Ima Robot is an American band based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States, that formed in the late 1990s. They have released several albums, EPs, and singles, most notably ''

Ima Robot Ima Robot is an American band based in Los Angeles, California, United States, that formed in the late 1990s. They have released several albums, EPs, and singles, most notably '' Ima Robot'' in 2003, ''Search and Destroy'' and '' Monument to the ...

'' in 2003, ''Search and Destroy'' and ''

Monument to the Masses ''Monument to the Masses'' is the second album by Ima Robot. It was released by Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entre ...

'' in 2006, and ''

Another Man's Treasure ''Another Man's Treasure'' is the third album by Ima Robot. It was released by Werewolf Heart Records on September 18, 2010. It was made available on iTunes, and listeners could purchase the album through the band's site, which offered several d ...

'' in 2010. The band's song, "Greenback Boogie", a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to ''Another Man's Treasure'', is the main theme song of the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

legal drama series '' Suits''.

History

In the 1990s, singer/rapper

Alex Ebert Alexander Michael Tahquitz Ebert (born May 12, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. He is best known for being the lead singer and songwriter for the American bands Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. On January ...

and guitarist Tim "Timmy the Terror" Anderson worked together under various names including 13's Lucky, The Window Club, and Eiffel Tower Window Masters before deciding on the band name Ima Robot. The phrase "Ima Robot" came from an inside joke between members of the band, which Ebert has stated "was something that we thought was really, really, really, really funny, and I can't, for the life of me, remember why" In 1997, the duo recruited keyboardist/bassist Oliver "Oligee" Goldstein. The trio would perform with various frequently changing members until they recruited drummer Rich Lambert in December 2000 and bassist

Justin Meldal-Johnsen Justin Meldal-Johnsen (born March 26, 1970) is an American musician, record producer, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Paramore, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, and St. Vincent. Meldal-Johns ...

in November 2001. The band recorded numerous untitled demo CDs through the late 90's and early 2000's.

Signing with Virgin Records

In mid/late 2002, Ima Robot was signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

. As Ebert described, the first thing Virgin Chairman/CEO said about the band: "The first thing

Matt Serletic Matthew Michael Serletic II (born 1970 or 1971) is an American record producer, songwriter, and music executive. Career As a teenager, Serletic joined a band with members of Collective Soul, a group for which he would later produce. Serletic ...

said was that seeing us was like seeing

the Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United St ...

for the first time, and that he felt this kind of energy that we needed to capture and not try to gloss and glean over." Lambert was let go the day after the band was signed and was replaced by studio drummer

Joey Waronker Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He is best known as a regular drummer of both Beck and R.E.M., and as member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta. Background Waronker ...

''Ima Robot

On September 16, 2003, Ima Robot released their first full-length

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, the self-titled ''

''. The album featured the singles "Dynomite" and "Song #1" (released in the UK only). In 2004, Waronker and "Oligee" left the band. Meldal-Johnsen followed in 2005, with former

Oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), most commonly known as oleander or nerium, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the only species currently classified in the ge ...

drummer

Scott Devours Scott Devours (born December 15, 1966) is an American drummer and songwriter based in New York City. Devours has played drums for the post-grunge bands Oleander, IMA Robot and Long Beach bands like Speaker and Shave, worked on over thirty album ...

. Tim Anderson's cousin, whom he had never met before Devours, auditioned and took over the drums. Filip Nikolić took over the bass and Andy Marlow started playing the keyboards. In the process of writing their second album, the band recorded the EP "Search and Destroy", which they released and distributed independently at shows starting on April 5, 2006.

''Monument to the Masses''

On September 12, 2006, they released their second album ''

'', which featured the singles "Creeps Me Out" and "Lovers in Captivity".

Departure from Virgin Records and post-departure

In April 2007, the band won their independence from

and continued to work unsigned under the management of Alexis Rivera of Echo Park Records. The song "Gangster" premiered on the band's MySpace on April 15, 2008, with its lyrics posted in a blog entry by the band. In 2010 the band announced the upcoming release of their new album, ''Another Man's Treasure'', and released the song "Ruthless" on the Internet. Ebert remained frustrated with Virgin, saying in a 2016 interview with Transverso Media that, "pretty unironically I ended up feeling like a robot by the end of the process because of the major label thing." During that period, they were being represented by the Werewolf Heart label. In June 2008, Lars Vognstrup joined the group, having previously played with Nikolić in the band

Junior Senior Junior Senior were a Danish pop duo. The duo consisted of Jesper "Junior" Mortensen (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, drums, percussion) (born 7 February 1977) and Jeppe "Senior" Laursen (vocals, programming) (born 25 December 1975). ...

. In 2009,

Orpheo McCord Orpheo McCord (born 1979) is an American composer and percussionist. He is an original member of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and a former member of The Fall, Fool's Gold and Cass McCombs. His debut solo album, ''Recovery Inhale'', was r ...

(of

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named ...

and of Fool's Gold), Jason "ComputerJay" Taylor, and Jonas Petri Megyessi joined the band. On January 6, 2011, the band played six songs live on

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is a three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill trilogy of plays, ...

. This was the first time since ''Monument to the Masses'' tours that the new band lineup had played live. Ima Robot's B-side "Greenback Boogie" from the album ''

'' has been featured as the theme song of the USA Network legal drama, ''Suits'', since 2011. The band has been inactive since 2011 as its members have been busy with side projects. Alex Ebert has stated that he is "still in Ima Robot."

Band members

Current

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(1998–Present) * Timmy "The Terror" Anderson –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

(1998–Present) * Filip "Turbotito" Nikolić –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2004–Present) * Jason "One Three/Computer Jay" Taylor – keyboards (2001, 2009–Present) * Jonas Petri Megyessi –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2009–Present) *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(2009–Present)

Past

* Rich Lambert -

(2000-2002) *

–

(2003–2004) * Oliver "Oligee" Goldstein –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mu ...

(1998–2004) *

–

(2001–2004) *

–

(2005–2009) * Andy Marlow – keyboards, (2005–2007) * Lars Vognstrup – keyboards, (2008–2009)

Discography

Studio albums

* Untitled Demo Album (1999) * ''

'' (September 16, 2003) * ''

'' (September 12, 2006) * ''

'' (October 19, 2010)

EPs

* Various Untitled Demo CDs (199?-2002) * "Black Jettas" (LP) (June 19, 2003) * "Public Access EP" (CD/LP) (June 20, 2003) * "Song #1" (EP) – (March 22, 2004) * "Alive" (EP) – (2004) – Radio Only * "Search And Destroy" (EP) (2006) – Sold only at shows originally and came free with the purchase of "Another Man's Treasure" from the band's website in 2010.

Singles

* "Dynomite" (Maxi Single) (CD/LP) (September, 2003) * "Creeps Me Out" (June 13, 2006) – Digital Only * "Gangster" (April 15, 2008) – Digital Only * "Ruthless" (June, 2010) – Digital Only

References

External links

Official PureVolume
{{Authority control Virgin Records artists American power pop groups Musical groups from Los Angeles Rock music groups from California Dance-rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1998