The Automatic
, (also known as The Automatic Automatic
in the U.S. and Canada after the band were faced with legal action from another act under the name of Automatic
[1]), are a Welsh based rock band. The three remaining original members James Frost, Robin Hawkins, and Iwan Griffiths are from Wales; new addition Paul Mullen (originally of Yourcodenameis:milo) is from Sunderland. The band originally formed in Cowbridge, but are currently based in a studio in Cardiff. [2] Jarcrew, Muse, Blur and The Blood Brothers are among the band's influences [3] The band released their debut album, Not Accepted Anywhere
(2006) through B-Unique Records and Polydor Records, the album featured the prior to LP release single "Recover", "Raoul" and "Monster". [4] The band as of 1 March 2008 have finished their second album with new member Paul Mullen, after keyboardist/backing vocalist Alex Pennie left in September 2007. [5] The band's sixth single Steve McQueen was released on 18 August 2008, followed by the release of the album, This Is a Fix, on 25 August 2008.
|
THE AUTOMATIC TICKETS
|
History
thumb
Band beginnings (1998–2005)
The members first met at primary school, in the early nineties, and formed a band at the age of 13.
Alex Pennie was asked to join five years later.
[6] [7] Originally known as
White Rabbit
, up until February 2005 when
[8] they renamed themselves The Automatic because they believe that music is the antidote to "the automatic life".
[9] After recording their two-track demo featuring rough versions of "Monster" and "Rats" in 2005
[10] they signed a five-album record deal
[11] with
B-Unique Records in their
gap year.
[12]
Not Accepted Anywhere
(2006–2007)
After signing their record deal with B-Unique the band began the writing and recording of their first record, the first release from which came in the form of "
Recover" which on 7 November 2005 saw its release along with b-side "Jack Daniels".
[13] for the next 2 months the band were in studio, put under strain to write their record for a January deadline set by their record label, because of this the band believe the end result came out sounding quite similar.
[14] Whilst début single "Recover" did not chart, it had still gained them publicity,
NME put the band on
their new music
tour, also calling them
"The sound of 2006"
,
[15] [16] the band quickly had further success, being awarded
Best New Band
in the Pop Factory Awards 2005.
[17]
thumb Crawl in 2006
After touring with
The Kooks in early 2006 the band began the release of second single "
Raoul" which came on 27 March 2006, being the first chart eligible release, reaching a peak in the
UK Singles Chart of #35, album track "On The Campaign Trail" was also released on the CD single, whilst "Trophy Wives" was released on the vinyl, the single received as a large amount of airplay on
MTV Two amongst other channels, as well as further exposure.
[18] the band went around the country between touring promoting the single and the forthcoming album with instore signings.
On 27 April 2006
Not Accepted Anywhere was announced; the début 12 track long album, which would see release on B-Unique Records on 19 June 2006, with a new single "
Monster", as well as further tour dates.
[19] When the album then arrived it received fairly mixed reactions, many reviewers pointing out the high pitched backing screams from
Alex Pennie, which whilst some pointed out it gives the band an identity and a level of individuality, whilst others just found it annoying Dom Gourlay of
Drowned In Sound wrote
"the unnecessary screeching of the keyboard player just a tad irritating - bordering on the side of wanting to commit homicide - at the best of times"
[20] whilst NME wrote "screeching backing vocals, have made him sound like a new instrument all of its own" regarding the notorious vocalist.
[21] The album however remained very popular as far as sales went, reaching number #3 in the
UK Album Chart, and remaining in the chart for over half a year, new single "Monster" also proved to be a huge success, reaching #4 in the single chart, oddly the band were then accused of being a one hit wonder, despite "Monster" being their second top 40 hit, the band also said since its release that there was no pressure, nor was it an objective to come up with something as popular as "Monster".
[22] The Raoul EP, a collection of b-sides and songs which didn't make the final album was released on 17 July 2006.
[23]
Following the release of the album the band went on tour with Cat The Dog and Welsh friends Viva Machine, and played a
13 date tour across the United Kingdom, which also included their hugely publicised appearance on
GMTV as well as a UK festival circuit, included Reading and Leeds festival,
T4 on the Beach and T In The Park, all leading up to their fourth single a re-release of "Recover", which had been re-recorded for a larger release than its original limited release the year before. The single peaked at #32 in the UK after its release on 18 September 2006, surrounding this the band played various dates around Europe and Japan.
