Free The Robots

Chris Alfaro is a busy man. Between being one of the 3 owners of (my favorite bar/restaurant) Santa Ana's The Crosby and being the genius behind Free The Robots, I'm not sure how he's got time to do anything else.

I got a chance to interview Alfaro on music, life and the Crosby.



Lucas: What would you classify your musical style?
Alfaro: I call it Psychedelic experimental dirty beats


Lucas: How do you go about creating your music?
Alfaro: What's fresh about electronic music is that theirs so many ways you can make it. I don't really have a single formula now; just sounds, and an open mind enough to flow with what happens at any moment. Start with an Idea, make a mistake, turn it into something better than the original idea. a huge part of my creative process is edited improvisation.

Lucas: Why do you do it?
Alfaro: I just love doing it. Even without an audience, I would still be doing it. Its effect of being inspired or being unsatisfied. when hear/see something that inspires me, ill create. when I'm unsatisfied with the way music is going, ill create.
when i first started Free the Robots due to unsatisfaction. at the time, everything that was coming out was so tired. luckily now I'm more on the inspired side. I'm surrounded my great music everyday. I think now that its more accessible for artists to reach out to larger audiences without the "middle-man," more music made with pure integrity is available.


Lucas: Where do you see Free The Robots going?
Alfaro: In the used bins at your local record store...but before that, ill just go.


Lucas: What is your favorite moment as Free The Robots?
Alfaro: Hitting #7 in the top 100 chart on itunes (electronic) was pretty f**kin dope! being up against, Major label, heavy hitters like Daft Punk, Justice, M.I.A. & Portishead as a bed room producer was sort of my own wake up call. even my own distributor thought it was a glitch in the system!?! big up Flying Lotus to for being up there with me representing for the bed room producers!


Lucas: You are affiliated with Obey artists, how did that come about?
Alfaro: It sort of just branched from DJing. I used to DJ a lot at Shepard's residency in LA (Danceright), and pretty much fell in as a resident DJ for Obey clothing events along with friends Roam, DJ Pubes, & noMSG. When OBEY Records started their mixtape series is when it was more about recording. They started to do these crazy limited edition releases, packaged with prints/box sets/7"s with DJ Shadow, The Gaslamp Killer, A-trak... Me and a DJ partner of mine (Roam) were asked to do the 3rd installment of the program as Roam&Urth



Lucas: Has running the Crosby affected Free The Robots at all?
Alfaro: Trying to maintain creativity, while having a restaurant on your plate can get pretty intense. but what do you do when you have such a passion for both..make it work! we have 24 hours in a day...and if thats not enough we have 24 hours the next day. plenty of time to get shit done. On a daily I've somehow created a balance that keeps me level headed. I wake up make tracks, get work done, go out to certain spots for ideas, make connections..da da da da da.. One night ill play this crazy show somewhere in another part of the world, and the next night I'm bussing tables. Its inspiring and humbling at the same time.


Lucas: What do you like to do when you're not Free The Robots.
Alfaro: I'm a Douche bag