by Amy Steele

Amy Steele talked to vocalist Dave Thomson of Alex the Kid a few days before their appearance at Auckland's Armageddon Expo...

I hear the words Alex the Kid and immediately recall the iconic slash slightly kitschy computer game that I thrashed on my Sega Master System II - circa 1990...

OK, so I never quite clocked it (my brother did!), but it is still etched deep into my childhood psyche.
Now it's time for us all to find a little room for a new Alex the Kid.
Think three dimensional not two; think plural not singular; make the shift from character to flesh and you're getting closer to Alex the Kid, the Wellington-formed pop band who want to share their tales of the future via song.

You perform under future personas. Can you tell me about that? Do you change once you pop on those Star Trek uniforms?
Our future personas... Well, we all have different roles in the coming post-apocalyptic world we used to call home.
Divard of Tron is the communications expert specialising in human and robot correspondence. He also played a key role in negotiating the first robot/human treaty in the year 2077.
Renessance, our weapons expert, spent most of his time developing digital-based weaponry, audio harmonised with binary code which was used to subdue AWOL robots.
Ben Kenobi, our intelligence expert, used most of his time surfing the net discovering all the new forms of technology that could be used to aid our cause.
And finally Benjamin Binary, our very own Mister Gadget, is an ace at fixing anything containing circuitry.

Tell me about the new EP Welcome to the Future?
Our new EP is a selection of songs we put together to aid the future communications of robots and humans.
In short, they are digital anthems aimed to sow seeds of peace and harmony in the coming years of strife and conflict.

Alex the Kid is a nostalgic name but all your songs are future orientated. Is there something about the present era you can't quite stomach?
We love the present era and even the past, that's why we named the band after one of the most influential computer games this planet has ever seen.
When we were growing up in the late 2000s a lot of technology had been seriously damaged so computer games were scarce. We managed to salvage an old Sega Master System from the debris of a local museum, and spent hours playing the game.

Can you describe an Alex the Kid show for those who haven't experienced it?
Our live show is a combination of robot rock and future pop. We use a lot of synths and vocoders along with the more human feel of live instruments.
We also like to put on our old uniforms (from the future) and hit the stage with sweet dance moves and as much awkward conversation with the crowd as possible.
Sometimes we even have laser guns and robots on stage.

You have been involved in Smokefreerockquest at various levels. Is the Smokefree message one the band shares ?
In the future, the only place you'll find a cigarette is in a museum... people just don't do it anymore.

Places like Japan and Korea seem to have a soft spot for future culture. Any plans to go and experience that?
Yes, totally. Our main goal at the moment is to travel to Japan in the year 2009 to spread the good word of Alex and the techno kids...
We also hear they're currently building a hotel that looks like the Death Star in Buku so we're hoping to book a show there in the not-so-distant future.
And we're currently in negotiations with Richard Branson to be the first band to play on the moon via Virgin Galactic.

You've played Armageddon in Wellington (accompanying a tween pillow fight) and now you're playing at Auckland Armageddon. Do you feel an affinity to sci-fi culture?
We love sci-fi culture. Most of us have been into pop culture from a young age.
Renessance knows pretty much everything there is to know about Star Wars, while Ben Kenobi owns just about every anime DVD that has ever been printed.
They're our kind of people.

So far, you've received good reviews. How does it feel to get that kind of response?
It feels good. We were a bit worried for a while that nobody really got what we did, so it's always good to hear that people like what you do, even if you do have to pay them to say it!

Can you tell us a little about the nerdcore phenomenon?
Nerdcore is amazing. We're really excited about being branded with the name. It basically just covers a group of bands who write songs about nerdy stuff like technology, Star Wars, Space Invaders and the future.
Amongst that you might even get the odd performer who wears a Star trooper helmet or a Star Trek outfit.