8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 9, 1998 RI Servotron reprograms style* Michigan Union 530 S. State St. Ground Floor of the Michigan Union By Ted Watts Dily Arts VW t'r Nearly two years ago a group of robots under the auspices of the Servotron Robot Allegiance began its assault on humanity, directed by the mysterious Master Computer. The group's musical arm, assembled partly from members of Man or Astroman? and simply known as Servotron, released an album, "Entertainment Program for Human:' and toured a mighty swath of destruction through the United States. I gathered information from two Servotron slaves in a recent interview with members of the group who referred to themselves as Human Attendants A and B. Oddly enough, these creatures are remarkably similar to the robots they service, keyboardist Proto-Unit V-3 and rhythmic striker Z4-0BX. The robots themselves were unavailable because they were "packed up" until their current tour actually began. "I've had to be out on the road with the robots, and when you let them out of the package, they have a time- coded operation period of about an hour" Human Attendant B said. "If Courtesy of Lookout Records Members of Servotron play for human entertainments Congratulations Future Michigan Alum! Come visit the Grad Fair for big savings! March 11-13 10-5:00 p.m. Call (313) 995-8877 for more information. 6 10% Of f - .-- .-- .. ..-. .. . .. . -. . .. .--- .- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 U All PhD Custom Regalia Purchase 1 E 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Offer valid during Grad Fair March 11-13, 1998 Michigan Union Bookstore you let them out right before the show, they'll play for 45, 50 minutes. And then we put them back in the crates. If you left them out all day a city would just be amassed with blood and hor- ror." "We have to give people the chance to sign up for cybernetic conversion," Attendant A said. "If they played longer than that everyone would end up terminated by the end of the perfor- mance, so they cut it short in order to save the few that decide to join and get prostheses:' While mass destruction was the main tool for world domination by Servotron in the past, the current agen- da seems to be more about subversion. Their tasty electronic-human garage sound has been tempered with a "join us" message in the creatures' current incarnation. Attendant B put it this way: "It's def- initely targeted towards a mass appeal listenability that is somewhat directed to the youth of humanity. We all know that true subversion starts with the younger ranks of human beings and by making it a little bit softer and smoother at the edges we make the oncoming revolution seem that much harsher," "It's what the kids wanna hear," Attendant A said. The music itself is therefore unim- portant. Human Attendant B frighten- ingly admitted "you don't know how close the Master Computer was to making Servotron a TNN, Nashville- New Country-like housewife rock type of band. Garth Brooks is like 12,000 people in and out three shows a night and there's a lot of appeal to the Master Computer to push records to those kind of numbers." "The reason why the music that was chosen is what it is is that it has a pop music sensibility but at the same time is somewhat cultish enough that it didn't star- tic too many people at the initial conception of the Robot Allegian ce" he s ied. "But it may be changing, you may get a littl! more Garth in the sound ... Fron the Numan to the Yoak am we like to say." Attendant A had an interesting story about her own conersion. "I actually started as a white-trash cash register operator at a local grocery store, and the register I w1as working on had aictuahly been libcrated. I kept getting hese messages in between ringing up cans of green beans nd frozen chici en, leading me over to the robotic, cause." The final message that drove her to Servotron was "the threat of dheath:'"I knew that I would not live a long full life with the robot alle- giance" she said. "If I chose to stay where I was, so I chose to have my arm removed and replaced with a claw and now am hard working in the robot factory." The robots themselves are continu- aly being altered. Their touring com ponent has even been improved, Attendant B said. "T he Master Computer has actually reprogrammed the four robots that perform live and has on occasion caused them to bleed or sweat or sometimes it looks like there is silver body paint being smeared as sweat and grease and grime from being on tour for five weeks rolls down their metal faces." "But I must tell you," he said, "tha that is merely the highest step in pro- gramming by the Master Computer. You may even occasionally hear a mis- take being made in the performance, something going off time or something going out of' key, and that's merely to not be so perfect and intimidating to the human audience." And if you're thinking of quietly ignoring Servotron, remembe Attedant B's words of warning:Th Master Computer is always watching Please present coupon upon purchase ' ............. ................ ................ .. - ..w .w......w.... .... ..... ......- - - . . . . .. . . .. . ... .. ... . ... . . .. -.. .. .. . . . . . - - -. .- - - ui pop 10% off Bachelor's and Master's Commencement Attire I 1 1 Field Service Representative Phew, the search is over! Right here is that extraordinary summer job you've been looking for. Gain experience working for a top U.S. brand ...and love it. Eastpak, a leader in the backpack industry, is looking for highly motivated individuals to provide promotional and merchandising support during the summer. 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