The Automatic
Barfly London
Wed 9th November 2005
So this is where the music industry hang out on a Wednesday night then. Thankfully this show brought out the crème rather than the riff raff, I must have been at the right show after all. Newly signed Welsh act The Automatic had just finished a tour with Hard-Fi which is probably a good starting point to explain influences and sound. This 4 piece have a set full of indie pop with strange lyrics about monsters and rats which slightly confuses me to be honest as a few of the lyrics in this set could be picked straight out of a Super Furry Animals record.
The debut single Recover out this month was left until last as the stand out track in this set and overall their disco indie style fits this latest fashionable craze of danceable guitar music….but will it have the edge to take them further than here, we will wait and see as this is early days for a band that could possibly turn ears in the future.
Humanzi are on the flip side tonight. After hearing their debut single explode across underground radio shows across the UK recently it was always going to be interesting to see if they could pull it off live but they did better than that, they killed it leaving the support bands in the dark. One of the support bands were heard saying “we should just give up now” and although I missed the first 2 bands you would have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on this set.
Their energy was like a bolt of instant electricity with the constant thud of beats from drummer Brian Gallagher mixed with an immediate rush of cool from the rest of the band. The combination of driving bass lines, intrinsic guitar thrills and vocalist Shaun Mulrooney’s juggling skills as he strums his fender, cracks at the keyboard and manages to sing with a snarl is something not to miss. Mix the grinding surge of Primal Scream with the Czech influence of Sunshine and you have an idea of the style of play here which is danceable rock and roll at its best. The single Fix the Cracks out on Fiction this month was the stand out track but that’s only because it’s the only track people have had the pleasure to hear, but by the time festival season kick starts again next year, that track may well become an anthem alongside a few others that were played here tonight. Humanzi were spitting from the off and although one of their record company bods pointed out after the show that this was not their best show to date, it makes you wonder what they are capable of on a good night. Expect good things to come.
Zac