[24] [25]
We wrote a song, it did really well, I don't really see what there is to be upset about. You get labelled "one hit wonders", but that's more hits than most people have. And it's not like we've disappeared without a trace. We've got a second album coming out, which in my opinion is full of much better songs. We wouldn't have been in a position to fly to LA to make a record if it wasn't for 'Monster'." — Robin Hawkins
Over
Christmas 2006 the band wrote and recorded two new songs which would begin play next year on the
NME Rock Tour 2007, these songs titled "Steve McQueen" and "Revolution" (now known as "Secret Police") would be accompanied by a cover of
Life During Wartime by
Talking Heads, as well as the fifth and final single from Not Accepted Anywhere, another re-release, despite many fans wanting another album track to be used, "Raoul" was chosen by the band's record label, with the band saying they were not
into
the idea of releasing Raoul again.
[26] [27] the single charted slightly higher than previously (originally at #36) instead the single charted at #32 in the UK single chart.
[28] [29]
After extensive UK touring the band released
Not Accepted Anywhere
in the
United States and
Canada in June. This preceded their attendance at the
Warped Tour, 2007 and was opened with their first U.S.
single, "
Monster" which was released on 14 May 2007.
[30] after the Warped Tour and release of the album embarked on their first
USA Tour, before returning to the United Kingdom for their final show of the Not Accepted Anywhere era, Get Load In The Park.
[31] [32]
thumb
Departure of Alex Pennie
On 18 September 2007 it was announced by The Automatic that
Alex Pennie had left The Automatic. Alex performed for the final time with band mates at Get Loaded In The Park 2007, however had been active for some time with the band assisting with the writing process of their second album,
This Is A Fix.
[33] [34] It was announced through the band's website and through the band's
MySpace that Pennie had been finding playing with his band mates "increasingly unenjoyable" and that he had been growing apart from them.
[35] [36] [37]
In November
NME
reported that the band have had no direct contact with Pennie since the split, which also took place earlier than the official split according to his former band mates. Hawkins has exchanged MySpace messages with Pennie however, reporting that he is doing ok, and that he now has a new punk band.
[38] Alex Pennie has more recently stated that he is returning to the UK to start work on "a new project".
[39] This was later announced by Pennie through his myspace profile to be Decimals, in which he performs lead vocals. Pennie confirmed in
2009 that there were no hard feelings and that he and his band Decimals were in the same Cardiff studio as The Automatic, working with the same people, he described the situation as
"like seeing an ex-girlfriend"
and that both he and his former band mates are on good terms.
[40]
It was never going to spell the end of the band. Him staying would have spelt the end of it”, said the singer. “He didn’t want to be in the band anymore and what he did on the first album, the screaming thing, there’s only so far you can take that, really. We couldn’t have progressed… There’s no regrets on either side as far as I know. — Rob Hawkins [41]
This Is A Fix (2007–2008)
After the departure of Alex Pennie the band was quick to make a new recruitment,
Paul Mullen of
Yourcodenameis:Milo was brought in after his band went on hiatus, taking on the position of guitarist, vocalist and synth player, so he would not be a direct replacement for Alex Pennie. The band had already been at work before Pennie's departure and had around 10 songs already done,
[42] two of which were "Steve McQueen" and "Secret Police", which both had been performed throughout 2007 on various tours.
[43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49]
thumb joined the band in October 2007, soon after the band recorded This Is a Fix, on which Paul provides vocals, guitar and synths
After working in Cardiff in their studio, the band flew out to
Los Angeles, California were they began working with
Don Gilmore, who has worked with the likes of
Linkin Park and
Dashboard Confessional, however were not happy with the results, thus switched to working with
Butch Walker (
Fall Out Boy,
The All American Rejects,
Simple Plan) where they worked for some time, until having to return to the United Kingdom where they finished up much of the record back in Cardiff working with Rich Jackson, who worked with the band on
Not Accepted Anywhere.
[50] [51]
After the recording process was complete, in March, the band began a
club tour, playing at smaller venues to "get up close" with the fans, supported by friends Viva Machine with the likes of Canterbury and Attack Attack also performing at select dates.
