Real Name: Tim Lara Member Since: July 20, 2005 Last Signed In: November 29, 2008 Profile Views: 823 Blog Views: 4823 Another NaNo WriMo done... NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH IS ALMOST A WRAP I don't follow trends, I set them... Here's my new stance What's in a name? I wish it was NEWS to me PAX 2008 Apparently no one checks these things You can take me out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of me... Tropic Thunder... RIP Isaac Hayes July 05 August 05 September 05 October 05 November 05 December 05 January 06 February 06 March 06 April 06 May 06 June 06 July 06 August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 
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Robot Band Is Rocking It's Way To Fame....(An Interview with Greg Locke)
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!!!
1. 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?
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! 2.Robotic Junk Band.. did you come up with the term? It's pretty spot on 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. 3. How many songs does the band play?
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. 4. How long does it take to write and program (I assume) the robots to play it? 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. 5. How many shows has the band played? Five now... the last one was on stage as part of a big night with "human" bands and they even got a mosh pit going! 6. I first saw The Trons on "YouTube" it was on the front page as a featured video. It must have thousands of hits, has this helped the band's popularity? yeah.. it's been pretty great. And the interest is really positive too. I'm getting heaps of hits on the myspace as well so that's great to be building up a solid fan base. I want to keep things happening and have ideas for an interactive website too. 7. Any plans on a tour?
Definitely. I am looking at one through New Zealand later in the year, and try for overseas next year. It's a lot of fun... and I'm developing ways that cameras on the instruments can pick up all the small movements and project them so that it enhances the live thing even more. 8. Which one needs the most maitenence>? Which one was the hardest to build? Wiggy has been a bit of a nightmare. I need to add some more control into him as the slider is a bit random and the string pressure is quite critical. I like the rhythms he gets going the best though... there's a lot more to explore there too. 9. Name three random parts you used, and didn't think you would. The giant horn used for Hams head was bit of a crazy coincidence. I bought
it at an auction a year back and was just drawn to it but had no idea why, then when I started putting the band together it just was the perfect answer cause he actually does his singing out of it too. There are some pop rivets in Ham's guitar as they are strong yet small diameter and I try other proper things but the chords suddenly don't change properly. Then of course there is pie plate for the snare... that was a totally last minute thing... and some pie plates really do sound better than others! 10. I noticed all the band members have names. Is that so you wont get them confused, or did you want to give them real personality. (Personally Ham looks like a cool guy to hang with) It was actually other people that started up the names thing. It is really quite odd watching them play, the mind doesn't really understand what is going but then it just lets go and enjoys it. Giving them names somehow helps link it all in and make it more connected to what we are used to. Also people have been asking if they can date certain members so it seemed fitting to name them so they don't end up with the wrong guy. 11. anything you'd like to add? Just thanks for the interview! I'm also looking forward heaps to developing
them much more and making the most of their non-humanness. There really is a lotthat can be done, getting more sounds and instruments together... expanding on the vocals... it is just a chopped up tape loop at the moment which is fine for now but there is a lot more that can be done there. We're going to put a DVD together too of some stuff. They are great to work with like that! Visit the Trons online at:
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