Robots In Disguise: The Trials of the Robots

The Robots put on their Geil (HORNY) faces for the camera

by Joanna Orland

Robots in Disguise are probably known better for their Mighty Boosh association than their music. But with some great electro tunes in the vein of Chicks on Speed or Peaches, I doubt things will be that way forever for Robots in Disguise.

While guest appearing on Mighty Boosh (Dee Plume dates Noel Fielding!) has exposed them to a wider audience, the gals still find it stressful being in the music biz as their autobiographical single We’re In the Music Biz may allude to. Dee Plume and Sue Denim have been around for years and of course being 2 girls, they have experienced sexism firsthand in the cock-rock dominated music industry.

“GET ON THE FUCKING STAGE AND PLAY” is some of the abuse they’ve gotten from ‘macho’ sound engineers. “Yeah you’re girls, who do you think you are? The music industry is still really about boys. There are just loads of girls coming to our gigs and I feel like we’re doing something important for them.”

I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with the Robots, but I got the impression that they’re slightly ADD jumping from one topic to another, breaking into song and sporadically admiring my watch. Full of energy, hyper, fun-loving good people who are coming up to nearly 10 years in the music biz because they genuinely love what they do and are not in it for the money, or lack of in their case.

Sue currently lives in Berlin with their drummer, one reason being that she can’t afford to live in London. She has a “good quality of life out there in Berlin as an ex pat” with rent a mere 200 euros per month. Berlin is like a bigger Shoreditch in their eyes. A huge music scene including their idol Peaches who they desperately want as producer on their next album… They promised they would be asking her that day while she was on site to perform a DJ set! Let us know how it went girls!!!

Even though Dee and Sue live in different cities, they still manage to work well together. Many of their songs were written over the past few years and Dee went to live in Berlin for three months while making the last album.

When asked our usual tormenting question of one word to sum them up, after much debate, the word is… (drum roll please) Geil – the German word for HORNY!