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Via telephone
Tuesday, July 23, 2003
Interview by Lauren Pavlakovich

Big ups to L.A. for producing the twitchy, fun, rockin’ stranglehold that is Ima Robot. Their debut self-titled full-length (Virgin), is hands-down some of the catchiest shit I’ve heard all year. It’s full of sick rhythms, sick hooks, and a freakout of vocals – a jittery sensory synth-pop-tinged overload that recalls bits of the Talking Heads. And it’s dancey as hell.

Alex Ebert (vocals), Timmy the Terror (guitar), Justin Meldal-Johnson (bass), Oligee (keys) and Joey Waronker (drums) take a nice healthy hit, then lead us on a joyride around the city, honking at girls and screeching to a halt for a party in a sunny, spacey, fucked-up, punked-out place. Justin and Joey have played with Beck. The other three used to be full-on hip-hop and eventually found the beauty in rock n’ roll. Collectively the band has worked with R.E.M., Mars Volta and Beck.

Last year’s Public Access EP (Virgin) caused a little stir and established Ima Robot as more than just a quirky art punk outfit from L.A.’s artsy Silverlake neighborhood (the Williamsburg equivalent of L.A.). The way the new album, which sounds like nothing I’ve heard, is buzzing (in the US and across the pond), things will likely be very nice for Ima Robot in a short while. Fine by them – they want to take over the world. Alex answered my queries as he drove through L.A., his van full of band members, their manager and few others. Next stop, global domination.

So you’ve been doing this for six years?
Yeah, more or less, as far as I’ve calculated it.

Long time. And before this, you were an MC?
(Laughs) I used to be an MC, but I never called myself an MC.

That’s what everyone’s calling you now.
Better late than never. I was in a rap group since I was like seven. That was like all I was into. The three original members of Ima Robot were all just kinda hip-hop oriented at the point that we got together.

So that’s how you found those guys.
Yeah, more or less. I knew Oli from the valley. We were both taggers. I definitely knew of him but I actually met him at the studio Tim was working at.

And how’d you know Tim?
The guy I asked to be my manager had known Tim from college. We all basically synchronized dropping out of college at the same time on accident and ended up in LA. Me and Oli and the rest of the guys in the band grew up in LA, too.

So as an MC, did you have a different name?
Oh yeah. (Laughs) My very first rapping name was ACE – that was from a period when I was about seven to ten years old. My mom used to call me Alley Cat ’cause my name’s Alex, and I put Alley Cat Ebert together and got ACE.

So what sort of band was it?
The band was called Kabang. It was a rap group, so I was making beats on a little like beatmaker keyboard all-in-one deal, behind the volleyball court.

What got you started and inspired you to do that?
Run-DMC, and then, I’m pretty sure I was already into NWA by the time I was like ten. Run-DMC and NWA stick out in my mind as the ones that I was like, “WOW!” Tim says his early years were shaped by 2Live Crew, which would explain a lot. (to Tim) Did you rap when you were younger? (answering for Tim) Yeah, he didn’t have a crew, he was just kinda expanding his game. And Oli was making beats from the beginning.

What made you decide to move into singing?
I started getting tired of rap. I mean, after the golden age of hip-hop, which for me was like ’90 to ’94, it started getting bad. I got interested in other shit. Then I got a beat machine again, and hooked up with a friend who played acoustic guitar. I had this idea to play acoustic guitar over random-sounding, kind of simplistic, chintzy beats. I always considered myself a master of chintzery. We ended up going over to Tim’s to record a demo, Tim joined the band, and we were playing shows within a couple of months. One night turned into like 17 nights, and we were just in there nonstop. We recorded eight songs.

Did any of those make it onto this record?
(Laughing) Oh, no. People loved us, though. We had a following from the beginning, but no, we’ve just gone through so many different evolutions that they didn’t make it.

Did you play an instrument besides a beat machine when this all started?
No, not at all.

I read that you wrote some songs on guitar and bass.
Yeah, totally.

Did you develop any more instrumentally since you wrote “Alive” and “Dynomite”?
Not really, I just use the instruments to help write the songs. I don’t try to master the art of guitar-playing or bass-playing. Actually that’s the other people; but I do use those instruments, as well as keyboards, to write songs.

How would you describe Ima Robot to someone who hasn’t heard your music?
High class.

What bands or artists have inspired what you’ve done on this record?
Wire was an inspiration. For some people, Gang of Four was an inspiration. Talking Heads came through for some shit. But okay, let me clarify something. I look back on the record and I’m trying to draw comparisons or conclusions, but they weren’t actively derivative. We don’t necessarily try and emulate. I guess the album just sounds however it sounds, and I guess there were definitely some influences as far as the severity of reckless renegades, yeah. Anyone that’s a renegade could be considered an influence. Like we went to this Wire show and were just blown away. We were like, “Wow, these guys are like 60 years old and killin’ it.” We like newer bands that have been renegades too, like Erase Errata.

