Replicator | en

1.Replicator was a noise rock band from Oakland, California, featuring Conan Neutron (electric guitar/vocals/tape deck operation), Ben Adrian (bass guitar/vocals/keyboard) and Chris Bolig (drums) and later Todd Grant as touring Auxiliary guitar.

Replicator had a sound based on unusual and urgent time signatures, dissonance, repetitive heavy rhythms, an oftentimes angular guitar sound, and Neutron and Adrian's urgent, sometimes dueling vocals. The songs generally did not have traditional verse/chorus/verse structure and the arrangements could be, at times sparse and at other times chaotic. Replicator's sound was often associated with science fiction, paranoia, and somewhat obscure pop culture references.

Straddling the fine line between "Social commentary and smart ass revelry" as well as "technical precision and reckless abandon" Replicator used analog tape deck to play samples live. Until switching to a laptop computer with the Bludgeonsoft software Back to Basics for sampling.

Formed in late 1999 by Neutron and Bolig, Replicator, particularly Neutron, were advocates of the DIY punk ethic as popularized by bands such as Fugazi and The Minutemen and were part of the musical underground culture. Replicator started as a bay area Indie rock band of little distinction before finding their signature sound, often compared to bands such as Shellac, The Jesus Lizard, Steel Pole Bathtub and The Melvins.

The band recorded their first record Winterval with Bob Weston of the band Shellac, triggering understandable comparisons to that band that would hound Replicator for years to come. Shortly afterwards bassplayer Dan Kennedy left the band. The lineup solidified in 2001 when Indiana ex-patriat Ben Adrian [1] joined the band on bass guitar. Adrian often joked that he was still "filling in" on bass 6 years later. 2002 and 2003 saw the band tinker with sound effects, taking the sampling (or "grand theft audio" as Neutron put it) practices of Steel Pole Bathtub and adding this to their devloping aggressive and chaotic sound, as well as keyboard.

This sound was represented in the album "You Are Under Surveillance" which was frequently cited, as chaotic, dense and paranoid, Surveillance is apparently a loose concept album based upon the ideas of "paranoia, lost freedom of choice, airborne revenge, the end of the world, the problems and consequences of an overgrown consumerist, bottom line-oriented culture; and the merits of applied righteous indignation"

In September of 2004 on one of their "ReplicaTours", Replicator's van was broken into and their guitars and keyboards were stolen. Luckily they were able to borrow the equipment of their tourmates Greenlight the Bombers and continue. This theft occurred during the 2004 rash of equipment thefts that plagued many working musicians.

2007's Machines Will Always Let You Down, seems to also be a loosely based concept album, this time around the conflict between man and machine. The press materials state that it is: 10 songs about Nanotechnological assassination, time travel, building sex robots, the eternal battle of man vs. machine and other things.

This record was recorded by Vern Rumsey of the band Unwound and was released on Olympia's Radio Is Down record label

2008 also saw several more US Tours, including a full us tour documented in a on the music website superstarcastic.com.

On January 2 2008, an announcement was made on the Replicator website that "After 8 years, 3 albums, 2 eps, 4 vans, almost 200 shows, a handful of compilation appearances, and countless floors" the band had agreed to an amicable mutual break up. After recording a final ep , (Including a cover of [artist[Babyland[/artist]'s Arthur Jermyn), released again on Radio Is Down, Replicator played their last show at The Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco on April 5th, 2008

Neutron and Bolig now play in the band Mount Vicious, while Adrian plays in the band Guitar vs. Gravity


== Trivia ==

* Replicator's second record You Are Under Surveillance was frequently cited as "paranoid" sounding in many music reviews, ironically according to the New York Times, Neutron himself was under surveillance at the time for his activities as head of Bands Against Bush. Said Neutron in response: "I'd hate to think what they would have done if we were doing something more nefarious then putting on shows and registering voters."
* the end of the band The Arctic Monkeys 2006 song Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But, bears a remarkable resemblance to Replicator's 2001 song Ka-Tet, so much so that some fans have questioned if it is a case of simultaneous inspiration or indeed a case of (unlikely) musical plagirism, Replicator has thus far laughed this off.
* Band has a handful of famous fans from other creative areas including comedian Patton Oswalt and comic book author Warren Ellis
* Neutron is cousins with NY comedy rap artist Schaffer the Darklord and photographer/documentarian Virgil Porter
* Bassist Ben Adrian is a recording and mastering engineer.
* 2/3 of the band (Bolig and Adrian) is vegetarian.
* Band frequently cites the fact that they do not have any love songs in their press materials.
* Band frequently has long, or amusing song titles such as: Bawkbakwak Bawkbagone, Warrior Needs Food, Badly, Frank Lloyd Wrong and Login with my fist, however according to band members in multiple interviews, the song titles almost always are inspired or inspire the lyrical content of the songs. Unlike other contermporary bands with similar song titling such as Don Caballero (who do not have vocals) and Minus the Bear.
* Band has multiple songs influenced by literary works, including that of Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Philip K Dick and Neal Stephenson

== Discography ==

== Albums ==

* Winterval (2001)
* You Are Under Surveillance (2004)
* Machines Will Always Let You Down (2007)

== Singles and EPs ==

* "" EP (2002)
* DDBBLLVVZZNN split ep with Lower Forty-Eight (2003)
* Whangbar Province (2008)

== Compilations ===

* Tired of Standing Still (Journey to the End of the Night, Pt. 2) Highpoint Lowlife, 2001
* bEASTfest 2001 (Ka-Tet) Whole Enchilada, 2001
* bEASTfest 2002 (ft. Jesus ) Whole Enchilada, 2002
* Wäntage USA's 21st Release Hits Omnibus 2XCD (Alert Status: 0), Wantage USA, 2004


http://www.replicator5000.com.


2. REPLICATOR comes from Oradea/Romania. He was born on the 29th of august 1989.He started listening to electronic music from the age of 13. At the age of 15 he started producing drum&bass and with some help from some friends he started organising partys in his city, where they played from trance, techno to breakbeat, drum&bass. His 1st 12" release (together with a hungarian crew) was released at Aural Carnage (Germany) then came some digital releases at Mindsaw Rec. (USA) & Nightmare Rec. (USA) At Black Hoe he met Cobarzan Marian Radu aka Core Corp with who became good mates. They made together the pure amen madness tracks Blackest Blood & The Redeemer wich will be released on Mindsaw Recordings. Recently he started some collabs with a lot of techno-dnb, techstep & darkstep producers .