On April 17 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET, Yahoo Live will live stream RX Bandits' concert from the Trocadero Theatre in Philadephia. Tune in HERE to watch!Sometimes touring can be a drag for a mid-level rock band, driving from city to city on an seemingly endless road to nowhere. But earlier this week, RX Bandits singer/guitarist Matt Embree is thrilled to be on the road between East Coast dates. "We're going on a tour of places that were in The Wire, all the cool places where they shot that show," he says, as the band heads toward the Baltimore area. "It's my all-time favorite television show." When we inform him that's one series we hadn't had the chance to catch up on, he recommends binge-watching. "Well, you're stoked, because you can watch literally every episode in a row," he says.We try to delve a little into the band's current tour, but Embree isn't finished talking about HBO crime drama, which originally aired for five seasons from 2002 through 2008. "If you're not into the kind of show that's really slow-going and takes its time to build characters, you won't like The Wire, but I implore you to give it a shot.
It's like watching a book. There's a ton of dialog and every character is really developed, way more than the average TV drama... Even people you'd consider the bad guy are humanized to the point where you're not really rooting for one person over the other."You could say that RX Bandits' music has evolved into sort of the audio equivalent of The Wire — if you were watching in on hallucinogens. Not that it has anything to do with crime, but it too is dense and not immediately easily accessible, but if you take your time to get into it, you'll find your just rewards. Over the years, RX Bandits — which also includes guitarist/keyboardist Steve Choi, bassist Joseph Troy, and drummer Chris Tsagakis — have evolved dramatically from their early days as a ska-punk band to their current incarnation of a modern prog-rock outfit. The transition was so dramatic that Adam Lovinus of the O.C. Weekly once wrote it sounded "as though the band spent a year studying the vintage East Coast punk stylings of Television."
We ask Embree about that comparison and joke maybe the writer was thinking of Embree's obsession with The Wire on television, which he can appreciate, but he feels no kinship with Tom Verlaine and company. "It's not that I don't respect Television, but I'm not really a fan of the music they created, so I don't know where that comes from at all," he says.While Embree may not be tripping on Marquee Moon, he's OK with the prog-rock connection. "That's a good description as far as music monikers go," he says. "Music monikers are usually totally annoying, but as far as what that means, which I'm assuming for most people it just means music that has a lot of parts and changes that is also rock 'n' roll. We do have a lot of changes and a lot of different parts in our songs, so I'm alright with that."Released last year, Gemini, Her Majesty, the band's seventh album, undoubtedly has the most musical changes of RX Bandits' career. The band went into the sessions for the album with the thought of making a pure studio creation and would deal with figuring out how to perform the songs live later, which ended up posing a challenge.
"There are a few songs that are really hard to pull off live, mainly because of the tons of layers of harmonies," Embree says. "The other guys are also playing intricate parts, so it's hard to be able to pull off those harmonies. We haven't been able to do two or three songs live, but we're getting there." With the use of additional technology, though, the band has been able to tackle some of its more adventurous musical creations. "Tsagakis has like a sample pad, where you can load different samples on it, but we're not like playing along with tracks. We'd never do that, but he's triggering different sounds that are on the album while he's playing drums, so it adds a whole new element to the live thing."While RX Bandits may be pushing toward the future in their latest recordings and live performances, Embree admits his latest musical inspiration comes from the past and is probably not who you'd think. "The last person I ever studied on guitar — and this is going to sound pretty silly — is Slash," he says with a laugh.
"About a year ago I started going on YouTube and watching Slash solo sets over the years and then I started watching Guns N' Roses over the years and learning all the solos."This discussion gets Embree riding a wave of nostalgia. "The first music I ever got into big time was metal," he says. "Then I got into the harder alternative stuff like Faith No More's The Real Thing. I was like 10. I was super pumped on that. Pearl Jam Ten, Metallica The Black Album, and then I went back and bought To Kill 'Em All and everything before the Black Album and Guns N' Roses, especially since I loved Terminator 2."Embree goes on to enthuse about the "You Could Be Mine" video, which pits Arnold Schwarzenegger's terminator against Axl Rose. "I was like, yeah, Axl, chills with the terminator, dude," he says.The wave of nostalgia continues as Embree recounts how his parents bought him a Fisher Price record player when he was about 4 years old. It only played 45s, so at that time, he was grooving to singles like Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts," The Fixx's "One Thing Leads to Another," Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer," and the Romantics' "Talking in Your Sleep."