What other current bands are you listening to?
Well, I love Erase Errata. I think they’re fucking amazing. I love their live shows. I don’t know. All those other bands that are like hot right now, they’re okay. I don’t really understand bands who have one sound they stick to for a whole record. I don’t really get that. So many of these bands, they’ll have a cool sound, but the whole record sounds the same. It’s hard for me to say, really. I really needed and lived off of the last Black Dice record [Beaches and Canyons, DFA]. I’d go on walks or do whatever, and I’d just drop that on, and basically meditated through the day, like floated around. (to the band) Any bands that you guys like this year? Someone likes the new Locust record. Our manager’s trying to tell us to say names of bands that we’re gonna be touring with. He’s getting called out. Timmy’s saying Radio Four. There’s this Space Invader guy who made an amazing song. Wait, and then there’s My Robot Friend. We just love dancing right now, and so anything that’s making people dance we’re into.

What about !!!?
I really like !!!. I just don’t have any of their records, so I don’t know their whole scenario. I’ve just heard some songs. I also love people who aren’t taking themselves too seriously and are just making dance records, aren’t trying to like cause some whole new scene. It seems so obvious when that’s happening.

You’re also a painter?
Yeah.

Do you still do that?
Yeah, I just had a show Thursday. I had one sculpture piece in there and I did a performance piece. I actually came up with the performance that day. I really like just coming up with things and just doing them. There’s a little gallery that I have with a friend of mine and we came up with this idea for a group show called “When Freedom Fades.” So I got all these books, stacked them up like three feet high and stood on them. It was really kind of unbalanced and I had to try to stay steady. I put a noose around my neck that was attached to the ceiling and then shoved this huge wad of money, mostly ones, with a hundred dollar bill on the outside in my mouth. Then I just stood there for like four and a half hours in a Speedo. It was really difficult. I got really sore and stuff, but it was cool. There was something exhilarating about it.

So what were the books?
It started off with like two encyclopedias because you have to learn and then – I came up with it so quickly I didn’t really get to theorize on it beforehand – then there were two Bibles; Clear Body, Clear Mind by L. Ron Hubbard; Narcotics Anonymous; Sex, Ecology, and Love; and then, at the very top, very carefully placed, was In Defense of Elitism. There were a bunch of other books in there, but I can’t remember what they were. They were all very interesting, though. I actually need to read most of them now.

Give me an example of one of your other pieces.
We live on Laurel Canyon and there’s all these car accidents all the fucking time. I was walking down the street and I saw a sideview mirror that was all crushed. It looked like it was from like 1984, and so I just took it and I typed out on clear paper or whatever, “the jail.” I stuck it on a small piece of the broken glass, and it was just called “Car Crash, Circa 1984”. I sold that one, actually.

Did you go to art school?
I went to Emerson in Boston for a year to study film, and then I decided that was just totally stupid. I should have majored in history or something like that, but I was writing a screenplay. It sucks that I didn’t go to art school though, because everyone’s got such a thing, like it’s such a little buddy-buddy club over there in art-school world. You come up so quick if you go to Art Center or something like that, but fuck them, I don’t care.

Who are your favorite artists?
I really like Cy Twombly, and de Kooning, and Klimt. I don’t know, there’s pieces of a lot of different artists that I really like, but I don’t necessarily consider myself a fan of their work. My stuff’s not necessarily like any of that. My stuff’s kind of bare. My paintings are all kind of mathematical or something.

Is it difficult to do music and painting?
No, no! See, I think it’s a myth that you should do one thing and do it well, that’s kind of what I meant with those records. It’s like, you know, just do whatever you wanna do, and then when you don’t have time for something, don’t do it. I gotta focus on one thing at a time, obviously, but I don’t think da Vinci fucking worried about focusing on just one thing. You can do whatever you wanna do, I think, if you’ve got the time. My girlfriend complains, but I like staying busy. No one else I really know is as busy as I am, so whatever.

See, that’s why people pick one thing – so they can relax, go lay on the beach.
Actually, I love doing a bunch of things. I guess that’s just me though. I’d encourage anyone to do whatever they want to do, as long as, you know, you’re putting food in your mouth.

If you had to pick one over the other, what would it be?
Oh, I’d never pick. I don’t have to pick.

Have you done any touring in the US?
No, we’ve never toured. We’ve only played in Los Angeles and in Vegas.

Vegas?
We played at the Mirage twice. We caused a riot. We got invited to play there before we were signed. It was like a big A&R festival. I cussed, and then they cut off our shit, and I flipped out and I got up on the tables and I was telling everyone that their little fucking festival sucked ass. Then suddenly there was a riot all around me. I got taken downstairs to the basement, picture taken, ID photocopied, fingerprints, and I had to sign something saying I would never enter a Steve Wynn hotel or resort in my life again. You know, he owns every fucking hotel, so whatever.

Are you in this purely for the money?
(Laughing) Ah, you crazy. No, fuck no. I’m being super-hyper-vigilant about not being in it for the money. When we got our deal, Tim and I went out and bought Cadillacs, and now I’m getting rid of mine. Fuck that shit. I don’t want to even start the ball rolling in that direction.

What kind of Cadillac?
I got this amazing El Dorado, 2002, like fucking limited edition, red stripes on the seats. It’s insane. It’s a fast cloud. I could feel myself changing you know, “I am now above everybody.”

So what sort of car are you gonna get instead?
I’m going hybrid or something. I’m going the other way. Earthy and just shitty-looking. It’s gonna be great for me.

Is the goal to blow this up as big as possible?
Of course. We want to take over the world. I’m excited about it.

[Edited on 27-9-2003 by Phobiac]