Rock stars are known for their egos, and most bands are not big enough to hold one of their big heads, let alone four. Bands break up regularly because they can’t work together, or someone decides to go solo, or the drugs take over and implosion occurs. But rarely do rock stars make themselves the only member of a band, which is how the band Captured! By Robots came into existence. Well, not exactly.
One day, a member of the ska band The Blue Meanies decided that he was sick of splitting the pay nine ways per gig and dealing with other people. His decision: build a band of robots subject to him so he got all the money. Unfortunately, as most science fiction warns us, the robots took over and enslaved him. Thus JBOT, the only human member of an all-robot band, is forced to tour the country in order to be humiliated in front of other humans nightly.
Captured! By Robots comes into the Parish at the House of Blues tonight, ready to rock any miserable humans into oblivion. New Orleans is just another stop in the “Get Fit with Captured! By Robots” tour, promising to help people lose pounds while also enslaving them to the Robot Resistance.
While the band is a rather goofy concept, the music these robots churn out is incredible. Having no formal training in engineering or programming, Jason Vance, aka JBOT, has managed to create an astounding band of robot musicians with the precision to match any rock musician out there. The robots not only play the music, but they rock harder than any band to come through the city. Featuring six robots ranging from a guitar/bassist to horn section, the robots dance and sing, while JBOT sings of his worthless existence. Their songs range anywhere between funk and reggae to speed punk and death metal. Granted, the funk is not quite as funky as anything else in this city – they are robots after all – but the harder it gets, the more brutal and devastating.
Last year’s show at the Dixie Taverne featured their musical rendition of the movie version of
“The Ten Commandments,” with each robot dressed as an actor from the film. There is plenty of promise for the same amount of entertainment this year as well, as JBOT never fails to come up with amusing ideas for songs, such as last year’s black metal number entitled “Ethiopia” or the previous year’s “I Don’t Like Your Techno.” While purely mechanized, there is more life in this band than any band full of humans, and JBOT is especially energetic while performing.
The show is only $8 as listed on the House of Blues Web site and is well worth the price of admission for anyone interested in robots, metal, or good old rock ‘n’ roll.
Jason Bolte can be reached at [email protected].
