“You’d like us if you were in Junior High.” These words appear on Robot Death Kites’ bandcamp page. I’m thinking… yeah, I would totally dig these dudes if I heard them in Junior High. Their music is extremely angst fueled and like so many of my peers I was pissed off all the time. Bullies, asshole teachers, gym class, math I dunno you get my point. Times sucked and I used music as an outlet to get through all that hideous shit. Robot Death Kites sing about bigger bullies and assholes. Evil corporations, sycophant yuppies, and Starbucks fiends. Depraved souls.
These fellers hail from Brooklyn, New York and I first heard of em’ two years ago when I too was roaming the street of Brooklyn, hungry. Seriously though, that wasn’t just a cute metaphorical phrasing. I actually was hungry, I hadn’t eaten in hours and it was around dinnertime; I was in town for a Nobunny show.
So waltzing down some lonely street in Brooklyn I bumped into a man in a chicken suit wearing boxing gloves. He led me to an odd, little restaurant known as Mama Joy’s. Long story short, the chicken turned out to be Dylan aka Snuggles. We bonded over tales of Gay Gardens shows and mutual tastes in music. He revealed himself as the bassist for this here band Rainbow Dream Kittens better known as the mighty ROBOT DEATH KITES.
Now, that brings us to the present day. Robot Death Kites are back in Boston and they’ve brought a tape with them – Yuppie Nightmare – their latest and greatest effort. The recordings are crisp and cool. You may catch yourself dancing along to the music at home alone, giving your junk the old plunk, the old one, two tug. Smash a few holes in the wall, empty another case of PBR. But, that’s not as fun as seeing these ruffians in the flesh dangling in front of you and more than likely resting their sweaty skin on top of your wee body.
Before the set begins vocals guy Otis aka Sunshine runs outside to rally the troops and round up as many men, women, and children as he can. About twenty or less bodies are present before Otis, Jon aka Artichoke (guitar), and Vinny aka Booboo (drums) rip through their set.
Robot Death Kite is pure spectacle. Otis is dressed in his mum’s Sunday best, a real top notch black number (he eventually slimes down to his skivvies), holding a red telephone as his microphone. Dylan’s face is covered in a set of fine pantyhose. Scrumptious. Don’t be misconstrued now. These guys have the guns to back up the glamour and they fire off a string of skull cracking tunes that gets the small, but enthusiastic crowd all riled up and ready to blow off some steam.
These miscreants really do put on a fun show. Their songs are angry and angst ridden, but the performance is anything but; if anything it’s an excuse to go ballistic, like you needed one, right? It’s Atlantic Thrills meets Guerilla Toss meets Rage Against The Machine if they were a basement band. Speaking of which, a basement is the perfect place to see Robot Death Kites, I can’t imagine it any other way. There’s just something about knocking back two PBRs and clutching your third in the midst of a mosh pit, whilst a convulsing Dylan Death Kite leans back and shreds his guitar in the middle of the pit on the cold basement floor.
Definitely a must see. We’ll have to get these fine, upstanding gentlemen back in Boston again sometime soon. It’s a pleasure to finally meet some of you dudes and bring home a few bruises in the process. Fuck it, you don’t want to leave this world without any scars.
LISTEN UP: http://robotdeathkites.bandcamp.com/
Does anyone have any videos from this enchanted evening? I’d love to see them. Give the dumbasses that didn’t attend a chance to see what they missed out on. Ahh well, here’s a vid from Boston Hassle of the band’s set at Gay Gardens (RIP) the last time they were here. Enjoy.