Dark glammy electro-swank rock ala "Low" period Bowie, early London Suede, and "Screamadelica" era Primal Scream.

10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Glam, POP: British Pop



Details:
Art rockers, baroque space age nihilists, electro-glam popsters, no one is ever quite sure how to describe the Mechanical Walking Robotboy. To confuse matters further, the group whoâs been compared to everyone from the Velvet Underground, and Ziggy period Bowie, to Radiohead and the Cure hail from San Antonio Texas the âHeavy Metal Capitol of the Worldâ.
Mixing equal parts â70s Glam, â80s post-punk and â90s electronica, Robotboy has been challenging audiences over the last eight years with a strange mix of echoey guitars, weird synthesizer noises and heavy danceable beats.
Their 2000 debut CD release âBaby, Baby, Baby Weâre All Doomedâ yielded rave reviews across the state and won them a 2001 CitySearch nomination for best San Antonio band.
Slow, their 2006 release, looks to make an even bigger splash.
But unlike most ânewâ groups, the Mechanical Walking Robotboy has deep roots reaching back to the origins of Texas underground music.

Robotboy began in 1997 as the brainchild of singer/songwriter Christopher âSmartyâ Smart.

Smarty was a pioneer in the San Antonio underground music scene in 1980 with his British postpunk influenced high school band Platform of Youth (with ex-members of the Rejects and future members of Fearless Iranians from Hell). By 1982 they evolved into the now âlegendaryâ Texas darkwave band Lung Overcoat.
In their six year history, the Overcoats toured the states and played support for everyone from early shows by the Butthole Surfers and Poison 13 to Public Image LTD, Joy Division label mates Section 25, the B-52s and A Flock of Seagulls.
Their rare vinyl releases, 1983âs âInternal Silenceâ 7â and âClimbing Up the Hillâ EP from 1985, found their way onto John Peelâs influential BBC Radio 1 program in the â80s, and are highly prized by collectors of early Texas Indie rock. The EP track âSickroomâ was reissued on the Tales From the Edge Vol. 10 Texas Music History â84-87 CD.
By the late 80s the Overcoats were no more and Smarty had formed the noisy guitar pop group Thirteen (with future members of the Deathray Davies). Thirteenâs releases include 1991âs âThis is Thirteenâ EP, the âI Dig Trainsâ 7â in â93 plus a critically acclaimed single 1995âs âAlcohol Funny Carâ for I.R.S. Records (six months before the label went bankrupt).
Touring the U.S. constantly the group shared stages with the Toadies, D-Generation, Die Monster Die, Live, and endless others before disbanding in 1996.
After a yearlong hiatus to recover from the wear of the road and the woes of the record industry, Smarty formed what would be his most artistic and personal effort to date, the Mechanical Walking Robotboy.

When not too busy with Robotboy, Smarty moonlights as 1/3 of Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine (featuring DJ Jester the Filipino Fist) whose 2002 cut-n-paste CD âIntroducing the Neat Beatâ received cudos across the board from the likes of URB, the Wire, Pulse, XLR8R, Giant Robot, and Mofo.

Gathering the weirdest characters from the best bands, Robotboy showcases the cream of San Antonioâs underground musicians crop.

ï· âMikey Jamâ Smith has pounded the drums for some of Texasâ most influential and loud bands including surf-punk popsters Where the Action is and bluesy noise makers Boxcar Satan, appearing on their â99 CD release Days Before the Flood and 2002âs Crooked Mile March. Mikeyâs also done a few stints as touring drummer for Austinâs Crackpipes.

ï· Chris Branca is best known as frontman/guitarist for defunct garage rockers the White Heat, helping produce their 2002 self titled CD and follow up 7â single as well as surviving three countrywide tours. Heâs less well known for his â90s vinyl and CD releases with avant garde minimalists TONALAMOTL who have a small but devout cult following internationally.

ï· Shawn Terry spent the last fifteen years behind a guitar before taking over bass duties for Robotboy. He got his start fronting goth rockers Berlin Black in the late â80s. Throughout the â90s he handled lead guitar for punk rockers the Despicables as well as forming the dark and mysterious Veronicas Veil who still get a good deal of airplay on cult goth radioshows.