"I still love all those songs," he admits.At this point, 20 years after the band first emerged as the Pharmaceutical Bandits, and nearly 15 years after the band's current lineup first came together, Embree has no illusions that RX Bandits will ever have a hit single like the ones he grew up with, but he's OK with that. "I don't think we're a radio-friendly act," he says. "But, if for some reason, a lot of new people enjoy our music, that would be great. I'd love to have the type of fanbase we have in America — which I find humbling and empowering — in other countries. That would be a dream come true."Follow Craig Rosen on Twitter. Pause the game, select the "Extras" option, and choose the "Enter Code" selection. Then, enter one of the following codes to activate the corresponding cheat function: Find the "floating kit" surrounded by studs next to the police station in Bricksberg. Walk up to it, then enter one of the following codes to unlock the corresponding special content:
Angry Kitty and Construction Pants (Emmet's Construct-o-Mech)6LK78NN9 or HVLH63VL Blacktron Fan and Musical Pants (Rescue Reinforcements)6LKMNDHR or HVLLRX6R Johnny Thunder and Super Secret Pants (Super Secret Police Dropship)6LK3FRL6 or HVL4TQT4 Robo Pilot and Astro Pants (Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!) Successfully complete the game to unlock The Bonus Room at the hub. Complete the objectives in The Bonus Room to earn the final ten gold bricks. Note: One of the gold bricks has a special requirement where you must collect one million studs in The Bonus Room without the use of multipliers to obtain it. The following characters can be purchased for the corresponding amount of studs: Astro Kitty: 200,000 studs Biznis Kitty: 150,000 studs Bruce Wayne: 50,000 studs Calamity Drone: 500,000 studs Calimity Drone: 500,000 studs Cardio Carrie: 10,000 studs Demolition Guy: 50,000 studs Dr. McScrubs: 10,000 studs El Macho Wrestler: 100,000 studs
Emmet (Clown): 50,000 studs Emmet (Lego Piece): 50,000 studs Emmet (Pyjamas): 50,000 studs Emmet (Shower): 50,000 studs Emmet (Surgeon): 50,000 studs Emmet (Trash Can): 50,000 studs Emmet (Woodsman): 50,000 studs Executive Ellen: 10,000 studs Frank the Foreman: 25,000 studs Gallant Guard: 50,000 studs Garbageman Grant: 10,000 studs Good Cop (Scribble Face): 300,000 studs Gordon Zola: 10,000 studs Green Ninja: 250,000 studs Hank Haystacks: 25,000 studs Hot Tub Harry: 50,000 studs Ice Cream Jo: 10,000 studs Ice Cream Mike: 10,000 studs Kabob Bob: 10,000 studs Lady Liberty: 150,000 studs Lord Business (Minifigure): 1,000,000 studs Lord Vampyre: 100,000 studs Ma Cop: 25,000 studs MetalBeard (Minifigure): 250,000 studs Pa Cop: 25,000 studs Panda Guy: 150,000 studs Plumber Joe: 10,000 studs President Business: 1,000,000 studs Robo (Construction): 75,000 studs
Robo (Demolition): 100,000 studs Robo Cowboy: 125,000 studs Robo Fed: 25,000 studs Robo Skeleton: 150,000 studs Robo SWAT (Armour): 125,000 studs Robo SWAT (Laser): 50,000 studs Robo SWAT (Rocket): 125,000 studs Robo SWAT: 50,000 studs Sharon Shoehorn: 10,000 studs Sir Stack-a-Brick: 50,000 studs Taco Tuesday Guy: 10,000 studs Test Dummy: 100,000 studs Velma Staplebot: 50,000 studs Vitruvius (Ghost): 750,000 studs Where Are My Pant? Wildstyle (Space): 75,000 studs Wiley Fusebot: 125,000 studs Wyldstyle (Hood): 50,000 studs All Red Brick stud multipliers locations Search the indicated locations to find all five (2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, and 10x) Red Brick stud multipliers: All Red Bricks locations Search the indicated locations to find all 20 Red Bricks: All Golden Manuals locations Search the indicated locations to find all Golden Manuals: Search the indicated locations to find all pairs of pants:
All Gold Bricks locations in The Bonus Room Successfully complete the following tasks and search the indicated locations in The Bonus Room to collect the final ten Gold Bricks: Easy "To The Invisible Jet!" achievement Go to the following location in Cloud Cuckoo Land in Free mode to destroy the Invisible Jet and get the "To The Invisible Jet!" achievement. Accomplish the indicated achievement to get the corresponding number of Gamerscore points:(20 points): Complete Prologue - The Prophecy. Lets Get Craaazzzyyyy (20 points): Complete Level 1 - Bricksburg Construction. Darn Darn Darn Darny Darn! (20 points): Complete Level 2 - Escape From Bricksburg. Are You A DJ? (20 points): Complete Level 3 - Flatbush Gulch.(20 points): Complete Level 4 - Flatbush Rooftops. Rest In Pieces (20 points): Complete Level 5 - Escape From Flatbush. No Frowny Faces (20 points): Complete Level 6 – Welcome to Cloud Cuckoo Land. Every Man For Himself! (20 points): Complete Level 7 - Attack On Cloud Cuckoo Land.
