Interview: Free the Robots clipping Cut&Paste

Can you tell us a little bit more about what The Crosby is and what it means to you?

CA: The Crosby is a restaurant I opened up with some like-minded friends. It's a collective of visual, musical and culinary artists who came together to do something new for a County that needed it. We all play our own roles. There is a heavy synergy between everything from our food, the music, the staff, the art, and everything thats goes on night after night. OC is a challenge, but there are enough open-minded people who understand our direction to maintain an audience. You're not gonna find many places like this, where world-renowned artists play in a small intimate settings with Chimay on Tap, gourmet food served all night, and no cover.

It feels like it would be impossible to disassociate you from The Crosby. How does Free the Robots feed off from The Crosby and how does the Crosby feed off from Free the Robots?

CA: Owning a restaurant and being a musician may seem like two opposite sides of the spectrum but I keep both in harmony. My main position is marketing and entertainment management. I work with the artists direct and book the talent, but I do it with a much different approach. Being an artist myself, I have a very personal relationship with all the talent that comes through. It's not like traditional promoter to artist, business only type stuff. It's more like friends just hanging out. We have dinner, drinks, shoot the shit, maybe jam on music in the basement, they play, sometimes I play with them, they get paid, I get paid, everyone's happy and we do it all over again.

The Crosby, Free the Robots, starting your own radio station... Do you have a multidisciplinary attitude to all things you do?

CA: It gets intense but it's all about just not being lazy. I ended my habits of slothing out watching TV and playing video games. All my energy goes into staying creative, productive, inspired and healthy. There are enough hours in a day to get a good amount of work done; thankfully I'm a morning person.

Can you give us a little idea of these sort of multimedia/multidisciplinary connections you make when composing a song?

CA: It always starts with whatever I'm feeling. The main thing is being able to translate that feeling on to a recording. Sometimes it doesn't really work out and I turn it into something else. My music is just as driven by mistakes, as it is by ideas. It's all about taking chances, letting it flow and working with it.

Where do you see the scene in LA going from now?

CA: Independent music taking over. It's not up to the major labels anymore. It's up to the nerds, nerding out in their bed room studios. Give nerds the power to connect their music with the world via the internet and all of a sudden they have a huge audience in Germany and Japan that they never knew existed... And the diversity is huge right now. I've noticed totally different crowds in totally different areas who are all into the same music. It's molding at a rapid rate.

You are releasing your first full length album soon. What is it going to be like?

CA: Heavier, dirtier, and more psyched out... special guests, bearded ladies and more.

Can we expect a similar line of sounds to what you have been producing so far?

CA: There are some similarities, although I've grown a lot since the last record. It pretty much tells the story of the last two years of my psychotic life.

Do you have any preconceptions of China that you expect to see shattered when you arrive here?

CA: I've had some great Chinese food here in the States. I'm excited to have some real Chinese food!