Compressorhead Explained

Compressorhead
Landscape:yes
Origin:Berlin, Germany
Years Active:2013–2019
Current Members:Fingers, Bones, Stickboy, Junior, Mega-Wattson, Hellgå Tarr

Compressorhead was an animatronic robot band created by Berlin-based artist Frank Barnes and collaborators Markus Kolb, Stock Plum, and John formerly of NoMeansNo, as musical director, songwriter and vocalist.

The six "performers" in the band are all robots made from recycled parts, playing real electric and acoustic instruments and controlled via a MIDI sequencer.[1] The project initially debuted in 2013 with four robots (a guitarist, bassist, drummer and a small drummer's "assistant"), performing covers of famous rock songs. Two more robots (a vocalist and rhythm guitarist) were added to the group in 2017.In 2023, the entire band was seen in the movie Circus Maximus by rapper and producer Travis Scott. They would assist him while he would perform the song "Sirens" inside the stadium of Circus Maximus in Rome.

History

The first four robots (Stickboy, Junior, Fingers and Bones) were built between 2007 and 2012 and their first recorded performance was held at the Bülent Ceylan Show on the German RTL television channel in March 2012.[2] [3] Their first performance in front of a live audience was at the 2013 Big Day Out festival in Australia.[4] [5] The band gained initial notoriety on YouTube throughout 2013, uploading videos of classic rock covers from bands such as Motörhead, AC/DC, Pantera and the Ramones.[6] [7] [8]

In early 2013, Barnes recruited John Wright of the Canadian punk band NoMeansNo and The Hanson Brothers as a songwriter and "musical director" for the group.[9] [10] Three songs from this collaboration were released via the band's YouTube page: the original songs "Compressorhead",[11] "Speed Walking Lady"[12] and an instrumental cover of the Hanson Brothers' song "My Girlfriend is a Robot".[13]

In November 2015, the team behind the band started a crowdsourcing campaign on the platform Kickstarter[14] to raise US$290,000 to build a robotic "singer".[15] [16] [17]

In 2017, the band added a vocalist robot, Mega-Wattson (voiced by John Wright), and Hellgå Tarr, a second guitarist, to the band. NoMeansNo members also perform as multi-instrumentalists on Compressorhead's debut album, Party Machine.[18] [19]

