Robots Loose on Boat: Free The Robots Tonight

Free the Robots. That's not an order, Robocop. It is the name of the man who is going to be rocking the Boat tonight with all manner of music - folk, psychedelic, whatever he can find - channeled into a mind-blowing hip-hop set. Think of some bands from different genres, then think of them all playing each other's songs together, then forget all about that nonsense and just go and see the man once described as the "future of music" play. Tonight at The Boat. RMB 40. 9pm.

the Beijinger: Can you explain your name, Free the Robots? How did it come about and what does it mean?
Free the Robots: Music and everything as we know it has entered a New Age … It’s Liberation Time! Free the Robots pretty much organically formed during a time when I was between several music projects. While I was actively DJing, and battling every weekend, producing hip-hop beats for different MCs, and while experimenting with different experimental rock/jam bands, on the side. It was a fun yet unsteady time for me. Torn between where to put my focus, I never felt 100% satisfied with any of the projects I was working on. At the demise of the bands and groups, I decided to do something for myself. I thought that maybe I could just take one of these projects seriously and do it legit. I chose the one with the cool name (“Free the Robots") and went with it. When I found out you could upload music to MySpace and saw how different bands used it to promote their projects, I decided to do my own thing. Since I had so much material, and it all sounded so different, I had a scheme to create a record label with four different projects, all of which I would do the music for under different aliases. Heavily inspired by Madlib’s work as “Yesterdays New Quintet,” it blew my mind to find out that it was all him. That sort of sparked my approach to my projects.

tbj: Who is your favorite robot of all time?
FTR: Paranoid Android

tbj: Which is your favorite robot film?
FTR: As cheeseball as it is, Transformers is the shit!

tbj: What is the corniest song you have ever put on a mixtape for someone?
FTR: Air Supply’s “All out of Love.” Truth is, this was last month.

tbj: Five songs for the rest of your life?
FTR: Pick any five Fela Kuti songs. That’s a lifetime’s worth of music.

tbj:What is the last music that you paid for?
FTR: Ras G’s “Brother from Another Planet!”

tbj:Who would be in your dream band?
FTR: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

tbj: Can you tell us a joke?
FTR: And he says … Do ya love me? and I said no! But that’s a really nice ski mask!

tbj: If you could bring back anyone from the dead who would it be?
FTR: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins so we could start that band

tbj: If your live show was a robot what would it be?
FTR: It would form like Voltron!

tbj: Describe a Free the Robots show using any song title.
FTR: We need a Revolution.

tbj: What's the strangest thing that anyone has ever said about your music?
FTR: This is true, quoting a drunk girl at the local college town bar…. “Like, if Brad Pitt walked through those doors, I would sooo listen to you! I love Led Zeppelin.”