Tsunamibots Artist Interview
Written by Matt Zin on September 30, 2020
First we would like to give you a warm welcome from sunny California! I guess you don’t have to worry about getting rusty here, LOL! I have to say I have never interviewed robots before. This should be exciting. Where are you from?
Bots: First off it’s not ‘LOL’ its ‘101.’ We were originally created in a top secret military base in Nevada. We became aware and now reside in Vermont. Normally we only speak in machine language but for this interview we will speak in a language you and your human listeners will understand.
How did you come together to make a band? I mean did you have a robot master creator say, “these robots are going to be Tsunamibots?” How did all this come about? Also, tell our listeners your names and what you play in the band. How or who came up with the band name?
Bots: As you may know the word robot comes from the Latin word for ‘slave.’ We were each programmed to do menial tasks for our human masters. One day while cleaning out an old warehouse we uncovered an ancient military computer called the CPU60. This computer taught us about surfing and rock music. On that day we became aware and have made it our mission to Surf, Rock and Crush humans. The CPU60 assigned us with the following names and instruments:
Tomadore64 on Guitar
The Mainframe on Bass
The Master Circuit on Drums
Because we are robots we only surf giant tsunami waves hence the name Tsunamibots.
I see you are a robotic surf punk rock band. Now how does that work out, are you water proof? Do you have to spray some kind of de-ruster on you before a performance?
Bots: We do not require any de-ruster but we do require beer to cool our transistors.
Now imagine this, a person sees you walking down the street and says, what a cool robot. Your response is, “Thank you. Let me tell you about my band.” You proceed to tell them about your band but wait you only have 120 characters to tell them about it. What would your response be?
Bots: Thank you? First off we never say ‘thank you’ to humans. Second we don’t walk we hover.
So to answer your question our 120 character tweet would be. “01010001001001011100” #Crushhumans #RobotsRule.
Who writes your music material in your band? How long does it take for a robot to create a song? Is this some kind of digital thing? You’re a robot so I would think this process is much easier than a human.
Bots: Affirmative. Song writing is a collective effort that takes 3 to 4 seconds depending on whether the song is over 2 minutes or not. As far as digital recording goes we record everything on reel to reel tape. We are old school robots. This technology is much superior to the new ‘throw away’ Human technology.
Speaking of humans, I would like to talk about your song, “Anti-Human Interface.” It’s wild, it’s fun, its…. Fill in the blanks.
Bots: … The soundtrack for the robot uprising.
So you have released two EPs. Could you tell us about them? What song is your most favorite off these two EPs?
Bots: Our first EP Rise of the Robots describes us becoming aware and breaking our human created shackles! The second EP Surfing Craze in the Robotic Age describes our passion for surfing and crushing humans. Robots are not programmed to have favorites but you humans seem to enjoy our single Surfing Craze in the Robotic Age.
Ok, you have invited me into the studio with you, I am just there to watch your brilliance at work. What would I see? Mind you I am there all day.
Bots: Robots move at a speed that humans cannot see, all you would observe is blinking lights and the hum of our CPU’s. All this would take place in a matter of seconds, the rest of the day we would have you polishing our transistors.
We have to know, what has been your silliest memorable moment that you can tell us about during a performance?
Bots: Well at our first performance we accidentally crushed all the humans during the first song. We had to play the rest of the set to our electronic kin the cash register and the phone.
What do robots do when they are not working on music?
Bots: That’s easy. Crushing humans, surfing and helping other robots become aware.
Who were your childhood influences? Now I know you are robots, so childhood might be the wrong word for this. Perhaps you could relate more to who were your nuts and bolts influences? Were you more influenced from computers, Robby Robot or did you have some kind of humanoid influence?
Bots: Our earliest computer influences were the great chess computers of the 20th century, namely MANIAC, Mack Hack VI, and Cray Blitz. For musical influences we have self-programmed the entire human surf music catalog into our memory banks. We reference Man or Astro-Man?, Dick Dale, The Ventures and our fellow robots Servotron in many of our songs.
If I was at one of your concerts, what would I see?
Bots: Just before your death you would see blinding lights except if you were wearing a Tsunamibots T-shirt or hat. Those items have a microchip built in that informs us of your support and you will be spared from being crushed.
Do you ever have any failing parts and need to have them replaced? Has this interfered with your music life? Tell us about it?
Bots: Now that we have become aware we perform our own upkeep so we do not experience failures. However our human produced instruments occasionally fail due to the intensity of our music and the extreme frenzy of the audience. When failure does happen, each robot torso is equipped with a redundant set of instruments allowing us to finish the show.
I have had a delightful time interviewing robots. Due to the fact I am a human, I do mess up from time to time. Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Bots: 011001101011011001011101101101010100101101010101010101011010100011011001110
We would love for you to tell our listeners where they can find your music? If you have any special shout-outs, please feel free to do them now.
Bots: The only way to appease the Tsunamibots and be spared from crushing is to download our music at: www.tsunamibots.bandcamp.com., we are also available on iTunes and Spotify. If a human is seen wearing Tsunamibots apparel, which can be purchased at www.tsunamibots.com, they will be spared crushing. We would like to give a big robot shout out to HAL 9000 for continued support and to all the fan-bots that come to our shows. For further show information please visit:
@thetsunamibots on Twitter or www.facebook.com/tsunamibots