Albums

Members

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Meet Compressorhead — The World's Most Metal Band. Leonard. Michael. 2013-04-09. www.gibson.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130416032139/http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Meet-Compressorhead-The-Worlds-Most-Metal-Band.aspx. 2013-04-16. 2015-11-27.
  2. News: COMPRESSORHEAD Robots Perform AC/DC Classic On German TV. 2013-02-02. Blabbermouth. 2019-10-14. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20131010051111/http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/compressorhead-robots-perform-ac-dc-classic-on-german-tv/. 2013-10-10.
  3. Web site: History. Compressorhead Official Website. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190609103218/http://compressorhead.rocks/history.html. 2019-06-09. 2019-10-14.
  4. News: Robotic metal band tours Australia for Big Day Out. 2013-01-07. news.com.au. 2019-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180419/https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/robotic-metal-band-tours-australia-for-big-day-out/news-story/adbb2748a6c6c3b1cd3ad694f4dd30da. 2019-10-12. live.
  5. News: Robot Band Compressorhead Part Of Big Day Out 2013. Zanotti. Marc. 2012-11-02. Music Feeds. 2019-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20150112175410/http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/robot-band-compressorhead-part-of-big-day-out-2013/. 2015-01-12. live.
  6. Book: Davies. Alex. Crosby. Alexandra. Cultural Robotics . Compressorhead: The Robot Band and Its Transmedia Storyworld . 2016. Koh. Jeffrey T.K.V.. Dunstan. Belinda J.. Silvera-Tawil. David. Velonaki. Mari. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-42945-8_14. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 9549. en. Springer International Publishing. 175–189. 10.1007/978-3-319-42945-8_14. 9783319429458. 2019-10-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612020335/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-42945-8_14. 2018-06-12. live.
  7. Web site: Robot metal band Compressorhead gives new meaning to the phrase 'music programming'. Schoof. Dustin. 2013-04-12. lehighvalleylive. en. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180419/https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/dustin-schoof/2013/04/robot_metal_band_compressorhead_gives_new_meaning_to_the_phrase_music_programming.html. 2019-10-12. 2019-10-12.
  8. News: All-Robot Band, Compressorhead, Plays Motorhead. Crisp. Andrew. 2013-01-08. Boise Weekly. 2019-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180431/https://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2013/01/08/all-robot-band-compressorhead-plays-motorhead. 2019-10-12. live.
  9. Web site: Episode 227: John Wright & Frank Barnes of Compressorhead. Kreative Kontrol podcast with Vish Khanna. 26 November 2015 . en-US. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160722034946/http://vishkhanna.com/2015/11/26/ep-227-john-wright-frank-barnes-of-compressorhead/. 2016-07-22. 2016-07-26.
  10. Web site: Interviews: John Wright (Nomeansno) talks about writing songs for the robotic band Compressorhead. Gentile. John. punknews.org. 2 November 2015 . en. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180704200811/https://www.punknews.org/article/59282/interviews-john-wright-nomeansno-talks-about-writing-songs-for-the-robotic-band-compressorhead. 2018-07-04. 2019-10-14.
  11. Web site: Compressorhead Vocalist Drive Unit Build Part1. YouTube. en-US. 2016-07-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180452/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYSCJWDUKXc. 2019-10-12. live.
  12. Web site: Battle of the GIANTS Robots VS Human. YouTube. en-US. 2016-07-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20151230112911/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQOmwTpWWVQ. 2015-12-30. live.
  13. Web site: Compressorhead in New York. YouTube. en-US. 2016-07-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20170506142306/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiIvtH3P8BA. 2017-05-06. live.
  14. Web site: Building a Robot Lead Vocalist and producing first Album. Barnes. Frank. Kolb. Markus. 2015-10-31. Kickstarter. en-US. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20151124004041/https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1335681368/building-robot-lead-vocalist-and-producing-first-a. 2015-11-24. 2015-11-27. Plum. Stock.
  15. News: A German rock band made of robots is raising money on Kickstarter to build themselves a singer. Cook. James. 2015-11-18. Business Insider. 2019-10-12. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180420/https://www.businessinsider.com/german-robot-rock-band-compressorhead-is-raising-money-on-kickstarter-to-build-a-singer-2015-11. 2019-10-12.
  16. News: Heavy Metal Band Compressorhead Wants a Lead Singer — Made of Metal. Eckardt. Andy. 2015-11-16. NBC News. 2019-10-12. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170810091322/http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/heavy-metal-band-compressorhead-wants-lead-singer-made-metal-n462891. 2017-08-10.
  17. Web site: Help All-Robot Band COMPRESSORHEAD Build A Robot Vocalist. Kennelty. Greg. 2015-11-30. Metal Injection. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180429/https://metalinjection.net/latest-news/help-all-robot-band-compressorhead-build-a-robot-vocalist. 2019-10-12. 2019-10-12.
  18. Web site: Meet the New Lead Singer of Compressorhead, a Metal Band Made of Robots. Warner. Noelle. 2018-06-25. Nerdist. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012180417/https://nerdist.com/article/robot-metal-band-compressorhead-lead-singer/. 2019-10-12. 2019-10-12.
  19. News: Unmenschlicher Schwermetall. Petersdorf. Martin. 2017-11-30. Deutschlandfunk Kultur. 2019-10-14. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180204163021/http://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/roboter-band-compressorhead-unmenschlicher-schwermetall.2177.de.html?dram:article_id=402022. 2018-02-04. de. Inhumane Heavy Metal.
  20. Berlin Robotband plays with real instruments live Heavy Metal & Punk Rock. 2015-10-20. 2019-10-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20191014143245/http://compressorhead.rocks/press-kit/Compressorhead-Presskit-en.pdf. 2019-10-14. live.

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