Automatic 7 is an American rock trio. Formed in 1993, they have released three albums to date. They released their debut album self-titled ''Automatic 7'' on November 22, 1995, on

BYO Records Better Youth Organization Records (BYO) is a defunct Los Angeles, California based independent punk rock record label created by Shawn and Mark Stern, two of the three brothers of the California punk rock band Youth Brigade (the third being Adam ...

. Band members John Hulett (vocals and guitar), Nic Nifoussi (bass guitar and vocals) and Ray Mehlbaum (drums) toured North America and Europe with

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. It consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitar), Jonny Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards). Emerg ...

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and ...

, Face to Face,

Bouncing Souls The Bouncing Souls are an American punk rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1989. By the time of their acknowledgment by the national punk rock scene, they had reignited a "pogo" element to New Jersey punk rock by playing fast li ...

Less than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Buddy Schaub (trombone), Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone) and Matt Yonker ...

, D.O.A., Youth Brigade,

Shades Apart Shades Apart is an American alternative rock band from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. They are best known for their singles "Valentine" and "Stranger by the Day" as well as their cover of " Tainted Love." History Shades Apart formed in 198 ...

, Down By Law,

Suicide Machines The Suicide Machines are an American ska punk band formed in March 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. During the course of their career, the band has released seven full-length albums on the labels Hollywood Records, Side One Dummy Records and Fat Wre ...

in addition to various shows with Love and Rockets, Lit,

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mesa, Arizona, in 1993. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach ...

Reverend Horton Heat The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician James C. Heath (born 1959) as well as the name of his psychobilly trio from Dallas. Heath is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A reviewer for the magazine ''Prick'' called Heat ...

and

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...

of X. In 1996 Automatic 7 contributed a cover version of the Psychedelic Furs "

Pretty in Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. The film stars Molly Ringwald, alongside Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, a ...

" to the

Vagrant Records Vagrant Records is an American record label based in California. It was founded in 1995 by Rich Egan and Jon Cohen. The label focuses on rock music, rock, but features artists in a variety of other genres including folk music, folk, soul music, so ...

V/A release '' Before You Were Punk'' along with other various 1980s themed covers by bands such as

Blink 182 Blink-182 is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and best-known line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its so ...

and Face to Face. In 1997 Automatic 7 signed with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

; the band recorded their second album at

Long View Farm Long View Farm Studios was a music recording studio located in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, North Brookfield, Massachusetts that was founded in 1974 by Gilbert Scott Markle, a professor at Clark University, on his farm property. It was the lo ...

with producer

Ron Saint Germain Ron Saint Germain (alternate spellings Ron St. Germain, Ron Saint-Germaine and similar) is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixer born in post-war Frankfurt, Germany, into a career Air Force family. Prior to his career in music ...

. However, as A&M prepared for the release of the second album, PolyGram (A&M Parent label) was bought by Seagram and merged with its MCA Records family to create Universal Music. A&M was subsequently merged into Universal Music Group's then newly formed Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group. All these changes left the band disenchanted with A&M and Automatic 7 split with the label, and the album was never released. However, Automatic 7 signed with

, which was owned and operated by the band's manager Rich Egan and released ''Beggar's Life'' on July 25, 2000. Between 2001 and 2006, Automatic 7 went on a hiatus. The band reformed in 2006, and released the album ''At Funeral Speed'' in 2007, on the independent label Mental Records. The album was well received and included a rendition of

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

's "

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

". In 2008 Nifoussi and Ray Mehlbaum formed the Noise/Rock duo Killing Bees and subsequently released their self-titled debut on Guano loco/Loose Fang records.

Releases

Automatic 7

All songs written by John Hulett and Phil Jaurigui, except for where noted.

Beggar's Life

All songs written by John Hulett, Nic Nifoussi and Ray Mehlbaum

At Funeral Speed

All songs written by John Hulett, Nic Nifoussi and Ray Mehlbaum except "Atlantic City" written by Bruce Springsteen.

Musical style

Automatic 7's style has been compared to

, Jawbreaker and Face to Face. John Hulett cites Jawbreaker as Automatic 7's greatest influence, and says that the band are Jawbreaker fans. Automatic 7 has one guitarist, but over the years considered adding another guitarist to the band. In 1997 Face To Face guitarist/songwriter Trever Keith joined Automatic 7 briefly (guitarist/backing vocals) and toured with the band as it did support work for Social Distortions 1997 White Light, White Heat, White Trash tour. The band also played with guitarist Marco Moir, who toured with them in support of

and also did various recordings with the band, but Automatic 7 ultimately decided to remain a trio with only Hulett on guitar.

References

{{Authority control American musical trios Rock music groups from California BYO Records artists