Post by ||teh {(mirage)} o doom. on Sept 19, 2007 16:15:38 GMT -5
The Automatic otherwise known as The Automatic Automatic, in the USA and Canada[1][2], are a band who formed in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales but are now based in the capital, Cardiff. They are influenced heavily by acts such as Jarcrew, Muse, Blur and The Blood Brothers, among others.
Band members
The Automatic, as of 2007, is composed of:
Rob Hawkins (lead vocals, bass guitar)
James Frost (guitar, vocals)
Iwan Griffiths (drums)
Touring
Jamie Allen (Bass Guitar, Sound)
Former Members
Alex Pennie (synths, keyboards, vocals)(2003-2007)
History
1988-2005
The members first met at Primary school, in the early nineties, and formed a band at the age of 13. This was without current member Alex Pennie, who was asked to join 5 years later.[5][6] Originally known as White Rabbit, they renamed themselves The Automatic because they believe that music is the antidote to "the automatic life". They signed with B-Unique Records[8](home of Kaiser Chiefs) in their gap.
Not Accepted Anywhere (2006-2007)
Main articles: Not Accepted Anywhere and The Automatic singles
CEJ. In November 2005, the band released their first single, "Recover", prior to the release of their debut album Not Accepted Anywhere, this single however was not chart eligible since only 1,500 copies were released on vinyl and only 3,500 on CD. Also in 2005, The Automatic won The Pop Factory award for "Best New Band".
On March 27, 2006, the band's next single, "Raoul", was released, reaching #32 in the UK Singles Chart. The third single, "Monster", was released on June 5, 2006 and reached #4, but entered the UK Singles Chart at #23 the week before based on download sales alone. "Monster" has also been re-mixed into a dance track by Fatboy Slim, and some football teams use the song as an anthem.[9] Keyboardist Alex Pennie has expressed his thoughts on football fans singing their song "Monster", and does not see it as a good thing, nor does he get any thrill out of them singing it, also stating "I'm not the biggest fan of football, I class it a waste of time," in an interview with MTV.co.uk
Not Accepted Anywhere, was released on 19 June, 2006, which they celebrated with a signing and performance in Oxford Street's HMV.
On July 17, 2006 shortly after the UK release of Not Accepted Anywhere, the Raoul EP was released, containing a number of early songs and b-sides to Not Accepted Anywhere. The EP also included the original versions of "Recover" and "Raoul".
The Automatic have been heavily criticised for their follow-ups to their chart hit "Monster", which peaked at #4 in UK charts. The band have been accused of being a "one-hit wonders" Not Accepted Anywhere was also criticised for the tracks sounding too similar to one another.
The fourth single was a full release of "Recover", and is actually a re-recorded version of the song which the record label felt to be a more fully-realised performance. Generally it is heavier in sound, features more synths from Pennie and a sharper guitar sound for Frost's solo.
16 August 2006 saw the band's second EP, titled Live at the 100 Club, the EP was recorded at the 100 Club, in London and made exclusive to iTunes.
The fifth single, a re-release of "Raoul", was released on January 8, 2007. The single fared worse than its original release, however received higher plays on MTV, Kerrang and other music stations.
On June 26, 2007 the band released their debut album, Not Accepted Anywhere in the USA and Canada. This comes prior to their attendance at the Vans Warped Tour, 2007. Their first US single, "Monster", was released on April 24, 2007.
We want to just make it sound rawer, make it sound heavier because we felt the first album got pretty poppified and it was quite rushed so we didn’t get to do a lot of the ideas we had. So hopefully we’ll get a bit more time to make it more of an album where you have to listen to the whole album. You know like with some albums, you only listen to one track but you feel like you have to listen to whole album. We want it to be like that,” says the sticksman of the direction he thinks the whole band should make out with each other. “I think it’ll be more in the potty direction, more in the vein of Foo Fightery type , kind of thing but keeping in what we do now. We don’t want to be perceived as this pop band which we do at the moment, we seem to be a bit pushed into this corner, but when you come to our gigs you sort of see that we’re a rock band.
Alex Pennie Departure 18th September 2007
On 18th of September 2007 it was announced by The Automatic that Alex Pennie (synths player) had left the band due to finding the last year increasingly unenjoyable and growing apart from the rest of the band.
So you all know today we announced that keyboard player Alex Pennie has left the band.
Alex Pennie, who’s been in The Automatic since 2003, played his last gigs with the band at the recent Get Loaded In The Park festival (25th-26th August) and has left after due to finding the last year increasingly unenjoyable and growing apart from the rest of the band
The three members of The Automatic – Rob Hawkins, James Frost and Iwan Griffiths – will soon be flying to the USA to start recording the follow up to their debut album ‘Not Accepted Anywhere' and are looking forward to announcing more news soon.
The Automatic
Second Album, future Album(2007-present)
In late February guitarist James Frost was interviewed and stated that a non-album single would be released around March 2007 however it was never released, nor was it ever officially said what song was going to be released however it was speculated to be Revolution.James FrostRadio interview James Frost talks about NME, America and The Second Album.
On 26th July 2007 theautomatic.co.uk was changed for the first time since the UK release of Not Accepted Anywhere, from the Not Accepted Anywhere Theme into a new lighter flash aided design, the design may or may not have relevance to the forthcoming Untitled Second Album scheduled for a late 2007/early 2008 release. A US site was also released, the style only slightly differs with The Automatic UK site featuring a new logo, the USA site uses the logo from Not Accepted Anywhere.
Live performances
Main article: The Automatic tour history
The Automatic are well known for there extremely energetic on stage performances, the constant microphone swinging from keyboardist Alex Pennie, as well as crowd surfing from guitarist James Frost. As well as these features the band are well known for their performances of Gold Digger . The band as well as covering this have taken to covering The Talking Heads classic, Life During Wartime. In more recent times the band have performed Personal Jesus, originally by Depeche Mode, however the song is performed in the same manor as Marilyn Mansons 2004 cover. The Automatic's most notable touring appearances are at Reading Festival 2006 and NME Awards Indie Rock Tour 2007, and their upcoming Vans Warped Tour 2007.
TV, radio, and online appearances
The band has appeared on television and radio a number of times; notably, they were first ever band to make a return performance on The Friday Night Project.[36] They have also appeared on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, playing "Monster" along with "Gold Digger".
In the spring of 2006, Frost and Pennie destroyed some of the equipment whilst performing "Monster" on GMTV. Although the band have not been expressly banned from performing on GMTV, there were threats of legal action from a crew member who received a glancing injury during the act.
The band have been featured in a number of magazines, the most notable being NME, Kerrang, Playmusic, Q Magazine, and Rock Sound
On November 16, 2006, Alex Pennie appeared as a guest on panel show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
On January 9, 2007, Robin Hawkins and Alex Pennie stood in on the Zane Lowe show on BBC Radio 1, hosting a two hour show, with tracks from Frank Turner and Viva Machine, The View, and several other artists.
On January 11, 2007 the band appeared in Habbo Hotel UK.
Awards
The first factory award they received was on December 3, 2005 for "Best New Act".
In 2006, The Automatic won the "Best Performance Award", as well as "Rock 'n' Roll Excess Award" (after their GMTV performance earlier in the year) at The Pop Factory Awards 2005, and performed "Raoul" both at the ceremony, and also performed at the prior press launch in Hard Rock Café, Cardiff. The Automatic also won "Best British Breakthrough Act" at the 2006 Vodaphone Music Awards, other nominees including the Arctic Monkeys, The Fratellis, and Dirty Pretty Things.
Information recieved from www.wikipedia.org
(c) Wikipedia
