Killer Robots turned the Peacock Room upside down Friday with an insane, interactive performance with Mad haPPy opening the set.
Mad haPPy is a band from Pensacola, fronted by stage Mike iLL and Rivka (stage names), a couple who have been performing together since 1998. They formed Mad haPPy in 2002 and perform more than 200 live shows a year. Mike and Rivka both sing while Mike handles the musical arrangements on his laptop, mixing hip-hop vocals with heavy electro-pop beats.
Mad haPPy gave an energetic performance that shook the walls of the room with both their bass line and the message in their music. Their songs spoke about love, equality and justice with lines like "love is a weapon of mass creation."
"Every song we do is a love song," Mike said.
Attendee Robby Drennen thought they were a band he would definitely see again and was happy to hear them bring up issues in song.
"It was awesome that they were speaking out," Drennen said. "It was something I didn't expect. It was really comforting."
After Mad haPPy was finished, chaos invaded the formerly quiet and comfortable Peacock Room in the form of the Killer Robots.
The Killer Robots came with foam noodle weapons, toilet paper launchers and confetti blasters, arming the crowd for the onslaught of alien invaders that flowed throughout the show. The foam started flying when audience members joined the fray in alien costumes, turning the small performance room into an all-out battlefield.
Trog the berserker robot stomped around in the audience waving giant fists, while Auto, Max, Strobo and Nimrod started up a mix of experimental rock, techno and punk sounds. There was never a dull moment in their set; even Mad haPPy returned to jump into the battle. The musical warfare came to an epic conclusion when the giant black Space Blob inflated, nearly overcoming the small venue, and was narrowly defeated by the foam weaponry.
The crowd ate it up, some like Drennen, fighting to the point of exhaustion.
"I can't even explain how much fun I had," Drennen said, after collapsing onto a couch in laughter.
As the band prepared to play, robot parts and a minefield of wires littered the room. The band members joked around while arguing with the sound system, protesting any time the Peacock Room's sound guy Bill Wathen suggested turning down the music for the vocals.
Killer Robots is an Orlando band that started in 2004 as the brainchild of bassist Sam Gaffin, a.k.a. Ishiro Automatron or Auto for short. Gaffin recruited the original members after a meeting at Denny's and the band now stars in a comic book and online videos with a full-length movie in the works, that was made for $60, according to guitarist Samuel Williams.
Each band member has a character, which they portray on stage in elaborate homemade robot costumes, adorned with flashing lights and wires galore. Along with bassist and pilot Auto, there is Mike McGowan, a.k.a. Maximilian de Kill or "Max," on keyboards; Andy Pond, a.k.a. Edsel von Diesel, on rhythm guitar; Samuel Williams, a.k.a Strobo, on lead guitar; and Cristoffer Welte, a.k.a. Nimrod, former bounty hunter, on drums. Trog is a berserker robot played by Charles Harris who stirs up the crowd for the battles.
The Killer Robots have toured across Florida and also in Atlanta and even San Diego. Their next performance will be at Nerdapalooza July 5 at Taste Restaurant in College Park.
The Peacock Room is a small neighborhood lounge off Mills Avenue that tries to seek "unusual entertainment offerings" for its patrons. It doubles as an art gallery, with paintings decorating every wall of the lounge. They have monthly art shows to promote local artists as well.
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