ï· James Traugott cut his musical teeth with his late â90s punk band the Defectives playing bass and singing on their 1997 7â vinyl EP Hey Kids, developing a strong fan base which heâs continued to build upon through his numerous infamous house parties. For Robotboy, heâs put down the bass to become head noisemaker, fronting an arsenal of synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, tone generators and anything else that makes a weird sound.



REVIEWS----------------------------------------------------

*MICKMERCER.COM
22 JUNE 2006

THE MECHANICAL WALKING ROBOTBOY
SLOW
Compulsive Records

Make way, make way, for fun! A band who must confuse, while thrilling people due to the 70âs pop references, post-punk slipperiness and modern electronic mastery of mood and brusque atmospheric brevity, this album will certainly impress. Itâs quick, itâs slick, pinched and punching. Itâs melodic, deviously derivative, and frothy as fuck. In fact medics could taker it to crash sites; play this and if thereâs no reaction you move on to the next victim.

Christopher Smart (vocals/guitar) goes by the name of Smarty and has a past delving back to eventful 80âs action, including Platform Of Youth, Lung Overcoat and then onto Thirteen, while the rest are equally varied, with drummer Mikey Smith going pop to blues with Where The Action Is and Boxcar Satan (nice!), James Traugott punkily bassing out The Defectives, Chris Branca guitaring with the garage White Heat and Shawn Terry, whose Goth past includes Berlin Black, The Dispicables and Veronicaâs Veil. (I confess heâs the only one I had heard of.) Put them together and you have weird levels of experience and versatility which makes these songs work.

âBlack Lightâ is ridiculously urgent, yet underweight. Itâs got wiry synth lines and a muscular bass moving like a confident badger in new shoes. It reminds me of a modern male Blondie the way itâs squeezed decades together, with a superb chorus and seedily infectious lyrics ransacking movie ideas. The automatic clapping beat helps, but youâd do that anyway. No rubbish riffing here either, just concise nudges. Weirdly thereâs some very coy, early Adam Ant simpering during the wild and loopy âRed Spider Killerâ with disturbingly catchy whistling and more eerie 60âs ghosts, and the way âDoubleâ starts you half expect them to lapse into âCleopatraâ but they have cooler pop antics to employ, the subtle weepiness harshly turned around by tenser vocals when the guitar wrangles its way in.

As they smoulder gently in the smoky âFour Leaf Cloverâ you also notice thereâs no great cohesive sound that represents them, itâs just youâre hooking into their world temporarily. Great steady songwriting arcs of the past are the obvious presence here, and you can catch traces of everything good from the 50âs to the 70âs in the background, creating a dense atmosphere, and theyâre unusual. The disturbing âBeautifulâ is totally modern with its economical modern blippity backing, and horrendous lyrics about a hired killer skipping over jaunty drums and morose organ, uncoiling like early Psy Furs in a vengeful setting and offering a brilliantly bristling ending.


âShe Turns Me Onâ is cheap and cheerful, âOxycon 80â doomier, and possibly gloomy but itâs so weird who can say, seemingly involving a futuristic head? I donât know whatâs going on, but itâs got a translucent rhythm base, and a circling wooziness thatâs weirdly mesmerising.
âFlippedâ also mooches magnificently, with some scalding guitar frumpery but engaging electronic fizziness. âTracers!â rampages with similar Fall-like tendencies to A Spectre Is Haunting Europe, only here itâs also turned upside down by some early Beasties-style loopiness, and then the unintentionally grandiose âSlowâ make for a stunning ending, with a pensive vocal working in cahoots with vigorous, stylish guitar bursts but overall a solemn flow invigorated with restless drums.

So much crammed into such a little thing: just ten songs, but it feels like the world. Take a holiday people, in a furtive world of delight.


*(Mick Mercer is an internationally respected music writer and published author. He was an early supporter of punk, post-punk and Goth bands in mid 1970's London, writing for music magazines Melody Macker and Zigzag. He's also published the definitive book series on Goth and Goth culture.)