History
The beginnings of the band stemmed from singer
Daryl Palumbo's interests in the
hip hop and
Britpop genres. Palumbo felt that the material that was inspired by these genres did not fit into
Glassjaw's spectrum and so
Head Automatica
was created to showcase this.
The band's debut album,
Decadence
, was released August 17, 2004. Charting on the
Billboard Magazine top 200 albums and Top Heatseekers charts
[1], the album was the brainchild of Palumbo, who was known better for his work in
Alternative metal music, and
Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura, famous for his production work with groups including
Gorillaz and
Handsome Boy Modeling School. The two allegedly met at a party and worked on what later became the album. Palumbo then recruited the other current members as a touring group, and toured the United States
[2], playing with bands like
Interpol,
The Rapture,
Mogwai and
The Used.
The band released their second album, entitled
Popaganda
, on June 6, 2006. Whilst the debut album was produced by Nakamura, this album was instead produced by
Howard Benson, who is best known for his involvements with
alternative rock acts such as
P.O.D. and
Cold. With the departure of Nakamura, the band took a more organic, classic power-pop approach citing
Squeeze and
Elvis Costello as influences.
The
Pop Rocks
EP was released April 6, 2006 and featured four tracks from the upcoming album:
Graduation Day
,
God
,
Nowhere Fast
, and
Laughing At You
.
In 2006, the band toured with
Avenged Sevenfold and
Coheed and Cambria, and joined
Taking Back Sunday,
Angels & Airwaves, and
The Subways for a month of touring on June 22. The band also scheduled a headlining fall tour with
Rock Kills Kid, but chose to cancel it after playing only a few dates. Instead, they supported
30 Seconds to Mars on the
MTV2 $2 Bill Tour along with
The Receiving End of Sirens,
Cobra Starship, and
Rock Kills Kid. In early 2007 Head Automatica played direct support on The West Coast Winter Tour with
Jack's Mannequin,
We Are The Fury, and
theAudition.
The band appeared in a skit on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on
December 18, 2008.
On the 27th May, Daryl Palumbo on twitter confirmed that Head Automatica had completed work on their third studio album, titled
Swan Damage
and they were in the mixing stages.
Members
- Daryl Palumbo - Vocals
- Craig Bonich - Guitar
- Jarvis Holden - Bass
- Sammy Siegler - Drums
- Jessie Nelson - Keyboards
Former members
- Jim Greer - Keyboards
- Brandon Arnovick - Guitar
- Larry Gorman - Drums
Touring members
Discography
Albums
- Decadence
(2004)
- Popaganda
(2006)
- Swan Damage
(2009)
Unreleased
- The Vipen Sessions/Bang! Hon Out! Sessions
- Decadence (May 2004 Production Disc)
- Tokyo Decadence (February 2004 Production Disc)
EPs
- Beating Heart Baby EP
(iTunes Download) (Import) - Warner Bros. Records - 2005
- Beating Heart Baby
(remix CD/digital release) - Warner Bros. Records - 2005/2006
- Pop Rocks EP
(iTunes Download) - Warner Bros. Records - 2006
Singles
- "Brooklyn Is Burning"
- "Beating Heart Baby"
- "At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet"
- "Please Please Please (Young Hollywood)"
- "Graduation Day"
- "Lying Through Your Teeth"
- "Scandalous"
See also
References
- Billboard.com
- Celebrity Access