ROBOTS:
Javier Bolea – Cliff Worsham – Jim Debardi
I am very excited for this weeks interview on HVTBM. Here we go! Asheville, NC’s, RBTS WIN!
HV: RBTS WIN released “The Dark Ones” in December of 2011, how has the album been received so far? And are there any plans to release the album in different media formats, I.E. Vinyl?
RBTS: So far all of the press on “The Dark Ones” has been really good. We consider this our most dynamic album to date, so our hopes were high. We’ve seen that point being made about the album and we are grateful for that. Being sample based, Vinyl is a huge influence on the band. We hope to one day be able to listen to ourselves on wax. For now, you can get copies of the album via our web page www.rbtswin.com in both digital and CD.
HV: Being from Asheville, NC. I used to see Cliff quite frequently in the music scene playing in various bands. Most notably, Post-Hardcore band Secret Lives. Cliff, what spurred the interest to pursue an obviously different style of music with RBTS WIN?
Cliff: I had always produced electronic music in some form. This band is what I consider my adult attempt at music, all of the stuff before this I just consider practice for who I am now. RBTS WIN was formed in 2008, I had been doing both Secret Lives and this band at the same time. SL disbanded in ’09 and I was able to focus on this project as a full-time thing.
HV: Recently, RBTS WIN played at MOOG AHA AVL, which is presented at the MOOG store in downtown Asheville. What was the experience like performing there?
Courtesy of http://www.shufflemag.com/
RBTS: AMAZING! Moog is so good to the locals. It was a treat for us to see our band in such a polished and professional way, I’m sure that none of us ever thought we’d be involved with such a great company. The show was very intimate (only about 125 people), so we got to just have a good time with our closest friends and fans and go with it. Plus, having the opportunity to play with all those toys was pretty jammin’.
HV: I see a lot of photos of the group with Roland SP-404s, Akai Samplers, Micro-Korgs, and MOOG Synths. Which do you guys prefer, production hardware and instruments you physically play? Or production and editing programs like Reason and Ableton Live?
RBTS: We all grew up playing instruments in bands, so having hardware is easy for us. Computers were not really a big dig early on in our generation, so we were always using hardware that was either kicked down to us, or we saved, and saved to get. Ableton is what it is, it gives anyone the ability to produce music. When you use samplers you have to get to know that particular piece of equipment, it is a very intimate and hands on way to go. As of now, we use MPC4k, MPC2kXL, and the sp404sx for production and we record into pro tools.
HV: I noticed that the band seems to be based out of Asheville and Miami, does RBTS WIN split it’s time between these locations? And if so, do you guys think its beneficial as a band to split your time between multiple locales?
RBTS: Javi is from Miami, so we are back and forth throughout the year, mainly being based in Asheville. Though, Javi is always fantasizing about palm trees and thunder storms. The benefit is being able to hit spots on our way down to MIA. On our way to Winter Music Conference 2011, it gave us the opportunity to play Gainesville Total Bummer fest and more.
HV: What are some of your favorite towns, cities, or venues to play in the south? And when you leave the south, what are your favorite places to travel to and play?
RBTS: Atlanta, Miami, Gainesville, Orlando, Johnson City, TN are some of our favorite southern spots. We haven’t done much travel north yet, though we plan on changing that soon with NY, DC, PA dates in the works for April. We hope to go over as well as we have done in the south.
HV: Are any of those dates confirmed yet?
RBTS: We have confirmed dates for sure and hope to release those dates within the next couple weeks.
HV: Any bands from Asheville, Miami, or any other cities that you guys think the world should know about?
RBTS: TWO FRESH(AVL) Violens(BK) Rabbit Punch(FL) Attached Hands(FL) Kentsoundz(MIA) The Critters(AVL) Curtains(AVL) The Contra Verse(ATL) man, there are so many bands doing cool things right now its hard to name them all.
HV: Any other major plans for RBTS WIN in 2012?
RBTS: We are releasing a split EP with our good friends in the Hip Hop act, The Mic Company in April. We are also working on our follow-up to The Dark Ones, “Palm Casual 2”. We are planning on doing a lot more travel in the future and quitting our jobs would be awesome as well…
For more information on RBTS WIN! Check out the sites below: