The Robot Ate Me is, essentially, Ryland Bouchard, a curly-haired San Diego native with a penchant for writing super-catchy, happy-sad songs about genocides and super stores. He's currently on a US tour, but he's going out of his way to stop by Wavelength. This will be his only Canadian stop and his first trip to Toronto. Ryan McLaren and Ryland conversed electronically.

SO, THE ROBOT ATE ME IS NORMALLY BILLED AS A THREE PIECE, BUT THIS SHOW IS GOING TO BE A SOLO SET. HOW DOES THAT WORK?
Over the last three CD's I've probably collaborated with over 20 people on the recordings, but I've been playing alone live for the last year or so. I view The Robot Ate Me more as a project about songs and albums than a touring "band," so I try to reflect that when playing live. As far as what shows are like live, a lot of people end up on stage, start dancing with me, or singing along. I try to make each show fun and different to keep things exciting since doing 50-plus shows alone can get a bit tedious otherwise.

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR TOUR? Sure; it's just a two month tour of the US. Unfortunately Toronto is my only stop in Canada on this trip. Hopefully I can do a full Canadian tour in September.

A LOT OF YOUR SONGS HAVE A SUBTLE POLITICAL UNPINNING TO THEIR LYRICS, AND SOME, LIKE 'œGENOCIDE BALL,'? ARE DOWNRIGHT OVERT. BUT THIS ISN'T WHAT YOU'D EXPECT FROM JUST LISTENING TO THE MUSIC. DO YOU INTENTIONALLY TRY TO CONTRAST THE TWO? With songs like 'œGenocide Ball,'? the end result was more representative of what was going on in my head as opposed to any intentional attempt to contrast the music and lyrics...At the time I was listening to a lot of pre-1950s 78's while also reading about how the CIA was setting up a futures market that would have investors gamble on the likelihood of regime change, war, or pretty much the outcome of any political event. The end result was a picture in my head of some CIA asshole taking his cute little wife to a Genocide Ball where they bet on the likelihood of genocide in South Africa, and regime overthrow in Jordan - all while drinking punch in a big metal goblet and laughing about the results of a football game or something.

THE LIVE ALBUM YOU RECORDED AT THE CBC IS AMAZING. HOW'D THAT COME ABOUT? We were up in Canada for New Music West and we did our show at the amazing CBC Studio 1. They recorded the show and gave me permission to release the CD since they weren't paying us for the show.

OKAY, ENOUGH ABOUT MUSIC. HOW ARE YOU? Great!

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO THESE DAYS OUTSIDE OF YOUR MUSIC? I'm pretty much working on music full-time. If I'm not touring, I'm booking shows, responding to emails, making shirts, or recording new albums and trying to keep up with everything; although, now that I live in Washington, I've been able to be outdoors a lot more. We saw a sea-serpent in the ocean last week and that was pretty exciting.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN IN SAN DIEGO? You leave and move to Washington where you can afford to eat! Or you go to the beach and bodysurf after you get fired from your job. Or you go on vacation there from Minnesota and hang out with all the randy military guys that just got back from a year long trip on an aircraft carrier! Woo! Sexy!

HAVE YOU BEEN TO TORONTO BEFORE? Nope. I've heard wonderful things about the city though... or was that Montreal? I'm not funny.

WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT THE FUTURE? Visiting Toronto. Getting past customs even though I have "TERRORIST" spray-painted on the side of my van. Getting a sense of humor. July 9th! Swimming in the lakes this summer!

By: Ryan Mclaren