Jason Vance seems to like people but doesn’t seem to have much use for humanity. Which is why the California rocker gave up on the punk and ska groups he used to play with and built a robot band: DRMBOT 0110, a severed doll’s head that plays drums; GTRBOT666, a big-eyed robot who plays the bass and guitar; AUTOMATOM, a stand-up drum machine; a brass troupe called the Headless Hornsmen; and two percussionist primates, The Ape Which Hath No Name on tambourine and The Son of the Ape Which Hath No Name on cymbals. Vance performs with his robot overlords, who he claims have since enslaved him and rechristened him JBOT, in the band Captured! By Robots. We caught his show at the Luna Lounge in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, asked fans to explain his backstory, and marveled at his side project: a band of evil teddy bears (watch for them at the end). —Ehren Gresehover
