The Beat Surrender

Support was provided by Viva Machine a band who have the same management as The Automatic, this four piece from Swansea have previously toured with The Automatic and both bands seem to have a mutual appreciation of each others music Tom from Viva Machine came on stage and helped out on one track for The Automatic. A loud band best described as pop/punk, the band make good use of the korg keyboard with lead singer Chris swapping microphones and banging away on the keyboards like a madman. With the other two guitarists sharing the load of backing vocals for me they create a sound which in some way is similar to other bands around at the moment but at the same time its really unique due to quality of the vocals.

On the night the best of the tracks played were Here Comes The Speed Of Light, all the vocalists were used and came together really well. Oxygen was a quieter track and again the vocals were swapped and shared, this track for me had the most interest and really stood out. I loved Death Star Trucker, the keyboards in the into were great, great guitars, excellent vocals, loved the lyrics and when they all sang the chorus it was amazing.

Another strong track with a pop sound which would go down well on radio was A Futuristic Dracula, the vocals are excellent but it was the change in tone and pace which make this track, it held my attention from beginning to end. Not really sure why the drummer took his shirt off, as for once The Cockpit was actually quite cold, but this aside I actually liked Viva Machine. These boys from Wales are loud, fast and talented, catch them if you get the chance.

A long wait for the main band, I’ve seen The Automatic before, last year on the NME Indie Rock tour, when they shared the bill with Mumra, The Horrors and The View. For me they were the stars of the show, lively, energetic and great to listen to, so I was really looking forward to this gig. The band have been quoted as wanting to capture the energy of the live shows in the studio work and would like to sound more like the Foo Fighters. Well Rob Hawkins is certainly starting to look more like Dave Grohl, not sure about the sound but time will tell, for me there is only one Foo Fighters.

The band had allowed fans to choose what they wanted to hear on this tour. Also had said it would be a mix of old and new, however for me not yet having heard the new tracks (the new album will be released May or June depends on which web site you look at) it would have helped if they had introduced the tracks. Wasn’t sure what they opened with, it was loud and did seem to go down well with the crowd. Next track was an old track which wasn’t difficult to recognise as it was one of my favourites, Recover certainly warmed up the crowd. For me not sure it was quite the same without Alex Pennie, however Paul Mullen (formally with Yourcodenameis:milo) did his best to fill this void.

Next up was another favourite of mine which while classed as a new track was coved on the NME tour, will be on the new album and is likely to be the next single. For this reason Steve Mc Queen really went down well, the crowd bouncing and cheering. Its a big track, high on energy and full of great guitars which with the addition of Paul Mullen on rhythm guitar was a stand out track for the night. The momentum was kept going by the classic track Monster, now this was never a favourite of mine, its just a bit too novelty for me, however no denying the crowd love it, taking over the vocals and really getting into it.

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