The Tudor Lounge, despite being located just
off Chippewa Street in downtown Buffalo, has the friendly feel of a
neighborhood bar. While most other venues on the “Chip Strip” decorate
themselves in the neon glam style common to the club scene, the Tudor Lounge is
a familiar dive even if you’ve never been there. On this Wednesday night, a
group of regulars is gathered around the bar. The small stage behind them is
empty. Come Friday, though, and you can enjoy a beer at Blues Night, or for
something a little more energetic, you can see a show every Saturday for no
more than five dollars. At the moment, however, the only music comes from the
jukebox, which is playing everything from Coheed
and Cambria to Megadeth.
I walk into the bar not knowing who I am
supposed to be meeting; Super Killer Robots is the second winner of the BOOM contest hosted by Art Voice, but I
have forgotten to get a phone number or even look at a facebook photo for
reference. Trying to appear confident, I approach the bartender. I’m hoping that
he can show me who I am supposed to interview.
“Super Killer Robots?” he says, apparently contemplating my question very deeply, “Hey, yeah—I think I know those guys! Hi, I’m Chris, I’m the guitar player. Hey Jim—the girl from buffaBLOG is here.”
From there, we get to it:
What kind of
music do you guys play?
Chris pauses, “That’s always tough…”
Jim Candytree, who is also the lead singer of
another local Buffalo band, Whiskey
Reverb, comes to his aid. “We always do what feels good, blend together
what we like—I was a grunge kid growing up, I like Celtic rock as well—little
bit of everything…”
“I love Super
Killer Robots!” shouts a man at the bar, cutting him off with a big smile.
“That’s Kenny,” says Chris, “Kenny is our
star actor, we make him wear speedos.” He laughs off the interruption.
Can you tell
me about your name?
“We stole the name from a friend—he said it
years ago and never used it—and we stole it. The best band name I’ve ever heard
in my life.”
There is a brief pause. The only voices are
coming from the jukebox. Jim and Chris seem reluctant to talk about their
music, and I have no idea how to pull a story from them. Kenny is still sitting
at the bar, still smiling, but no longer interested in what his friends are
saying.
Can you tell
me about your fans? What are they like?
They both light up, and suddenly it is all
chatter. Jim jumps in with enthusiasm, “Weirdos— awesome weird people. There is
an older lady named Sissy— she’s like 60, always in the front row with the
kids. Bikers, college kids, all sorts—we
try to offend people, but you know it doesn’t work. Hippies and hipsters love
us.”
“Core fans are called the rags. Someone called them that at some point in another band, and it just caught on. ‘We’re cleaning up the world one rag at a time!’ It’s kinda expanded into the scene—Randle [Randle and the Late Night Scandal] is part of the rags. They all have names—hopeful stuff.”
“Core fans are called the rags. Someone called them that at some point in another band, and it just caught on. ‘We’re cleaning up the world one rag at a time!’ It’s kinda expanded into the scene—Randle [Randle and the Late Night Scandal] is part of the rags. They all have names—hopeful stuff.”
“I don’t have a rag name,” sighs Chris with
mock disappointment.
Jim teases him, “I’m Tree Rag. My buddy, he’s
a big dude, an awesome shredder. He’s in
his own band, Metal Mountain Trio. He
has my favorite— we call him Mount Ragmore.”
Both Jim and Chris talk fondly about other
local artists, gushing about Grace Stumberg and musicians they met at the
Occupy Buffalo movement. When Rush comes
on the jukebox, we begin to avidly discuss the merits of the power trio, and
the failings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are humble, not rock
stars, the exact sort of thing you would expect from a dive bar: friendly guys
who love music and love the local scene. They may sound like Rage Against the Machine, but these are definitely
people who will sit down and have a beer with you. “No attitude, we don’t want
the negativity,” as Chris puts it.
When we finally get back to Super Killer Robots, it is casual,
almost by accident. Their music is just another part of the conversation,
squeezed in among the dialogue about how Tuxedo
with Jackie Chan might be the worst movie ever.
“We’ve
had some crazy shows,” Jim mentions, “The one here, where I flipped over a
walker and landed on a beer bottle the wrong way. It was kinda like a wrestler.
Sometimes we have weird props like broken glass. It got stuck in my back, and
someone had to pull it out.”
I am getting ready to go, when I mention that
they never really got around to talking about their music. They don’t seem bothered.
“Sometimes I feel like we get a lot of
attention—we’re fortunate, so we shout out to our friends, because there are so
many bands,” Jim says.
Chris looks around the bar, the place where
he works and plays. Clearly, he is at home here. Kenny and all the regulars
left about twenty minutes ago. The place is now empty. “We’re big supporters of
local, original music. A lot of people don’t go see to see shows, but when they
hear the music, they’re amazed. They’re like, ‘Hey, that was pretty good.’ Well
stop going to see that 80’s hair band!’”
~Melanie Donofrio
~Melanie Donofrio
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