Music is a weapon. Many argue, it's lost its edge in the digital age. We as listeners have our pick from an endless sea of bands of varied quality and talent. Chugging through this musical ocean in search of something fresh it's hard not to hoist the white flag of apathy and surrender to the commerical tides.
SALDANATION would like to highlight a band that has taken up arms in the good fight. Sonically, Robots on Crack could draw comparisons to The Impossible Shapes. ROC plays ballsy, kinetic, catchy, rock that will have you instantly head nodding in your cubicle as you try and look busy.
SALDANATION recenlty caught up with AJ Heckman and Joesph Kengla, two-thirds of the trio based in Portland, Oregon. We gave them the ole five questions.
SALDANATION: We as 21st century media consumers are continually inundated with new bands and music. Much of it sucks. What does ROC have to say to the music listener who complains the about the lack of "good bands" and "good music"?
ROC: Most of it sucks because it’s not profitable to build an artist who has substance beyond the flash. Most of the crap mass consumer culture is based heavily in image and a six-month cycle of celebrity and sensation, not on great music that stays with you through time. When you give people something truly satisfying, they are less eager to run right out and buy the next hot thing. Keep them fed on mediocre dribble, the IV drip of passive boring entertainment.
In many ways this bland product is much like a fast food burger. Cheap to make, cheap to buy, no nutrients or substance, no flavor, unfulfilling, and you’re sure there is something addictive in it. This is popular American music and mass culture, in general, to Robots On Crack.
To the complaining listener, we offer this. Make your own sound, make it crap, make it epic, the point is to find your outlet, give purpose to something you’re doing, create. Oh and stop buying shit iTunes songs. Go to local records shops, support local acts, go to shows, buy T-shirts and records. Every dollar spent is a vote made. If people ignore the drab, gutless, soundtrack-to-your-life, background music that is our mass culture, maybe it will all go away.
SALDANATION: ROC's most recent recording, a 3 song sampler, is completely self-produced. Does ROC feel the lack of outside ears prior to release gives the truest product, musically speaking?
ROC: Producing this ourselves, we feel we can really stand behind the recordings more so than earlier, studio recordings. No one else is giving his or her two cents about the recording, which at times, can throw off the intuition of the song. There is a definite feeling of freedom and empowerment when the only people you’re trying to impress are yourself and your friends.
What helps to keep Robots On Crack in check is the built-in element of absurdity within the band; the name, the attitude we have about playing songs and living life. This feeling of serious fun has proved to keep things exciting and interesting for a long time.
The truest musical experience? This is achieved in our own minds and through our own ears, as we move our fingers and hair over instruments made in factories.
SALDANATION: It seems that every other person in Portland is a musician or is in a band. Has this helped or hindered ROC's development of an orignal voice?
ROC: So far we have really enjoyed playing in Portland. There’s great energy and a sense of openness here, people respond and seem to want to help out or get involved. People are sharing their art and there’s a support system between artists that we feel helps generate a productive environment.
As for our original voice, we would love to sing with all the other bands in Portland, in a gigantic union of voices that reverberates and echoes out across the vast plane of human existence, giving all beings a spiritual voice and harmony within nature.
SALDANATION: The web provides bands with an instant outlet for music. ROC can be heard on myspace and at wix.com. How motivated would you be as musicians if the internet died?
ROC: The web is a bonus for us, merely another stage for expression. We as a band find motivation in our collective growth, and our individual creative development. You get a quick sense of validation, seeing your work Online, but that isn’t substance enough for us, that doesn’t give the project it’s meaning.
What’s truly empowering is to make music and create everyday. Working together as longtime friends and writing records and creating, these things are reward enough for us in many ways. Essentially our devotion to Robots On Crack remains, with or without an Internet connection.
SALDANATION: Suppose ROC is selected to participate in a literal Battle of the Bands. Your group must face off against KISS. What special tactics would ROC use to vanquish them in fight to the death?
ROC: There is one factual problem that would not allow a battle to even take place. As soon as both KISS and Robots On Crack come into close proximity, both groups would instantly liquefy in a nuclear-bomb type explosion, but much worse. The horrible result would be a molecular combining and restructuring of both our genes, creating a new atom known as KISS Crack, making a napalm like substance powerful enough to destroy New York City thirteen times over.
Thus, whoever controls this KISS Crack napalm would control the most powerful weapon on earth. The only logical conclusion to this escalation of arms is massive destruction across the planet and loss of life. So, in this scenario, who would win?
Listen to Robots on Crack at the sites below:
www.myspace.com/robotsoncrack
www.wix.com/robotsoncrack/Robots-on-crack