I saw Crobot open for Corrosion of Conformity last night.
I was there for COC of course.
I had never heard of Crobot 3 days ago.
Well, Crobot were the highlight of the evening for me.

I got to interview the two founding members and one of the new guys.
That’s the life of an opening band on a big tour.
You work your own merch stand, and people can come bug you. Also, no roadie.

Right as I was walking up to the venue, I passed Brandon Yeagley (vocals founding member) grabbing some gear out of their very-not-fancy white cargo van. (It wasn’t as crappy as other band vehicles I’ve seen. They must be doing alright.)
I hollered, “Hey Brandon!” He turned around, realized he didn’t know me, and gave me the big rockstar smile and a wave. :]

Before I walked into the show, I hit the ‘support’ merch booth, and there was Chris Bishop (guitar founding member), chilling with Nico Jansen (drums), selling shit.
I didn’t have a list of questions, so I just hit Chris with whatever I could come up with. He was super-cool about it. I took a pic, and he looks cranky, but honestly he was really friendly and open.

DT - Where did the name Crobot come from?
Chris - (Shakes his head.) Well, we were first getting the act together, and trying to figure out a name. My friend asked what does it sound like, and I said it was “crowbar licks and robotic movemement”. (He sorta looks into the distance …) “Really, they weren’t even crowbar licks.” The friend suggested Crobot, and “It was way better than anything else we considered.” (I think he’s talking about a Sludge band named Crowbar … that is currently doing their farewell tour.)

DT - So you work your own merch booth?
Chris - Yeah, we are here all night. We have a pretty short set, and we are just trying to get the new stuff out there. (Indeed, they didn’t do their hits Golden or Low Life during their set. No encore of course.)

DT - Who is the girl in the Low Life video?
Chris - (Things got confusing here.) That’s Brandon’s daughter! (The ‘girl’ I was talking about is holding a child and clearly too old to be Brandon’s kid.)
DT - Is that the same girl that’s in the other video?
Chris - Oh no, that other video was an ex-band member’s girlfriend.

DT - Oh ok, lotta family going on.
Chris - Yup, we keep it in the family here.
DT - So you started with a pair of brothers, and they left after a couple albums.
Chris - (Clouds cross his face.) Yeah, working with a pair of brothers was … he trails off.
(At this point, Nico, who was working the booth, pipes up.)
Nico - And now you have a new set of brothers!
DT - Oh, you two are brothers too?
Nico - Yup. (Can’t remember exactly what was said, jokes about making too much noise, and maybe farts.)

DT - Who did this artwork on the shirts?
Chris - Well, I’m a tattoo artist. I did this and this … (He gave me a lot of details about various pieces they had for sale. It was too much to remember. Other band members do artwork as well.)

I talked to the guys a bit more and bought a kick-ass shirt!

The show was fukin great. Everything I hoped for.
Crobot just rocks on stage. Brandon really does run around and act crazy.
He’s got this weird thing he does with the mic stand, throws it forward and then pulls it back with the cable.
I think all the material was off the new album Supermoon.

I went back to the merch stand after the show was over, and Brandon was working.

(I was still pretty confused about who the kid was.)
DT - Great show man. I had no idea who Crobot was 3 days ago. I’m a huge fan now.
So … the kid in the Low Life video …
Brandon - (Interupts) That’s my daughter! (His face lights up with glee.)
DT - Oh, so you stole candy from a baby, twice, and it was your own kid.
Brandon - (Clearly pleased with himself.) Yes, I did! (Brandon is quite the personality. Big waving arm gestures and wild eyes as he proclaims his guilt.)

I talked to Brandon for another minute or two, but I had just barely heard of Crobot. I did not have a good set of questions lined up.

Brandon made sure to invite me to keep in touch and follow up with anything else I wanted to ask. I got the impression he wants to read this article.

These guys were so cool to me with their time and their stories and the AWESOME stage show. Fan for life.

See Crobot live!!!