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Posted on Fri, Apr. 02, 2004

SOUND CHECK / Revenge of the killer Robot
GENRE-BENDING IMA ROBOT'S ALEX EBERT IS HAVING FUN MAKING THE CRITICS AND HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND SWEAT
TOM BOWKER

''It's not that I enjoy making people feel uncomfortable,'' Ima Robot vocalist Alex Ebert says via cellular phone from the road. ''When it happens, it's enjoyable. But I don't do it purposefully.'' Sure he doesn't.

Then again, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to point out that Ima Robot's participation in the ''MTV Campus Invasion'' tour -- which brings the futuristic, genre-smashing musical revolutionaries of Ima Robot in close contact with legions of drunken fratboys expecting to bang their heads lightly to [suburban, feel-good post-grungers] H****stank -- is a bad vibe waiting to happen. Take the gig the night before, when some poor girl had the audacity to throw a H****stank poster at Ebert during Ima Robot's set. ``I stopped singing and started talking to her -- OK, screaming uncontrollably into the microphone. I was cackling at her and she just stared at me, not believing that I'd stop in the middle of the song and acknowledge her. If they're throwing out the awkward vibe, we'll make something out of it.''

Ebert's been making something out of it since the age of seven, when he wrote a song called ''Freeze Motherfucker'' for his kiddie gangsta-rap crew, Ka-Bang. When he entered middle school in suburban Los Angeles, he soon found himself the lone white b-boy in a heavy metal wasteland. Being the only kid in school with oversized pants and parkas galvanized Ebert's love for rap. ''The first two records I ever had were by Huey Lewis and Run DMC, and Run DMC was just more dangerous,'' he relates. ``I probably didn't listen to another rock record for ten years.''

For fans of Ima Robot's throwback glam-punk stylings, Ebert's musical background can be a bit confusing. Ebert explains: 'For me, it all has to do with the context of what particular era people grew up in. For me there was no exciting punk rock scene -- other than hip-hop. All music forms are exciting and edgy and political and fucked up and racy before they come up to the mainstream. Early hip-hop and rap -- parents didn't want you listening to it. `Fuck the police' and all that shit was fucking wild! No one ever said that shit before! It was retardedly racy! For me that was punk rock. I got disillusioned when rappers started talking about getting jiggy and how good they were, so I looked for other inspirations and I found early rock and roll, early glam, and early punk. I found that what I like are things that are really raw and chancy. I don't think there's anything weird about that.''

The strangeness came in later. In 1997, a few months after dropping out of Boston-based Emerson College's film program, Ebert met Timmy ''The Terror'' Anderson at a club and followed him back to his studio. ''We just had a lot of weed and a lot of beer and didn't leave for two weeks except to take showers,'' Ebert recalls. ``We had all of this material. We put everything on [digital audio tape] except for vocals and some guitar and rocked it like that. Tim was my hype man, like [Public Enemy member] Flava Flav.''

Ebert soon recruited keyboardist Oligee, a former graffiti buddy from his high school days. Over the next four years, the trio became hugely popular in Southern California. ''We had our little rock phase,'' explains Ebert. ''People told us our music was too weird and that we needed a drummer and a real band. So we tried that.'' He pauses. ``I guess we're still in that phase.''

After going through six drummers and four bass players, the band took shape with a vengeance. Somehow, Ebert and company conned Beck sidemen Justin Medal-Johnson (bass) and Joey Waronker (drums) into abandoning the tour busses and four-star hotel rooms of their previous employment for Motel 6s and vans. ''It's absurd,'' Ebert asserts as he relays that Waronker recently left the band after six months on the road. ``That's what Joey kind of realized. He's got his wife and his cats and he's home scoring movies. (Waronker's credits include indie film smash Chuck And Buck.) Justin too, though he's stuck it out and really helped shape our sound.''

The synth-punk/no-wave/glam-rock genre orgy on Ima Robot's self-titled debut has led many critics to charge that the band is nothing more than a big-haired, '80s rehash. 'Everyone's so concerned with what's new -- as if `what's new' actually exists,'' Ebert preaches. ``That's missing the point of evolution. Everything humans do is based off creations of the past. I can't name a band in particular that we sound like from the '80s. The new wave movement got crappy as it went on, [which is why] you always have to go back to the future.''

The most futuristic/retro tune on Ima Robot is ''Black Jettas,'' a hilarious Eurodisco ode to the three founding members' ex-girlfriends and the cars they drive. The song has become the band's anthem, despite barely making it on the record as the bonus track. ''L.A. is just filled with these Jettas, man,'' laughs Ebert, explaining the inspiration for the tune. ``And all those girls who drive them have dark hair and pretty faces and look kinda similar. It's just a frightening thing if you're not on good terms with your ex. Ollie's ex has a black Jetta and three of her girlfriends have them, and they pull up to our place, honk, and scare the shit out of us.''

Ebert, though, got even, and not just by recording ''Black Jettas.'' ''I took [the song] to a new radio station in L.A. as a single -- and, now, [my ex] can't escape it. She says she definitely needs to get a new car and start life fresh.'' Of course, he didn't mean to make her uncomfortable. It just happened.

IMA Robot performs as part of the MTV Campus Invasion Tour 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, at the Golden Panther Arena at Florida International University Park Campus, SW Eighth Street and 107th Avenue. Also appearing are H****stank and Lost Prophets. Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door for FIU students; $15 general admission. For more information, call 305-348-3068.