Broken Robots was formed by Kat Baker and Tony Baker in December 2017, when the duo began writing music together in their Chicago apartment.
Kat and Tony Baker met off the highway exit at Lake Street and 355 in April 2015, at a time when both had decided to give up on their passion for music. Kat was a former folk singer-songwriter and Tony was a former audio engineer, musician, actor, and vocalist in a variety of projects spanning from 1996-2008. Kat was working a miserable sales job, and Tony was panhandling. Their relationship began after months of Kat driving by and giving Tony dollars and cigarettes, and eventually evolved into regular trips into Chicago’s west side together to buy drugs. By May of 2016, the couple had been arrested together numerous times and were being investigated by law enforcement in multiple counties.
Against all odds, they managed to turn themselves around and in December of 2017, Broken Robots was born. They began by releasing single tracks on SoundCloud about their experiences with death, mental illness, addiction and redemption. They compiled these tracks into their debut album “Home Is Not a Place”, and released it on October 1st, 2018. In December 2018, they were joined by bass player and long time friend Lonnie Phillips. His soulful songwriting style quickly became featured in many of the songs on the band’s upcoming EP, “The Escape Artist”, which combines the band’s original glitch, folk, and indie rock elements with jazzier bass lines and an overall darker soundscape.