[52] The band's first single from
This Is a Fix was soon announced, "Steve McQueen", first played on the
NME 2007 Tour, would arrive on 18 August 2008, a further number of tour dates were also announced for August and September, the band were also announced to be play at
Reading and Leeds Festivals, as well as performing at the UK release of the
Rock Back video game, Glastonbury, and a number of other festivals and gigs around Europe.
[53] [54]
Single "Steve McQueen" was premièred on the Zane Lowe show on BBC Radio 1 on 7 July 2008, the following day NME.com broadcast the music video for the first time,
[55] following this track "This Is A Fix" was released as a free gift on 30 July 2008 via .
[56] On 18 August, the release day of Steve McQueen, the entire album became available on the band's
myspace page, the band also days later performed an all new cover, "
Love in This Club" by "
Usher" on the
BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.
After the albums release the band completed two
UK album tours in the remaining months of 2008, before heading back into studio to work on new tracks. At The Asylum in Birmingham, the band confirmed "Magazines" to be the second single of
This Is A Fix originally stating a release would happen in February 2009, however this date was scrapped.
[57] The Automatic along with
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.,
Frank Turner and
My Vitriol were announced in early 2009 to be part of the final show at the
London Astoria on Wednesday 14 January, a charity show for Love Music Hate Racism and Jail Guitar Doors.
[58]
Third studio album (2009-present)
Since the start of 2009 the band began working in studio on new tracks, and by March had around 10 songs in various stages of development, some being demoed and some not.
[59] The band fully recorded 4 of the new tracks in early April, and on
April 18 it was confirmed that the new tracks are towards the bands third studio album
[60] [61]
The band released new track "Something Else" on
August 6 2009 on their and
Myspace, which was also revamped for and reopened on this date. This comes as the first release in almost 1 year, the track will be made available as a free download.
[62] The band have been collaborating with with
bow instrumentalists
current recording session.
[63] [64] The band confirmed they have almost complete their third album and will be releasing new material in
Autumn 2009 as well as touring in the UK.
Activism & Charity work
The band have been seen supporting the
Bollocks to Poverty
campaign (http://www.actionaid.org.uk/bollocks), giving the advice "
My tip is to do it with your friends. Get all your mates together and put on a gig in a youth club. Have fun. Try and be self-critical. Get a buzz going, put up lots of posters
".
[65]
Taking time out during the band's tour in the USA, the group signed a
Gibson SG decorated by artist Andrew Hewkin, the guitar was later auctioned for charities including
The Prince's Trust,
Teenage Cancer Trust and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy.
[66]
Most recently the band have been involved in charity work for
The Samaritans, through a Six A Side
football game, with such bands as
Babyshambles,
McFly,
The Wombats and
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
[67] [68]
The band performed as a headlining act on the
Rock Against Racism stage at
Glastonbury Festival 2008, months later the band also donated money raised from a gig at
Pontypridd Muni Arts Centre to
Help a South Wales Child
.
[69]
Musical style
thumb
During the bands debut release period of
Not Accepted Anywhere they were often categorized as
electro-disco-punk rock
,
[70] ;at this point they were using more synthesizer keyboards, and had been compared to acts such as
Bloc Party,
Kaiser Chiefs, and 'thrown in' with the indie rock scene of 2006, the band have even stated that the album was altered in the mixing process
"When we were recording the first album there were some really heavy guitars going down but only the clean ones were used"
a decision of the record label and producers involved with the album, some of these guitars parts were restored in the 2007 US release of Not Accepted Anywhere when it was re-released and re-mastered, the band at one point were even labeled as Glam rock, which former keyboardist Alex Pennie blamed
NME for.
[71] The band cite their influences such as
Jarcrew,
Muse,
Blur and
The Blood Brothers,
[72] and a joint love for bands such as
Radiohead and
Ash,
[73] The bands second album was compared to the sound of Ash's early work by many critics, as well as this the second album is generally listed as having a 'bigger sound' with heavier guitars, less synths, drums and more vocals.
The debut album
Not Accepted Anywhere lyrically refers to the bands experiences growing up in
Cowbridge, whilst the second album
This Is A Fix lyrically takes inspiration from politics and news items, except for "Steve McQueen" which lyrically is similar to the tracks on Not Accepted Anywhere and was intended originally as a bridge between the two first albums, as a stand alone single being originally recorded at the end of 2006, for a early 2007 release. "Monster", "Recover", "In The Mountains" and "Responsible Citizen" lyrically refer to
substance abuse and
alcohol, the media in "Magazines", the record industry in "Accessories" and "You Shout You Shout You Shout You Shout", the climate in "High Tide on Caroline Street", people the band dislike in "Team Drama and "Seriously...I Hate You Guys", growing up and day-to-day lives in "That's What She Said", "In This World", "Raoul", and "Light Entertainment".
