The Trons
Encyclopedia
The Trons are a New Zealand
self-playing robot
band created by musician Greg Locke. The band consists of four robots, created from scratch using a variety of spare parts and electronic equipment, and are based in Hamilton
(nicknamed Hamiltron or The Tron
for short).
by the Hamilton Community Arts Council.
Ham plays the rhythm guitar
and does the vocals. The vocals are produced through bits of tape loop
created on an old tape machine and looped
.
Wiggy plays lead guitar
which is single-string. It is only possible for the robots to play four chord
s.
Swamp performs on the drums, using a pie-plate as a snare
. Swamp was written several times on the drum set that Locke purchased for this robot (he guesses that it must have been the name of the band who had used it), thus the robot's name.
Fifi plays the keyboard
, using only one "hand". She originally played bass
but performed poorly at it.
The robots are made from a combination of scrap parts and more complex equipment and are controlled via a computer using a "top-secret" software package. The use of "flimsy material" makes the robots' actions similar to that of a human to create human-like music.
Despite being robots, the members of the Trons are often treated as human by fans to the point where Swamp has received date requests. Locke explains this tendency to treat them as human arises from the "human element" required to create music.
video, which received over 80,000 hits in two days, going on to amass almost a million hits in only a few months. They have received mostly positive critical acclaim, being described as "pure genius" and as being better than Grammy Award
-winning British band Coldplay
.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
self-playing robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
band created by musician Greg Locke. The band consists of four robots, created from scratch using a variety of spare parts and electronic equipment, and are based in Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
(nicknamed Hamiltron or The Tron
Tron
-Film:*Tron , a franchise that began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron** Tron , a 1982 science fiction film by Disney, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor and David Warner...
for short).
History
During the 1990s, while a member of the New Zealand musical duo The Emersons, Greg Locke toyed with the concept of developing a robotic drummer. This concept eventually grew into the idea of creating an entire band of robots. The four robots took about nine months to build and were created from electronic components of decommissioned photocopy-card vending machines (which formed part of Locke's daytime career), various scavenged parts and some advanced equipment. The construction of the band was assisted with a grantGrant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
by the Hamilton Community Arts Council.
About
The band is managed by creator Greg Locke, a New Zealand musician and mechanical engineer who has played in garage bands including The Hollow Grinders. The band contains no human members, consisting only of four robots named Ham, Wiggy, Swamp and Fifi.Ham plays the rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and does the vocals. The vocals are produced through bits of tape loop
Tape loop
In music, tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound. Contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen used tape loops to create phase patterns and rhythms...
created on an old tape machine and looped
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
.
Wiggy plays lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
which is single-string. It is only possible for the robots to play four chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
s.
Swamp performs on the drums, using a pie-plate as a snare
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
. Swamp was written several times on the drum set that Locke purchased for this robot (he guesses that it must have been the name of the band who had used it), thus the robot's name.
Fifi plays the keyboard
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
, using only one "hand". She originally played bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
but performed poorly at it.
The robots are made from a combination of scrap parts and more complex equipment and are controlled via a computer using a "top-secret" software package. The use of "flimsy material" makes the robots' actions similar to that of a human to create human-like music.
Despite being robots, the members of the Trons are often treated as human by fans to the point where Swamp has received date requests. Locke explains this tendency to treat them as human arises from the "human element" required to create music.
Critical reputation
The Trons' first dip into stardom came from their YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video, which received over 80,000 hits in two days, going on to amass almost a million hits in only a few months. They have received mostly positive critical acclaim, being described as "pure genius" and as being better than Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning British band Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
.