Head Automatica

Head Automatica is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York fronted by Daryl Palumbo (also of Glassjaw).

Head Automatica
Background information
OriginBrooklyn, New York
Genres
Years active2003–2012
LabelsWarner Bros.
Associated acts
Members
Past members

History

The beginnings of the band stemmed from singer Daryl Palumbo's interests in the hip hop and Britpop genres. Palumbo felt that the material that was inspired by these genres did not fit into Glassjaw's spectrum and so Head Automatica was created to showcase this.

The band's debut album, Decadence, was released August 17, 2004. Charting on the Billboard 200 and Top Heatseekers charts,[1] the album was the brainchild of Palumbo, who was known better for his work in post-hardcore music, and Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura, famous for his production work with groups including Gorillaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School. The two allegedly met at a party and worked on what later became the album. Palumbo then recruited the other current members as a touring group, and toured the United States,[2] playing with bands such as Interpol, The Rapture, The Used and The Cure.[3]

The band released their second album, entitled Popaganda, on June 6, 2006. This album was produced by Howard Benson, who had already worked with Head Automatica on several tracks from Decadence. With the departure of Nakamura, the band took a more organic, classic power-pop approach citing Squeeze and Elvis Costello as influences.

In 2006, the band toured with Avenged Sevenfold and Coheed and Cambria, and joined Taking Back Sunday, Angels & Airwaves, and The Subways for a month of touring on June 22. In October 2006, drummer and founding member Larry Gorman was fired from the band for undisclosed reasons, with Brandon Reid being announced as his replacement.[4] The band scheduled a headlining fall tour with Rock Kills Kid, but chose to cancel it after playing only a few dates. Instead, they supported Thirty Seconds to Mars on their Welcome to the Universe Tour along with The Receiving End of Sirens, Cobra Starship, and Rock Kills Kid. In early 2007, Head Automatica played direct support on The West Coast Winter Tour with Jack's Mannequin, We Are The Fury, and The Audition. The band visited the UK for the first time for a headlining tour that started at Southampton University on May 23, 2007,[5] and performed at Rock Am Ring festival in Nürburg, Germany on June 1.[6] August 2007 saw yet another change in the line up, with New York hardcore veteran Sammy Siegler taking over the drum kit.[7]

Head Automatica started pre-production on their third album in late September 2007, aiming for a "darker" sound and "grimy, dancefloor-friendly" songs.[8] The band recorded half of the material with producer Jason Lader and the other with The Brothers (the production team of Josh Topolsky and Eric Emm).[9] Sammy Siegler handled the drumming duties,[10] and Albert Wing, Bruce Fowler and Gary Grant recorded the brass section.[11] The band appeared in a Christmas-themed skit on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on December 18, 2008 and went on a short North American tour with Radio 4 in January 2009. On May 27, 2009, Daryl Palumbo confirmed in a tweet that Head Automatica had entered the mixing phase of the album, entitled Swan Damage. In an interview with Revolt online magazine Palumbo stated that the record "captures everything we ever intended Head Automatica to be. It covers the genre spectrum; there are powerful clubby tracks, garage-pop tracks, and body-rocking tracks. This album really reflects the full spectrum of music this band is capable of playing.”[12] The band have been performing songs from Swan Damage live, working titles including "Can't Stand Amadeus", "End of Heat", "Too Ashamed", "Face Upon the Floor", "Spitzer", "Sega", "It's a Lie" and "Hard as Mud".

In July 2009 Head Automatica played a string of US dates with Cubic Zirconia[13] and have gone missing from the public eye for more than a year, with no announcements regarding Swan Damage. The band re-emerged with a new rhythm section of drummer Guy Licata (Cold Cave, Hercules & Love Affair) and bassist Rick Penzone (Men, Women & Children)[14] to perform at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York on October 20, 2010.[15] On October 21, 2010 Palumbo tweeted a link to the Cubic Zirconia remix of the still-to-be-released track "Can't Stand Amadeus".

