Interview with Robot Lords of Tokyo

I recently got to interview the Robot Lords of Tokyo to find out more about them.

MM-Hello, please introduce the members of your band and what instrument you play.

A: The Robot Lords is technically not a band, more of a project. The members are myself, Rick Ritzler, on drums and guitar, and Paul Jones on vocals and guitar.

MM-Who are your musical influences?

A: How much time have you got! I’m an obsessive consumer of hard rock/metal music, and try to soak up something from everything I listen to. But to boil it down, my primary influences as a drummer are John Bonham, Ian Paice, Jean-Paul Gaster, and Vinny Appice. On guitar I’d say Tony Iommi, Bruce Frankling/Rick Wartell of Trouble, Pepper Keenan/Kirk Windstien of Down, and Michael Amott of the Spiritual Beggars. Mix those all together, and the bands that most clearly influence my songwriting are Down, Clutch, Trouble, Spiritual Beggars, COC, and Black Sabbath, among many others.

MM-Where did you come up with you the band name?

A: It comes back to your previous question on influences. The name comes from a snippet of lyrics from the Clutch song “10001110101”, off their Robot Hive/Exodus album. Neil Fallon is a genius lyricist, maybe the best in the biz, and as soon as I heard that phrase, I knew it would make a killer name for a band.

MM-What are you currently working on?

A: As an independent artist, I spend half my time engaged in the marketing/networking side of the music business, and right now that means spreading the word about our current album, Whiskey, Blood & Napalm, which has been out for a several months now. Other than that I’m in the early stages of writing songs for the third Robot Lords release, which will hopefully be out this time next year.

MM-Is this the only project for you guys or is anyone currently working on any other projects?

A: I’ll do the occasional “session drumming” thing for friends – for example I just recently played on a song for an upcoming AC/DC tribute album that’s coming out. But the Robot Lords is the primary musical outlet for both Paul and I.

MM-You have had numerous guest players on your albums. Tell us about some of them and how did you come to bring them in to doing tracks with you.

A: The “guest player’s format” you mention is really one of the core principles of the Robot Lords project. From its inception my plan was always to keep a core songwriting duo, but then draw upon the varied talents of all these incredible players to take these songs to the next level.

Our two “go to” guys are Beau VanBibber of Deflagration and Joe Viers of Snowblynd. Beau played all the rhythm guitar parts, and Joe handles the bass. These guys are both good friends I’ve know a while, and they are both so solid I knew they’d knock the shit out of these tunes.

And for lead guitarists, I basically put together a wish list of all the guys I could think of from the general area of the Midwestern U.S. who’s playing I admire, and just started reaching out to them and pitching the Robot Lords of Tokyo concept. Incredibly, almost everyone jumped right on board, including Steve Theado of American Dog, Rob Johnson of Magnitude 9, Steve Pollick from Icarus Witch, and solo shredder Neil Zaza.

MM-Did you write songs with particular outside performers in mind or did you bring them in and work out something together?

A: All the material was written ahead of time, so none of the guests are really involved in putting the songs together. However, I was so familiar with the style and talent of these guys; I definitely had them in the back of my mind while I was putting the tunes together. For example, Steve Theado is a sick slide guitar player, and I knew I wanted that kind of feel on the tune “Bring it on Down”. So I made sure to leave plenty of open space and holes in the main riff of the song, knowing that Steve could play his typical wicked fills in between. And now that I’ve worked with all these guys, I’ll be able to do even more of that on the next record.

MM-Is there anyone who has not played on one of your albums that you would like to work with in the near future?

A: Oh yeah, definitely. I’ve got quite a list going, believe me! And I’m happy to say that within the last few weeks I got confirmation on one of those players: Rick Wartell of Trouble is going to be on volume 3. Other guys who I’d love to work with are Michael Amott, Ryan Lake of Alabama Thunderpussy, Ty Tabor from King’s X, John Perez of Solitude Aeturnus, Greg Stryzemka of Raging Slab, and oh about 100 others. And if I start thinking real crazy, I try and picture this thing getting big enough so that I can jam with Pepper Keenan, Paul Gilbert, and my favorite lead player, Michael Schenker!

MM-On your Myspace page it says that your first CD was a surprise critical success. What were your expectations with that album? Why do think it fared better than expected?

A: My expectations for the first record were absolutely zero. No bullshit, up until about a month before we finished the recording, there was a very strong chance Paul and I were just going to burn copies for our friends and family, and that would be the extent of it. Basically, once we got done with the final mix down and heard what we had, and the feedback we were getting from the musicians who participated, we knew we had to do an official release with packaging, and actually put it on sale.

As for the reaction from critics and metal radio, my answer on why it was so positive is a massive cliché: when you work on a project purely from the standpoint of making music that you love and are passionate about, with zero thought towards the reaction you might get from people, then the end result often connects with people because those elements of honesty and enthusiasm come through. Believe me, I would read quotes like that from musicians over the years, and I’d think “man are they full of shit”! But then I found myself in the exact same position, having dissolved my “regular” band, just writing songs by myself, for myself, and THAT’s when people started taking notice. Go figure.



MM- Your second album “Whiskey, Blood & Napalm" came out in the fall. What has been the reaction to it so far?

A: The reaction has been, in a word, ridiculous. To be honest, I’m not sure if another story anything like ours exists in metal right now. Because Paul and I are the epitome of “regular Joes”, we don’t even have a band, we’ve stopped doing the endless gigging thing, we use cartoon characters to represent us instead of traditional band photos, etc. And despite of, or maybe BECAUSE of, those things, we’ve experienced a level of success and exposure that thousands of struggling metal bands would kill for: heavy rotation at metal radio across the country, crazy critical praise, and exposure in mainstream music publications like Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, and Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Every day it seems something new happens for us and we kind of go “are you kidding me?”