You Can't Build 'Em All At Once (20 points): Complete Level 8 - Escape From Cloud Cuckoo Land. Why Are My Pants Cold and Wet? (20 points): Complete Level 9 - The Depths. This Bedoubled Land Couch (20 points): Complete Level 10 - Infiltrate The Octan Tower. See You Later Alligator (20 points): Complete Level 11 - Put The Thing On The Thing. Found Your Pants, Series Is Over (20 points): Complete Level 12 - Broadcast News. I Am A Master Builder! (20 points): Complete Level 13 - Back From Reality. Release Every Micro Manager! (20 points): Complete Level 14 - Bricksburg Under Attack. You Can Still Change Everything (20 points): Complete Level 15 - The Final Showdown. Honey, Where Are My Pants? (30 points): Collect all pairs of Pants (Single Player). You Are The Special (30 points): Achieve The Special in every level (Single Player). Welcome To Bricksburg (30 points): Collect all of the Red Bricks (Single Player). Build Things Only You Can Build (30 points): Collect all Golden Manuals.
Including, But Not Limited To (20 points): Purchase all Master Builders. The Special People In Your Life (40 points): Purchase all Characters (Single Player). Always Read The Instructions! (30 points): Complete all Instruction Builds in Story Mode. Midas Touch (20 points): Complete all Golden Instruction Builds. Business Business Business (50 points): Earn 1,000,000,000 studs.(100 points): Achieve 100% completion.(20 points): Destroy 50 enemies as MetalBeard. The Opposite Of Happiness (20 points): Defeat 20 enemies as Rage Unikitty.(20 points): Kragelize 10 people with the Kragle gun. Building Bad (10 points): Attempt a Master Build-It with a Non-Master Builder.(20 points): Defeat 30 enemies as Emmet Cowboy.(5 points): Defeat 20 enemies as Sheriff Not-A-Robot. I Could Sing This Song For Hours (20 points): Score 21 awesome dance moves in the Construction Site dance mini game. No Way, This Is My Jam. (20 points): Score 21 awesome dance moves in the Kragelizer dance mini game.
Firestarter (20 points): Make a Fire.(20 points): Complete an Instruction Build without losing any studs. I Am The Computer (20 points): Collect all studs in any hacking mini-game.(5 points): Customise your character. A House Divided (5 points): Play as Abraham Lincoln and Lady Liberty.(10 points): Complete all Master Builds in Server Room as Benny. I Super Hate You Right Now (10 points): Play as Superman and Green Lantern. It's Just Business (5 points): Use Lord Business Legs Machine. The Prophecy, I Made It Up! (10 points): Switch from Vitruvius into Ghost Vitruvius. END OF THE LINE! (10 points): Shoot Emmet with Robo Skeleton.(10 points): Use the Kragle Gun to shoot Ma and Pa Bad Cop in the Relic Room. To The Invisible Jet! (20 points): Find and destroy the Invisible Jet. Grrrg! (10 points): Smash a chair as Bad Cop.(10 points): Switch from Good Cop (Scribble Face) to Bad Cop. More Cheats & Codes "Like" CheatCC on Facebook