Waikato robot band an internet hit

PETER DRURY/Waikato Times

INTERNATIONAL HIT: Greg Locke with part of his mechanised group, The Trons.

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Hamilton's all-robot band, The Trons, have become an international internet sensation.
Blog: New Zealand's robotic band

The four-piece mechanised group is the creation of Hamilton's Greg Locke, a 40-year-old electronic and software engineer and bassist with local "surf rock" act The Hollow Grinders.

The band's point of difference is that there are no human members: instruments (keyboard, drum, guitars) are played by the one-off robots Mr Locke has built. The music is all original.

Mr Locke said he had been stunned by how the mechanised group had become so popular, based largely on a YouTube clip which shows the band rehearsing.

The Trons have featured on TV3's Campbell Live, Radio New Zealand, in British newspaper The Independent, and on various music and technology-related websites.

The YouTube clip has now been viewed 190,000 times about 10,000 a day as internet users marvel at Mr Locke's creation. A Google search for the band showed a dozen pages of results, and one website described the group as "pure genius" while another suggested they were better than British stadium rock act Coldplay.

"When all that (hype and coverage) started, I thought it was pretty crazy," said Mr Locke, who was delighted The Trons were seen as credible and described them as "a serious project".

As one of the now defunct musical duo The Emersons, he toyed with the idea of creating a robot drummer, and The Trons were the logical progression.

"I just had an idea, got up from the couch and tried it. I thought `this might work'. Even as a kid, I was building odd things," he said.

The band is made of four members Ham (guitar and vocals), Wiggy (single-string lead guitar), Swamp (drums) and Fifi (one-handed keyboards).

It took Mr Locke "eight or nine months of madness" to construct the group.

"The electronics came from an old photocopy card vending machine with other parts scavenged. I didn't need to do that, but it's made it easier everything sort of just appeared," Mr Locke said.

While the band seemed to have been created from old junk and tired instruments, Mr Locke said building the group required some reasonably advanced electronic equipment.

The Trons were controlled by a computer specially set up with a top-secret software package.

A grant from the Hamilton Community Arts Council assisted with construction costs. "But a lot of things I've paid $5 for here and there."

The Trons performed at Hamilton bar Flow on Saturday night as part of the Fringe Festival and an album is planned.

Online: www.myspace.com/thtrons

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