MM-Did you approach the writing and recording any differently than with the debut?

A: Well, one thing that was inherently different the second time was that we’d already gotten such great response from the debut, I obviously knew when I started writing that the second one was going to be released, reviewed, circulated to radio, etc. But as far as the writing process, I’d say not really. I like to work independently early on, work up the riffs, lay down drums to a click, then layer the guitars and bass, etc. These are the demos I give to Paul and he lives with them for a while and puts the lyrics together. Sometimes I throw in some lyrics, and he also brings music to the table, but that’s kind of the formula.

For both records our bass player, Joe Viers, served as engineer and mixer. Joe’s got the best set of ears in Ohio, so having him involved is a real blessing, and it also ensures that even if my songs are shitty, sonically they’ll sound good!

MM-What kind of your music are you currently listening to?

A: Well, I think I have pretty diverse tastes, but I suppose that’s a relative term. Generally I like guitar-centric heavy rock and metal. I’m an “album” guy, so I hate iPods and the digital music/shuffle thing. I’m sure it makes me a fossil, but I believe records are meant to be listened to in the running order the artist intended. So I try and limit myself to carrying around no more than 20 CDs at one time, and couldn’t imagine having access to my entire catalog in one device! I’d spend all my time trying to decide what to listen to! In my rotation right now are the latest releases from Lamb of God, Testament, Neal Morse, Death Angel, Def Leppard, and Exodus. Plus some old favorites like Crowbar’s Broken Glass, Yngwie Malmsteen’s Attack, and Bonham’s Madhatter.

MM-What is the music scene like in Columbus, Ohio these days?

A: To tell you the truth, I don’t really know! Paul and I stopped playing the live circuit about 5 years ago, and since then I’ve become really disconnected from the bands and styles that are most prominent in the clubs. I do feel like there are less places to play overall, and that the vast majority of them are just looking for your typical “jukebox bands” who’ll crank out the hits everyone knows. Even though the money was good, that got old real fast. So I’d say I’m more in tune with the individual players in town than I am the scene itself. And as you can hear from the record, there are some kick ass players in these parts.



MM-Are there any great unsigned local bands that you would like to mention?

A: Sure. Two bands that I think deserve WAY more recognition are American Dog and Deflagration. Obviously I play with guys from both bands, but I can say without any bias that these guys are both some of the best in their respective genres. American Dog are a true power trio, and they play high-octane, Motorhead-meets-ZZ Top beer bash boogie. Although not technically “unsigned” (Bad Reputation has them signed for Europe), they should have a U.S. deal for sure. And Deflagration play kick ass power-groove-thrash, with elements of Pantera, Machine Head, and ProPain in their mix. Their new album A Call to Arms is phenomenal, so go check it out.


MM-Since it’s early into the New Year, what would you like to accomplish in 2009?

A: I don’t want to sound greedy, because we’ve accomplished so much this year already, but if I’m aiming high, I’d like to end the year by finding a home with the right indie label. I think Whiskey, Blood & Napalm still has a lot of life in it and could really take off with the right promotion team. And hopefully this new partnership will set us up nicely to record and release our third record and take this thing up another level.

MM-Pick the band from each of the following pairs that you prefer and tell why you picked them.

AC/DC or KISS
Definitely Kiss. AC/DC are great, but like a lot of guys in their 30s, I grew up with Kiss, starting when I got a copy of Double Platinum on vinyl when I was 8. I always loved that everybody in the band sang and had distinctively different voices. Creatures of the Night probably tops my Kiss album list. Amazing drum sound on there.

Fu Manchu or Nebula
Hmmm….not a HUGE fan of either, but I’d say Fu Manchu would get the nod. I’m more familiar with their stuff. Plus they’re not afraid to pour on the cowbell, which always works for me.

Clutch or Kyuss
No contest here – Clutch are one of my favorite bands period, and I think their three album cycle of Blast Tyrant – Robot Hive – Beale Street is one of the greatest in the history of rock music. I’ll put those three records against any other “three in a row” from the giants: Zeppelin, Sabbath, Rush, Van Halen, you name it. I could go on forever, but to boil it down to two elements: JP Gaster’s drumming and Neil Fallon’s lyrics.

Black Sabbath or Deep Purple
This one hurts. Very badly. Assuming that I can’t get away with the cop out of a tie, I’ll reluctantly say Sabbath. Couldn’t be closer though. And the funny thing is that, unlike a lot of purists, I like a lot of the deeper catalog albums better than the supposed classics. Give me Burn and Perfect Strangers over In Rock and Machine Head any day. And Dehumanizer and Mob Rules stomp all over Paranoid in my humble opinion. At the end of the day it’s Iommi’s riffing, and the presence of Dio and Vinny Appice that push me over the edge into the Sab camp. And despite the fact that I worship the genius of Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore, there’s a certain style of DP song, such as “Lazy”, that I never could get into. Ok, I’ll shut up now.


MM-Is there anything else that you would like to say about your band or your music?

A: Two quick things. For everyone who reads this that has purchased our CDs, or plans to after this: THANK YOU. It’s incredibly appreciated. And lastly, for anyone who’s still trying to figure out what we’re all about, and whether you’d dig our stuff, the thing I’d say makes the Robot Lords music unique is that we combine the traditional riff-centric elements of classic-stoner-southern doom metal, with a more technical shred-type lead guitar approach. So if that sounds at all appealing to you, check us out. Now go forth and ROCK!


www.myspace.com/robotlords