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The Automatic
@
Leeds Cockpit
14.04.08
www.vanguard-online.co.uk
Its Monday, it’s the Cockpit and…what’s that coming over the hill? It’s The Automatic! The little Monsters are back in Leeds to promote their new album, which is released in June. I arrive half way through the second support act to find that the place isn’t the hopping mass of floppy fringed boys and spotty topped bouncy girls that I was expecting. Where is everyone? I can see spaces in the crowd. I’m surprised. Even for a Monday (which, lets be honest here, is not usually the most happening night of the week), it’s a disappointing turnout. What I hear of the support doesn’t root me to the spot with excitement but the bass on the sound system is managing to vibrate my internal organs in a most alarming fashion. Given that I’ve just tucked away a hearty meal and half a bottle of wine, the effect is freaking me out, so I retire to the adjacent bar to catch the last few songs of the set. It’s an earnest and solid performance but it sounds too much like the main act. I find this curious…why pick a support that sound very like you?
They finish up, toddle off and we are waiting for the main act to come on when we get a good blast of “Since You’ve Been Gone” by Rainbow. Lordy! What follows as we wait is a tiny homage (or better still a fr-homage) to cheesy 80’s rock including Starship (We Built This City) and Europe (The Final Countdown). I’m sad to say I actually ENJOYED this and found myself singing along (a sign of both my advancing age and of the excellent effects of half bottle of wine aforementioned). However, just as I was wondering what we were going to get next.. Whitesnake perhaps?…, The Automatic are on the stage and looking fresh, perky and oh-so-young. They have with them a new addition, Paul Mullen, replacing Alex Pennie who played his last gigs with the band in August of last year. The newcomer reminds me of a young Elvis Costello with a hint of Woody Allen. They are floppy of fringe, checked of shirt and trousers hang dangerously from slim hips.
The set starts with tremendous energy and enthusiasm, which is carried throughout the performance. They go for a trusted combo of “new song, old song” and this seems to please the crowd who sing along to the ones they know and sway gently to the new ones. “I was a Teenage Steve McQueen” rocks and “Monster” causes an explosion of bounciness down at the front as everyone yells along to the chorus. They sound harder and more edgy live and our new ‘Elvis-Allen’ struts and whirls across the stage in a frenzy. The band are chatty tonight – especially the new boy-and they dedicated a song to “the one man rave machine in yellow” – a guy in a bright yellow tracksuit who is throwing some elaborate “big fish, little fish” moves down at the front. Later, a couple next to me sing the lyrics of “Raoul” at each other whilst the band whirl, sweat and leap their little socks off. The new material is bouncy but there’s a punchier undertone – frenetic guitars and retro synth and with perspiration rocketing out of every pore they keep up a sweltering pace. Then that’s it, off they go – no encore. 45 minutes of fast paced fun and that’s your lot. We are left with Carly Simon who tells us that “Nobody Does it Better” and she might well be right - The Automatic know how to rock.
Rebekah Penman
(pics by Ross McGibbon)
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