The Invincible Czars

Sept. 2004
by Sarah Pendleton

On August 4, 2004, I snagged the boon of some face and jaw time with Austin’s Invincible Czars after they had transformed Burt’s Tiki Lounge into Burt’s Klezmorim Circus Den. It was not the standard interview where you get shoved into a corner with the tambourine player they’re about to kick out of the band who answers with a stinking belch when you ask why he got into music.

Singer/guitarist Josh Robins has many family members in Salt Lake City, and has been a longtime fan of SLUG. (Thanks Josh!) Their music cannot be easily defined. It is like squidgy clay which waits to be sculpted by the potter’s whim. It is a blend of metal, eastern folk and Dada rock. The unchanging aspect of this band is their craftwork and musicianship. Each of them is dedicated to his instrument.

We retired to the dank but droll upstairs room accompanied by trumpet player Rick Redman, bassist Adam Kahan and the newest Czar, keyboardist Bill Poland.

SLUG: The audience was so into your polka version of Metallica’s "Blackened." It was thoroughly entertaining. What I want to know is why you didn’t whip out your cover of "Immigrant Song."
Josh: You should have requested it.

Touché.

SLUG: Mistrust of the media is surely a healthy thing, but I think some musicians have taken it too far, worrying too much about whether their compositions could be considered mainstream. Do you think that can prevent good things from happening?
Adam: Any interference with the creation of art is going to create a tainted environment.
Josh: Musicians who are STILL worried about whether or not their compositions are "too mainstream" haven’t separated themselves from Clear Channel and MTV enough. There’s really no such thing anymore as making stuff that’s compositionally too mainstream, because major radio stations won’t even play the poppiest pop unless they are getting major payola from the record company. If musicians are considering what the "mainstream" thinks, they are wasting their time. If they are considering what the counterculture thinks, they are wasting time. If THEY like the music they are making, that’s what matters. Keeping your audience in mind is also a smart thing to do.
Rick: The instant a band starts changing their sound in order to please someone beside themselves is the second that music becomes something other than art.

SLUG: Every time I start the conversation, "Where is there left to go, what direction can music take?" someone will shove a cigarette in my mouth, pat me on the head, and say: "All that’s left is noise, sweetie." I disagree. What do you say?
Josh: I encounter the same thing a lot with musicians and music lovers in Austin where everyone is a musician. That’s because musicians strive to find their own vocabulary, voice and style. We’re constantly examining things to see if we’re too much like our influences or too similar to someone else. Noise is just an excuse for people who are too lazy to search for their own musical voice. Now, your musical voice may be noisy, like Merzbow’s. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about people who bang on stuff and call it music. That’s just pretentious. "I’m doing the only true art left …" No, you’re not. You’re getting stoned and putting your cat on the piano.
Adam: I say noise, in all its usefulness, can be just as useless as tone when placed in the wrong hands. Music is communication, i.e., musician to audience, audience to musician and musician to musician. Exciting music happens when this communication is direct and true, which explains why I get aroused by Rock Dinosaurs playing to 80,000 people or by Brown Whornet playing to ten people.

SLUG: I have to wonder if you are invincible, after staying together for over two years while weathering the exit of numerous members. What will you do in the next two years? Josh: Hopefully continue to tour as much as we can, and quit our day jobs! It would also be nice to go more than six months without losing someone. Seriously, in the next two years we will be playing a lot of national shows. I would like to start collaborating more on material, especially with our new keyboard player, Bill. He’s the first to really be interested in respectful collaboration.
Rick: More stability, more shows, new songs—all the obvious stuff—and more fun! I’ve learned so much in the last two years, I can only imagine what I will learn in the next two.
Bill: Well, since I just joined the Invincible Czars three weeks ago, I can’t speak about the last two years, but I want to be around for the next two. Being a part of this musical ensemble is the best adventure I’ve ever been on. I look forward to bringing our message of musical diversity to more people.
Adam: I have to go along with Josh’s declaration. I’d love to quit the boring job I have to have in order to pay for my musical passions. I’m excited about this band, though, and that’s good enough for me.

That said, the conversation took a drunken turn toward Arthur magazine and Einsturzende Neubauten, which I will not torture you with. I will say that the fellows of IC are gracious, intelligent and totally bitchin’. - SLUG (Salt Lake UunderGround) Magazine

Then storming onto the stage wearing white paper jumpsuits were the Invincible Czars. Talk about a wake up call. I have never heard or seen anything like them. In an industry where originality done well is a rare jewel, I stumbled upon a precious diamond. Lesser nerds beware. They sounded like a cockeyed fusion of Jimi (sic) Hendrix riffs, Fleetwood Mac Keyboards and the Police on a jazz-funk trip. Vocals were kooky, clever and pitch-perfect. In the middle of a song driven by heavy guitar, they would break it down with fun-spooky keyboards. The dynamics were all over the place. I love that since so many bands have one tempo and dynamic for their entire set. There was enough structure within each song to make sense of it all. Whoever is writing these songs... bravo! It is hard to place these guys into a genre. Just go see them. They are awesome.

- St. Teresa - Rank and Revue (Austin)

by Jim Beale

The holidays are barreling down upon us and even if you're feeling more like a Scrooge than one of Santa's helpers, there's interesting action afoot.

Nutcracker rock.

Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" is uniquitous this rime of year. But not quite like this. Tonight Sam's Burger Joint will be the setting for Austin-based Invincible Czars and a reinvented version of the "Nutcracker". The TunaHelpers share the bill.

Invincible Czars describe their band as "ethno-mathological prog rockers." Close enough for "Nutrcracker" work. The Czars, around for a little more than two years, have inventive rock sound that mixes and matches everything from klezmer to free-form. They've been known to spice sets of serious original work with outlandish covers of metal anthems.


For their version of the "Nutcracker", the Czars bring to bear violin, horn, electric guitar, bass, drums and keyboards while rocking, swinging and twanging.

If you have any thoughts that you might be stuck in an entertainment rut, perhaps you should get to Sam's early tonight and stay late. These are not the usual suspects.

- San Antonio Express-News

We only have to say "Nutcracker" and you immediatley hear the little bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-boms and tinkle-tinkle-tinkles of Tchaikovsky's delicate music. Now wipe that out of your mind and imagine "The Miniature Overture" in a Dixieland version, a swing take on "The Waltz of the Flowers" and heavy metal "Arabian Dance". That's Austin band the Invincible Czars' variation of "The Nutcracker Suite". They're joined by Golden Arm Trio, a rotating cast of musicians led by Austin musician Graham Reynolds, who recently composed a score for Richard Linklater's upcoming film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly". - Fort Worth Star-Telegram