[74] [75] [76] [77] [78]
The band instrumentally use various
synthesizers to produce many of their sounds, during the recording and touring with the album
Not Accepted Anywhere the band's former member Alex Pennie used an
Alesis Micron and an
Alesis Andromeda during live performances, and in addition to this in studio he used an
Roland Juno-106. More recently since Pennie's departure new addition Paul Mullen uses an
microKORG whilst James Frost continues to use an Alesis Micron, although fewer of the songs on
This Is A Fix use synthesizer as a predominant instrument. The band use
Sennheiser microphones, 'e 945s' for vocals, 'e 906s' for the guitar cabinets and
snare drum, the 'e 604s' for toms, and an 'e 901' on the
kick drum.
[79]
Live Performances
The band are well known for their performances of "
Gold Digger", which on numerous occasions they have been joined by various guests when performing the cover, including
Newton Faulkner on the
Warped Tour, and
Goldie Lookin Chain at the
Reading Festival.
[80] [81] [82] [83] The band as well as covering this have taken to covering
Talking Heads' classic,
Life During Wartime.
[84] the band also used to occasionally cover
At the Drive-In's song "Arc Arsenal"
[85] [86], on tours and performances in 2008, with the addition of
Paul Mullen the band have been performing a 50/50 split of material, including "Monster", "Raoul", "On The Campaign Trail", "Lost At Home", "That's What She Said" and "By My Side" and "Recover" from
Not Accepted Anywhere and various songs from
This Is A Fix, no other songs from Not Accepted Anywhere have been performed as of yet since Mullen joined, however "Jack Daniels" from
Raoul EP has been promised for autumn tours by the band,
Usher cover "
Love In This Club" which the band performed at radio 1 live lounge, as well as "Epic" by Faith No More have also been mentioned for further performances in 2008. Some of The Automatic's most notable touring appearances include
Reading Festival 2006 and 2008,
NME Awards Indie Rock Tour 2007, as well as appearances at Glastonbury Festival
[87] and
Warped Tour 2007.
Personal
Current band lineup
- Rob Hawkins
- lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, synths and keyboards, flute
- Predominantly the lead vocalist and bass guitarist, Rob also provides plays synthesizer, and formerly performed flute on the bands now retired cover of "Gold Digger" and an early version of "By My Side".
- James Frost
- guitar, backing vocals, synths and keyboards
- After Mullen's joining Frost plays a split of rhythm and lead guitar, as well as playing synthesizer; an Alesis Micron formerly played by Alex Pennie, Frost also provides backing vocals on almost all tracks.
- Iwan "Wange" Griffiths
- drums
- Formed the band originally with Rob and Frost as 'White Rabbit' Iwan provides drums and percussion.
- Paul Mullen
- guitar, backing vocals & lead, synths and keyboards
(2007-present) - After joining the band in October 2007, Paul serves as lead vocalist on several tracks and backing on many others, he like James Frost provides both lead & rhythm guitar, as well as playing synthesizer.
Former band members
- Alex Pennie
- synths, keyboards, vocals
(2003–2007) - Formerly provided high pitch
backing vocals, as well as playing synthesizer keyboards, Pennie also used a cowbell, tambourine and other small percussion pieces.
Live collaborators, studio personal & crew
The band have collaborated on a number of occasions for live shows, notably for
Reading and Leeds festivals in
2006 during the performances of "Gold Digger" the band performed with
Goldie Lookin Chain [89], similarly in
2007 at T In The Park the band performed the track with singer-guitarist
Newton Faulkner [90], during the live performance of "Gold Digger", former guitar technician for The Automatic Jamie Allen would perform bass guitar, as Rob played flute.
[91] In 2008 with album and track "This Is A Fix" an additional bass player was required for its performance as Rob would be providing synthesizers in the track, during
club tour
Tom Stephens of
Viva Machine provided bass, whilst in later tours
Peter Hill stood in as bassist on the track. Notable on many of the bands tours have featured James "Jizz" Lawrenson as the band's sound engineer
, Stan Saunders as band's monitor engineer and Mike Doyle as tour manager, a position Peter Hill also took in 2008/09 touring, Mike was also featured during a live cover of
Talking Heads single "
Life During Wartime" on the 2007 NME Tour.
