Biography
-
Years Active
2004 – present (20 years)
-
Members
- Abram Taber (2012 – present)
School For Robots is an evolving and eclectic alternative rock collective led by Curtis Killian and featuring some of Boston’s finest talents performing a vast array of genre-spanning material.
What started out as a forced dance ritual to the eponymous 1968 children's song by Canadian electronic music pioneer Bruce Haack quickly became a fitting moniker for a series of DIY bedroom recordings Killian began creating in 2004. Through obsessive overdubbing and crude sonic experimentation, never-ending creative flow and unrestrained songwriting, Killian (a guitarist/vocalist who has been performing music professionally since age 12) garnered enough interest from like-minded individuals to form that bastion of teenage suburban desire and rebellion that has persisted for more than half a century: a genuine American rock and roll band.
Heavily influenced by the bizarre (Frank Zappa, Tom Ze), the funky (Stevie Wonder, Prince) the tuneful (Paul McCartney, the Kinks) and the heavy (Tool, Nine Inch Nails), the resultant adventure through Killian’s brain is as varied as it is unexpected, frequently drawing comparisons to eclectic alternative/experimental rockers like Ween and Beck, to more hard-edged fare like Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters. Whatever comparisons drawn, the music remains fiercely original and unfettered in its aspirations, be they bizarre, melodic, or melodically bizarre.
Current members of School for Robots’ live lineup include Clinton Degan on guitar/vocals, Abram Taber on bass/vocals, Frank Hegyi on drums and Maxwell Butler on keys. In the studio, the lineup is often more fluid and expansive, featuring long-time collaborators, newfound talents, and intriguing fusions thereof. Curtis will hand-pick musicians based on the requirements and desired sonic palette of any given song, including members of Left Hand Does (Luke Sullivan, Jean Sullivan), the Shills (Ryan Jackson), and other fine talents such as violinist Ryan Aylward, bassists Seth Adams and Derek van Wormer, drummers Attis Jerrell Clopton and Cullen Corley, among others.
In addition to an expansive and progressive recorded output, School for Robots prides itself on its live shows, one of the finest optional audio entertainment experiences found in Boston today. Every set is full of surprises, and no two sets are alike. Commencing forced dance ritual!
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
