Music
Press
When Hector Bagnod and Chris Donathon of the Medic Droid uploaded their first song "Fer Sure" on MySpace, they didn't expect it to result in a record deal. In fact, when listeners asked for more music, they would say they weren't even a real band.
"The band wasn't supposed to even ever be a band," Bagnod says. "We just kinda got together to have fun, to write songs, and it ended up going a lot farther than we thought it ever would."
Less than two years after "Fer Sure" went online, the Phoenix-based power-pop/electronic duo released its first album, "Whats Your Medium," on Modern Art Records. Even though the effort has only eight songs, the album debuted at No. 33 on the Billboard's June 21 Top Heatseekers, selling just fewer than 2,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The 23-year-olds say they never did anything to promote the Medic Droid's music before getting signed and didn't plan to publicize much before the record release either. Says Bagnod: "We just wanted to see what we could do like how we did in the beginning -- don't tell anybody and see who buys it."
The song that got the band noticed starts with the lyric "Fer sure maybe, fer sure not / fer sure eh, fer sure bomb" in a sing-song voice akin to comedic singer Kelly of "Shoes" fame. Near the end of a song is a break into Internet speak and gossipy chatter, with the lyrics "JKJKJK LOLOL / I heart your f*cking makeup / oh my god I love your hair!" Donathon's vocals are heavily digitized throughout the album, which has elements of pop, punk, dance and electronica. Both band members mention the Locust and Blood Brothers as strong influences, but say they're inspired by dance music as well.
Bagnod admits the band is "really new" at writing and producing and says the eight songs are the first batch of tracks the two ever wrote together. "I produced the tracks on my computer and we just built up all these ideas and recorded them all," he says. Since this album is closer in length to an EP, he hopes to do a better job on the next one. "Some of the songs (on "Whats Your Medium") were still a joke when we had written them," he says. "With our newer songs and ideas, we want to definitely up what we had on this album, just better production, better music, better songs and more work on live shows." - Billboard
Discography
What's Your Medium
www.myspace.com/themedicdroid
Photos
Bio
From the burgeoning Phoenix music scene comes a band whose unmistakable sound and flamboyant style makes them, at once, supremely original and strikingly familiar. Comprised of vocalist Chris Donathon, guitar/keyboard player Hector Bagnod and live drummer Greg Rudowski, The Medic Droid encapsulate the very best elements of their electronica/new wave forefathers, while simultaneously carving their very own niche in todays overcrowded, underwhelming music scene.
Formed by Donathon; a masterful painter and visual artist as well as a gifted vocalist; in 2006 on a lark, the positive response to his first single (Fer Sure) was staggering. Realizing he stumbled upon something quite special, he enlisted the help of close friends Logan and Bagnod to round out the group. Less than two short years later the band has sold nearly 50,000 singles on ITUNES and has had well over 8 million plays on their MYSPACE page.
Led by Donathons instantly recognizable voice and backed by Bagnods original and creative riffs, beats and samples, The Medic Droids songs are an amalgam of dance, indie, punk rock and metal. Combining vocal hooks that would make any Top 40 audience salivate, pounding bass and electronic drums, The Droid take listeners on a roller coaster ride of emotion as they beat and finesse their way through sometimes sexy, sometimes brutal, always evocative songs laced with equal parts heart, emotion and energy.
What makes their meteoric rise even more special is that their label, Phoenixs own Modern Art Records, is a label run by musicians, for musicians. Although under the Epic Records umbrella, Modern Art is a DIY label with an eclectic lineup and a simple albeit grandiose goal create a musical revolution in their humble Phoenix neighborhood that before long, the world will be unable to ignore. The leaders of that revolution are The Medic Droid.
Label head Ben Collins speaks of the bands combination of sound and style and dubs them, the next Duran Duran. He also compares his labels relationship with The Droid to the relationship forged by New Order and their label, Factory Records, some twenty-five years ago.
And although every listener will decide for him or herself who the band is reminiscent of, as their influences are as varied as the colors in one of Donathons many brilliant paintings (listed among those influences are Elton John, Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys, The Used, At The Drive In and Roy Orbison), one thing is abundantly clear, The Medic Droid have already and will continue to resonate with fans and music lovers across the globe.
With their first full-length album slated for a mid-2008 release, The Medic Droid and Modern Art Records are braced for even bigger things in the near future. Although if you ask the band, they seem as content playing small venues in front of a few dozen fans and friends as they do in front of seas of thousands. Donathon says, We kinda just want to make the music we like and have fun doing it. If we get huge world wide that would be amazing but that isnt our goal.
For The Medic Droid, Their goal is create the music that they love and with that theyre satisfied. Connecting with an audience, regardless of size, is their sole motivation. They feel that if they do that everything else will work out. However, if they do become the biggest band in the world, nobody, except perhaps the band members themselves, will be even a little bit surprised.
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