http://southend.wayne.edu/days/2003/October/1082003/ae/revie...

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Photo Credit: Jelle Wagenaar Ima Robot, Virgin Records. The show, Hot Hot Heat's, opening act Ima robot stole the show at Saint Andrews Hall By Martha Wood Contributing Writer Spastic and sexy, Hot Hot Heat's opening band, Ima Robot, stole the show Saturday night, at Saint Andrews Hall. Ima Robot was energetic and fresh compared to the second band French Kicks and Hot Hot Heat. Ima Robot's music is diverse and fun with smatterings of influence from 70s punk and 80s pop. It's natural, as if influenced only by trends, not copied. For example, the song, "STD Dance" is obviously a reference to the popular "Safety Dance" of the eighties. Even though the music of Ima Robot has cultural trends, it has it's own style. The sound was raging fun and each song was different than the last. Ima Robot's lead singer, Alex Ebert, was wildly energetic and super-sexy, with a bowl-shaped mullet and a skinny frame. He pleased the crowd by talking in between songs and danced the whole time during songs. He showed us how limber he is by jumping up on top of the speakers by the stage at one point out of sheer excitement. The second band, French Kicks, was bland and boring. They're a bunch of pretty boys trying to be cute and all of the songs sounded exactly the same. In a word, sucked. After seeing Hot Hot Heat in concert, you might begin to think that this band will be just another one hit wonder. The only song that got a response from the majority of the crowd was the hit "Bandages." When listening to Hot Hot Heat, you will find that the lead singer, Steve Bays, sounds very much like The Cure's Robert Smith. At first hear the song "Bandages" sounded like The Cure. Is this just a coincidence? To sound almost exactly like another popular singer, maybe, but after seeing Steve Bays' hair, you may wonder if he has pictures of Robert Smith pasted all over his bathroom mirror. It makes you realize that a band who's going to be around for a while usually isn't a copy of a previously successful band. Hot Hot Heat did put on an okay show. But, it seemed as if they were just trying too hard. Steve Bays was singing raucously and sweating his little heart out, but it just wasn't getting the job done. Hot Hot Heat was a little disappointing but finding the new band, Ima Robot, made the concert worthwhile.

[Edited on 9-10-2003 by Phobiac]

I cannot claim full maim responsibility for this as
my next best man recently put it..."you don't want to kill the singer from (hhsuck), you wanna take him out with an arrow".