[92]
The band have long had a studio relationship with producer Richard Jackson, who is responsible for working with the band on both albums;
Not Accepted Anywhere and
This Is A Fix and subsequent b-sides and demos
[93] as well as this the band have been managed by Martin Bowen with Probation Management since
2005.
[94] As well as working in studio with Richard, the sophomore release was worked on initially with
Don Gilmore, followed by
Butch Walker & Richard Jackson and on one track
Stephen Harris, who also worked with the band on their debut, along with
Ian Broudie.
[95] To date, musically the only other musicians to be featured besides the band themselves were Chris T-T and Frank Turner, the two musicians along with producer Butch Walker were featured providing gang vocals and extra percussion on This Is A Fix track "
Steve McQueen".
Reception
|
|
| Award
| Wins
| Nominations
|
|
;Kerrang! Awards
| 0
| 1
|
|
;Vodafone Music Awards
| 1
| 0
|
|
;T4 Music Awards
| 1
| 0
|
|
;The Pop Factory Awards
| 4
| 1
|
|
|
| Totals
|
| Awards won
| 6
|
| Nominations
| 2
|
The September 2008 issue of
Rock Sound magazine pointed out that the band don't have many fans among their peers, the band blamed their hit single "Monster" and its success, they also pointed out how they have got were they are on their own and not relying on other bands to help them out, however they have made friends along the way.
I think that most bands don't like us, I think bands look at us and go 'Nah'. — James Frost [96]
At the time of their debut release, Not Accepted Anywhere, the band were rated #10 in the
BBC's sound of 2006
[97] British band
Kasabian called The Automatic as "horrible" in an NME interview in 2007.
[98]
The band had a short feud with The Horrors, throughout the build up to the NME Indie Rock Tour 2007 there was growing tension between the band and
The Horrors, the problem started after in an interview with
NME guitarist James Frost was questioned about The Horrors, saying they were "crap", over-hyped and who just have "big hair"
[99]. The Horrors responded to this in an interview saying "there are probably people who don't get our music. I'm sure they'll be much happier flogging their dead horse." The bassist then responded by saying “They’re raping a dead pig.” In an interview with
Gigwise.com Frost continued the feud by stating "I think that they come from the sort of art-school background and they’re just trying to be as cool as possible. We don’t really care to be honest, if you don’t like us don’t bother with us."
[100] [101] The dispute was supposedly settled during the NME Tour over a game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'.
[102]
To date all the singles released by The Automatic, from "Recover" in
November 2005, to "Steve McQueen" in
August 2008 have charted in the
UK Singles Top 40, including both original releases and re-releases of "Raoul" and "Recover". The bands highest charting single to-date is "Monster" which charted at #4, this is followed by "Steve McQueen" which charted at #16.
Discography
Albums
- Not Accepted Anywhere
(2006)
- This Is A Fix
(2008)
References
- The Automatic Automatic interview
- If only success was Automatic
- The Automatic, Not Accepted Anywhere
- The Automatic announce debut album release
- What we've been up to since last blog innit!
- The Automatic play Cardiff
- About The Automatic Automatic
- The Automatic Automatic (2007 Band Profile)
- /Wales Music/ The Automatic interview (2005)
- MOJO
- The Automatic interview
- B Unique Records - Artists - The Automatic
- The Automatic - Recover
- Rocklouder catches up with The Automatic to talk all about the new album, on the last night of their first tour with new boy Paul Mullen
- The Automatic @ Bar Pure
- The Automatic announce tour details
- The Automatic "Recover"
- New Automatic Reviews...
- The Automatic announce debut album release
- The Automatic Not Accepted Anywhere
- The Automatic - The popsters borrow some emo and a bit of Kaiser Chiefs to give us lots of good tunes!
