Compressorhead, the all-robot metal band, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $318,445 to fund the development of a vocalist robot and the band’s debut album.
Compressorhead’s band members consist of 5-foot-tall robots built out of scrap metal and controlled by electro pneumatics. The band members include Stickboy on drums, Bones on bass, and Fingers on the guitar. Fingers even seems to have the headbanging action down pat. They’re also currently working on a robot for lead vocals.
The album will contain 14 songs that were exclusively composed to be performed by Compressorhead. John Wright, of NoMeansNo & The Hanson Brothers, wrote the songs and will be the voice of the lead vocalist robot. No human drummer can play single hand rolls like Stickboy can. No human guitarist can play multiple riffs at the same time.
Building and programming the robots takes time and money, so does producing an album. This is why Compressorhead needs our help. Some record-labels are interested in funding an album made by robots, but certainly not in funding the construction of robots. Any deal with a record-label would compromise our independence and artistic control.
Compressorhead isn’t new, they’ve actually been around for a while now, but they’re the first robot rock band built independent of any institutional or industrial funding. Now they’re trying to become the first robot band to record an original album. But, as Compressorhead says on its website, most record labels aren’t interested in funding the creation of robots or an album created by robots.
Frank Barnes, manager of Compressorhead, joined us on the RT Podcast to discuss the crowdfunding campaign, how Compressorhead’s robots work, and the artistic challenges involved of running an all-robot band. Listen to the podcast below.
