Automatics are an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

punk rock and new wave band that was formed by Dave Philp in 1976 after a brief stint as the singer with

The Boys Boys are young male humans. Boys or The Boys may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''The Boys'' (1962 British film), a courtroom drama by Sidney J. Furie * ''The Boys'' (1962 Finnish film), a war drama by Mikko Niskanen * ''Boys'' ( ...

History

Along with the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

and The Damned, the Automatics regularly played the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed wh ...

in London and toured clubs around the U.K. and Europe. Their hit song "When the Tanks Roll Over Poland Again", (released on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, an ...

in 1978) was number one on the punk/new wave charts. It was one of the first records to be produced by

Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Bi ...

, who was Philp's flatmate at the time, and who went on to produce U2. It is listed at 22 of the top 50 punk songs from that era by Punks Reunited. The Automatics also played gigs with Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers and Thunders himself played on the Automatics first album, ''Walking with the Radio'' (available through Angel Air, UK). The Automatics toured England with the Vibrators and played the Reading Festival in 1979. In 1980, Dave Philp moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, where he remained lead singer and songwriter for the Automatics but with different players in the band. This early history is recounted in ''No More Heroes: A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980'' by the English critic Alex Ogg. As punk declined in popularity, Philp went into business for himself in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

, but continued to write, record songs and play small clubs as the Automatics. Yet, even he was surprised in 2000 when a punk rock record promoter in Tokyo contacted him about releasing his first album and going on tour in Japan. Toshio Iijima of Base Records had Philp play sold-out clubs in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

being backed by Japanese punk musicians who had memorized both the music and lyrics of his first record. The success of that tour led Iijima to bring Philp back to Japan in 2002 and 2004. He also released two more albums: ''2'' in 2002 and ''Forty Virgins in the Afterlife'' in 2004. The improbable and belated rediscovery of Philp led National Public Radio's

Ira Glass Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series ''This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ...

to conduct an interview with Philp on ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

''. Under "Return to Childhood", Philp is featured in "Act II, Punk in a Grey Flannel Suit". This radio interview led to his life story being optioned by Hollywood film producers on two occasions. It also prompted one of Philp's earliest supporters, DJ John Peel, to interview him for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

in London. The Automatics albums released through Base Records in Japan were produced by Jim Wirt (

Incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...

Hoobastank Hoobastank (sometimes stylized as h∞bastank, and originally known as Hoobustank) is an American rock band formed in 1994 in Agoura Hills, California, by lead vocalist Doug Robb, guitarist Dan Estrin, drummer Chris Hesse, and original bassis ...

Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards a ...

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, t ...

and

Jacks Mannequin Jack's Mannequin was an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2004, hailing from Orange County, California, Orange County, California. The band originally began as a solo project for Andrew McMahon, the frontman of Something Corporate. The ban ...

). In 2006, bassist Wirt (formerly of Fool's Face), became a regular member of the band and brought on drummer

Paul Crowder Paul Crowder (born 30 December 1962, London, England) is an English musician, who later became a film editor and director. Life and career Crowder's career started as a musician and, in 1980, he joined with Philip Jap as his drummer. Jap was si ...

(formerly of

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, po ...

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk bandLife Is Good Out Now
Floggingmolly. ...

) and lead guitarist Brian Coffman (Fool's Face). Wirt, Crowder and Coffman joined Philp to become the Automatics for the 2006 ''Britannia'' album, which is a collection of songs about England and Englishness from an expatriate's point of view released on Dork Records UK/U.S. Veteran DJ

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...

in London invited Philp to tour England playing some of the songs in the summer of 2006 and the single "Old River Thames" went to number one on the Big L/Capital Radio charts in London in January 2007. After the release of Britannia in the U.S. in the spring of 2007, other songs found airplay among independent DJs such as

Jonathan_L Jonathan Leigh Rosen (born December 5, 1946, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York), better known by his radio handle Jonathan L, is an American radio deejay, programmer, and entertainment media publisher. He organized his first large music festival ...

at KUPD-Phoenix, leading Philp to perform at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

event in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. By September 2007, other singles had found airplay including "England Expects", "Who Died and Made You Brian Jones" and "British Beat", which features guitar work by

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

of the

. Though Philp's style has changed and is more oriented to song-writing and less toward pure punk, ''Britannia'' still features many of his friends from the punk rock days including Ian McCallum (

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the D ...

), Mick Rossi (Slaughter and The Dogs), and

Michael Des Barres Michael Philip Des Barres (born 24 January 1948), the 26th Marquis Des Barres, is an English actor and rock singer. He appeared as Murdoc in the original ''MacGyver'', Nicholas Helman, Murdoc's mentor, on the new reboot of ''MacGyver'' (2016) ...

(

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

). In 2008, Automatics released "Jukebox of Human Sorrow" which is available for download from iTunes. In May 2022, the band reached the Top 10 of Mike Read's Heritage Chart with "Cold Steel Serenade", in a chart which also featured The Vapors and The Boys.

Original line-up

*Dave Philp (

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

) *Wally Hacon (

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

) *Bobby Collins (

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

) *Ricky "Rocket" Goldstein (

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

)

Notes

References

* Ogg, Alex. ''No More Heroes: A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980''. London: Cherry Red Books, 2006. .

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Automatics English punk rock groups Island Records artists