- The Automatic - Interview (2008)
- The Automatic compilation EP "Raoul"
- The Automatic Japan Tour
- The Automatic 2007 Interview
- BBC Nottingham Radio Interview Segment, Prior to NME Indie Rock Tour
- The Automatic - Raoul (B-Unique)
- (Review) Raoul 2007 Re-release single
- NME Rock Tour - Liverpool Mountford Hall
- Columbia Records Announces the Stateside Release of 'Not Accepted Anywhere,' the Acclaimed début Album From Emerging UK Band, The Automatic Automatic
- The Automatic Automatic: Double the Name, Double the Fun
- The Automatic plot first US headlining tour
- Get Loaded in the Park - Sunday 26 August 2007
- Automatic now Pennie less
- The Automatic have today announced that keyboard player Alex Pennie has left the band
- Pennie quits The Automatic
- Home and Studio stuff
- The Automatic; We Weren't "Cool" Enough For Pennie
- Update
- Radio 1 Interview with Alex Pennie of Decimals & live session
- Pennie Would Have Split The Automatic
- What we've been up to since last blog innit
- Comin home, with new tunes in our suitcases. literally.
- Automatic now Pennie less
- Yourcodenameis: The Automatic, apparently
- The Automatic announce famous new member
- Automatic Automatic Interview (w/ Iwan Griffiths)
- Blah de blah!!!
- Back to the grind
- The Automatic James Frost Audio Interview (5.16 single details)
- The Automatic Unleashed
- The Automatic Announce UK Club Tour
- The Automatic Announce UK Tour!
- New line-up, new sound, new album for the Welsh rockers…
- Bloc Party & The Automatic Both Debut New Material
- Free downloads, gigs and other shizzle!!
- Hola!!!!
- Get Cape & Friends Announce Last Astoria Show
- "6 brand spanking new tracks fully demoed and mixed and sounding like phat bastards. Can't wait to start gigging them."
- Good day to you!!
- Forum
- Best Laid Plans theautomatic.co.uk, August 6 2008
- Listening through strings parts on the new tracks! Sounding plush methinks! theautomatic@twitter, August 6 2009
- August Recording Sessions flickr.com, theautomatic, August 2009
- Advice from Bands and DJs: The Automatic
- The Automatic signs their hand painted Gibson SG guitar for Gibson Guitartown London
- Pete Doherty confirmed for Celebrity Soccer Six
- Celebrity packed six-a-side
- Free downloads, gigs and other shizzle!!
- bbc theautomatic not accepted anywhere
- The Automatic - Popworld Interview (Video)
- theautomatic influences
- theautomatic ''the sound''
- The Automatic Automatic Interview
- The Automatic Monster Hit - Interview with Robin Hawkins(14 June 2006)
- Introduction to The Automatic - "On The Campaign Trail, All full of angular guitar chops and tight jerking rhythms, its title is a backhand reference to Hunter S. Thompson"
- The Automatic - News - Recover Re-release Single (July Thread)
- Rocklouder catches up with The Automatic to talk all about the new album, on the last night of their first tour with new boy Paul Mullen
- The Automatic fixed with Sennheiser
- The Automatic Cover Kanye West's 'Gold Digger'
- The Automatic Cover Kanye West On New Single
- The Automatic interview (2006)
- Interview: The Automatic (Daniel Robson)
- Interview with guitarist James Frost
- Interviews: The Automatic Automatic
- (Video) The Automatic Life During Wartime (Cover)
- ShockWaves NME Awards Tour 2007 Indie Rock line-up
- The Automatic Confirm New Member
- GLC and The Automatic To Unite At Carling Weekend festivalwise, July 2009
- The Automatic with Newton Faulkner at T in the Park theautomatic.co.uk, video blogs, 31.08.2007, Newton Faulkner with The Automatic: "Gold Digger" youtube, johnbownas, August 30, 2007
- Radio 1 Live Lounge; June 2006 peterhill.net, July 2009
- Tour Starts Today!
- the automatic/band theautomatic.co.uk, July 2009
- The Automatic BBC, July 2009
- FUTURE RELEASE: The Automatic accessmylibrary.com, CMP Information Ltd, Publication: Music Week, June 28 2008
- The Automatic - Second Album! - Easy?
- Sound of 2006: The Top 10: The Automatic BBC, Number 10, Sound of 2006, 2006, July 20 2009
- Kasabian Slam Music Scene
- NME tour tensions - Little tour of Horrors for The Fratellis
- The Automatic rubbish The Horrors
- Call the RSPCA: The Horrors "Raping a dead pig" say The Automatic
- The Horrors "The Automatic are Boring" And they tell all just hours before lining up to play alongside them…