Reviewed on 31st March 2010.

The Automatic

Live at Brudenell Social Club on Saturday, 20th March 2010

It's a chilly Saturday evening and I'm at the lovely Brudenell Social Club to see The Automatic, touring in support of their new (and self-released) album. First support are Talk To Angels, a fresh-faced plaid-shirted band from Bradford who create melodic anthemic atmospheric pop songs. They've attracted a decent crowd for the start of the evening, and listening to them I can hear why. Guitar, bass, drum and Moog combine to create something that live has occasional hints of Green Day and Coldplay (not meant as an insult !) and a good mix of upbeat and slower ballad-y keyboard-led tracks designed to evoke mass swaying in the crowd, particularly 'This Broken Home' and 'He Loves Cilla'. They sound like they've been playing together for longer than their few years as a band and I think will be well worth keeping an eye out for in the future.

Next on are 3-piece White Belt Yellow Tag (former members of Yourcodenameis:milo along with Paul Mullen in The Automatic) who I was looking forward to seeing. They've had decent reviews and they've got some thoroughly enjoyable tracks available on their MySpace page. However, after Talk To Angels leave, a noticeable part of the audience goes with them and the atmosphere falls a bit flatter, and WBYT struggle to raise the enthusiasm of the crowd. Dual guitars, keyboards and drums evoke hints of early U2, the forthcoming single 'Always and echoes' is probably the highlight of their set, building and swirling around impassioned vocals. Unfortunately the rest of the set doesn't quite live up to this standard - by no means un-enjoyable but just a bit unremarkable tonight.

And so to the headliners, The Automatic. It's the first time I've seen them playing live, unlike some of my companions tonight for who it's the 3rd or 4th time seeing them in Leeds. I have to confess the first thing I notice and wholeheartedly approve of when they're setting up are the red and white stripes running down guitar / keyboard player and fellow Mackem Paul Mullen's keyboard stand and amp. Then with singer Robin Hawkins imploring us to "Come closer or we're not playing", they kick off. As it's a couple of weeks after the release of their new album, 'Tear the signs down', it's no surprise that they open with what (for me) is the strongest, catchiest and most Automatic-sounding track on there - 'Interstate'. 'Recover' and 'Pages fall out' fly by next with 'Run and hide' seeing the introduction of a Sunderland-striped loud-hailer, to perhaps questionable effect but not too distracting from the upbeat drum-heavy melody. Another couple of new album tracks, then it's their best-known song to date, 'Monster'. Perhaps a brave move to have it in the middle of the set and not rely on it for an encore, unfortunately even this fails to get the audience much more enthusiastic. Fortunately the Automatic fail to lose their energy and press on, with 'This is a fix' being the fast rocking beast it was born to be. 'Can I take you home' from the new album is another high point, being a bit heavier than their usual fare (perhaps the influence of Paul Mullen's former band creeping in a bit more), and barely pausing for breath at any point. Ending with another oldie, 'Steve McQueen', played at 150% and (for them) a bit of a screaming hypnotic thrash out, it was overall a thoroughly enjoyable performance. I suspect that if the Brudenell had been rammed full for them, the show would have been even better, but that's not to be read as a criticism of their performance.

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On 31st March 2010 at 20:55 Anonymous 7684 wrote...

Hey i have pictures for The Automatic Live:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbeh/4449630361/in/set-72157623454869997/

Let me know if you would like any to use with this review :')