Ah, Tokion, one of the last $6 magazines out there. It's out of Japan, and beautiful in terms of art direction, etc., but flipping expensive. Anyway, Ima Robot is featured in a page 30 spread. I took a photo of it and the cover, and here is the text:

"When not running L.A's Transmission House Gallery, Alex Ebert can be found flipping out behind the mic as frontman for fabfivesome IMA ROBOT. With Young Oligee, Joey Warnoker (sic), Justin Meldal-Johnson (again, sic, hey it's Japanese), and Timmy the Terror all rock-ready, even the most wilting of wallflowers have been caught up on the dance floor while the band rips through their light-speed set.

Where have you been?
Alex Ebert: We went to Europe. We played Paris with Turin Brakes, and then London with Blur. Dingy little shows. Since then we have just been keeping busy with auxiliary-type things. I just did a performance art piece at Transmission and my calves are killing me. I stood on three feet of piled up books, with a noose around my neck and a wad of money in my mouth for four and a half hours.

How would you describe your sound?
AE; High Clash. There is just a mix of things going on. I don't see any reason music should be stagnant.

Where do you find inspiration?
AE: Ceilings. I love a good ceiling. The ceiling at Cantor's (sic) (deli in L.A.) provides me with all the inspiration I need to do anything. High ceilings are very inspirational. Low ceilings are cool, too. When I was a kid, every single night I would stare at the ceiling and go into this insane hallucination. I would just fixate on ceilings and fly with them.

How will Ima Robot change the world?
AE: I would like to think it might. The first thing (is that) I would like to hear better music on the radio. No more of what I am hearing - I get the picture, so let's move on.

People think Ima is a whole lot like Devo. What do you think?
AE: I have heard it a few times. That's cool--I like Devo. I don't know if it's true. Aspects of Devo-ism could be true. It's in our repertoire. We just don't do one thing--we do lots of things a little bit.

Do you like attention?
AE: Yeah, I love it. We haven't been getting that much. We've just been catching on."
--Crystallin Meers
photo by Benjamin Clark



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the picture is great! good article. i am all for hearing better music on the radio too. we can dream, can't we?