The Chocolate Robots Do Toronto!

I was at home this past weekend, doin’ the easter thing, gettin’ my egg hunt on; but as well as all that madness, I had the chance to see The Chocolate Robots perform live. For those in the know – and there are far too few of us – this is the best band to come out of Sarnia in years. This isn’t your regular run of the mill small town band, playing covers of AC/DC and Buck Cherry ad nauseam. These guys craft unique, raw, do it yourself indie rock coupled with the most perfect pop melodies this side of The Beach Boys. Their lyrics range from spaced out streams of consciousness, to intuitive and intriguing glimpses of everyday life. They’re the guys in high school who would rush home to get baked in the garage before mom and dad got home from work, and then proceeded to jam out in the basement for hours on end. The only difference between you and them is they never put down their instruments. They kept playing, and they kept getting better. When you see these guys live, you get a sense of how much fun it is for them to play, but you also can’t help but admire how serious they take their music. This is how all the good bands used to make it. Based on that visceral feeling, that connection they made with their audience. Like when that “Oh My God Are We Actually Witnessing This?” look creeps across your face and you remember why you fell in love with music in the first place. That’s what The Chocolate Robots do; their most commonly traded commodity is kick ass nights. It’s not their fault though, the urge to play music pumps through their souls as the blood does through their veins. Their dad was a member of Bog, a band that had mild success in Sarnia in the early/mid ‘90’s. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that... they’re all brothers. Talk about being perfectly designed to make it big. Tomorrow night they take their first steps down the road to super stardom, as they are making their Toronto debut opening for Oakland, California indie/folk/rap band Why?. If you are anywhere near the big city I highly suggest going to this show at all costs. Then, when all your hipster friends are talking about these guys next year you can say, “Please, I was at their first show in Toronto last March.” And plus, you know that hot chick who works at that cafe down the street? She’ll want to do you too. Yep. It’s been scientifically proven that liking The Chocolate Robots increases your sex appeal. You can’t go wrong with these guys. If you can’t make it to their show tomorrow night, at the very least you should check out their MySpace page. I suggest Hot Sauce and No Clue.The pic above is from their album release party for “Purr Quality” last year. That’s me and Ricky right there in the front row, realizing we finally have a band to brag about being from the same city as.