A New Zealand man has created a robotic rock band that has broken free of the bedroom to become an internet sensation.
The Trons, who list among their influences The Velvet Underground and washing machines, are the result of six months work by Greg Locke to turn mechanical junk and old instruments into a self-playing troupe.
Wiggy, the lead guitarist, Ham, on rhythm guitar, Swamp the drummer and keyboard plater Fifi have already played five gigs around their home town of Hamilton, in Waikato.
The "junk pop" band already has a host of "groupies" and a worldwide fan club, brought together through their myspace.com page. The Trons' performance on Youtube has already registered 750,000 viewings.
Mr Locke, a fruit-picking machine designer by day and bass-player by night, said he was inspired after finding himself without a human band.
"I just though it would be quite good to get another band together, played with a few ideas and it seemed like we could do something," he said.
He told New Zealand television that the task of getting robots to play music was harder than he expected.
"When I was doing this, it was like, man, humans are incredible, we can do all this stuff with our hands, and trying to pick out what bits were important – I had to strip it right down."
But mostly it was the equipment that let the side down. "Swamp struggles a little bit at times, I've got to get him a proper snare."
He said that the fans of the group seem to "relate to them as people".
"Someone asked if Swamp was available for dating. He's into anything – he's a drummer."
Tracks including Sister Robot and The Trons Theme are available for download.
No comments:
Post a Comment