A few things just seemed to coincide. I was in a two piece garage band many years ago
and had thought of building a drummer then, that would have been the first thoughts.
Recently I'd been heavily involved in music again and working as a software engineer and
just got thinking about it some more. Then a friend was throwing out a beat up old strat guitar
and finally an old vending machine that I'd been involved in the design of was
decommissioned and was directed to my place instead of the dump. It had some of the
control parts in it I needed. Then there must have been a bolt of lightning to my house or
something too as it just seemed to fall into place!
BG: Robotic Junk Band.. did you come up with the term? It's pretty spot on.
GL: I though for ages about that and found it real hard to convey that it is robots made from
old bits playing real music but the term junk adds in the "punk" idea as well as keeping it fun.
I also use the "garage band" name a bit cause they were mainly built in the garage... and the
music style is pretty close to that of the New Zealand garage scene.
BG: How many songs does the band play?
GL: they have about 10 at the moment... it's at the stage now where I have trouble working out
which ones to drop for gigs which is great.
BG: How long does it take to write and program (I assume) the robots to play it?
GL: The ones so far have been written and programmed real fast just due to lack of time.
Some of them have been an evening and a couple have taken a day or two. I have to revisit
them as more instruments get added otherwise the new guy ends up just sitting there doing
nothing for the song. I'm really looking forward to spending some decent time to write more.
most unique and complete band I have seen (It's not electronic per say, but actual robots
playing music) How did this idea come about?
GL: A few things just seemed to coincide. I was in a two piece garage band many years ago
and had thought of building a drummer then, that would have been the first thoughts.
Recently I'd been heavily involved in music again and working as a software engineer and
just got thinking about it some more. Then a friend was throwing out a beat up old strat guitar
and finally an old vending machine that I'd been involved in the design of was
decommissioned and was directed to my place instead of the dump. It had some of the
control parts in it I needed. Then there must have been a bolt of lightning to my house or
something too as it just seemed to fall into place!
BG: Robotic Junk Band.. did you come up with the term? It's pretty spot on.
GL: I though for ages about that and found it real hard to convey that it is robots made from
old bits playing real music but the term junk adds in the "punk" idea as well as keeping it fun.
I also use the "garage band" name a bit cause they were mainly built in the garage... and the
music style is pretty close to that of the New Zealand garage scene.
BG: How many songs does the band play?
GL: they have about 10 at the moment... it's at the stage now where I have trouble working out
which ones to drop for gigs which is great.
BG: How long does it take to write and program (I assume) the robots to play it?
GL: The ones so far have been written and programmed real fast just due to lack of time.
Some of them have been an evening and a couple have taken a day or two. I have to revisit
them as more instruments get added otherwise the new guy ends up just sitting there doing
nothing for the song. I'm really looking forward to spending some decent time to write more.