On May 30, 2012, Palumbo revealed via Twitter that Warner Bros. Records have effectively shelved the masters for Swan Damage.[16] July 2012 issue of Southampton Music featured an interview with Palumbo, in which he cited legal issues (that supposedly arose when he decided to end his contract with the label[17]) as the reason for the three-year delay, but expressed confidence in the album being released "soon".[18]

In August 2012 Head Automatica toured the UK as a four-piece, performing material from Swan Damage and new versions of songs from their first two records.[19][20]

Band members
  • Daryl Palumbo — lead vocals (2003–2012)
  • Jessie Nelson — keyboards (2005–2012)
  • Rick Penzone — guitar, bass (2010–2012)
  • Steven Heet — drums (2012)
  • Vinnie Caruana — guitar (2003)
  • Brandon Arnovick — guitar (2003–2004)
  • Craig Bonich — guitar (2003–2010)
  • Josh "Jarvis" Holden — bass (2003–2009)
  • Larry Gorman — drums (2003–2006)
  • Brandon Reid — drums (2006–2007)
  • Sammy Siegler — drums (2007–2009)
  • Guy Licata — drums (2010)
  • Jim Greer — keyboards (2003–2004)
  • Dan Nakamura — turntables, production (2003–2004)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

Unreleased
  • The Vipen Sessions/Bang! Hon Out! Sessions (2005, Popaganda pre-production)
  • Decadence (May 2004 Production Disc)
  • Tokyo Decadence (February 2004 Production Disc)
  • Westworld (Demo) (2003)
  • Rough Demo (Demo) (2003)

EPs
  • Beating Heart Baby EP (iTunes Download) (Import) – Warner Bros. Records – 2005
  • Beating Heart Baby (remix CD/digital release) – Warner Bros. Records – 2005/2006
  • Pop Rocks EP (iTunes Download) – Warner Bros. Records – 2006

Singles
  • "Brooklyn Is Burning"
  • "Beating Heart Baby" – UK No. 44[21]
  • "At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet"
  • "Please Please Please (Young Hollywood)"
  • "Graduation Day"
  • "Lying Through Your Teeth"

Music videos
  • "Brooklyn Is Burning" (2004)[22]
  • "Beating Heart Baby" (2005)[23]
  • "The Razor" (2005?) (unreleased, unfinished edit can be found on YouTube)[24]
  • "Beating Heart Baby" (Chris Lord-Alge mix) (2006)[25]
  • "Graduation Day" (2006)[26]
  • "Lying Through Your Teeth" (2006)[27]
gollark: To be less "cringe".
gollark: I mean "hard but tractable", not "effectively impossible".]
gollark: That might be fun actually: I could probably build a language which is easy for me to write in (with a secret key) but hard for other people (without that).
gollark: You could do something like Malbolge's "cryptography" where it's *technically* possible to write things.
gollark: Then cryptography is just the obvious way to make it work.

References
  2. "Celebrity Access". Celebrity Access. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  3. Geffen (2004-10-06). "News : Curiosa Festival 2004". The Cure. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  4. "Larry Gorman is Out - News Article". AbsolutePunk.net. 2006-10-19. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  5. "Head Automatica announce UK tour | News". Nme.Com. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  6. "Head Automatica - Beating Heart Baby (Live Rock AM Ring 07)". YouTube. 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  7. "Head Automatica - K Horse (Live at Highline Ballroom)". YouTube. 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  8. Alternative Press #234, January 2008, p. 95
  9. "Head Automatica: Swan Damage (2008)". 24.media.tumblr.com. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  10. "an interview w/ Rival Schools (Walter & Sammy) (part 1)". Brooklynvegan.com. 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  11. "Photo by darylpalumbocc • Instagram". Instagram.com. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  12. "Revolt » By Sherri Gibbons Daryl Palumbo Features Interviews » Daryl Palumbo". Blog.revolt-media.com. 2009-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  13. "Revolt » Freebies News Shows » Head Automatica + Cubic Zirconia = Free Mix & Show Dates!". Blog.revolt-media.com. 2009-07-20. Archived from the original on 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  14. "Head Automatica 10/20/10 @ Music Hall Brooklyn, NY - Too Ashamed". YouTube. 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  15. Ableson, Jon (2009-08-20). "Head Automatica Announce New York Show". Alter The Press!. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  16. "Twitter / DarylPalumboCC: Ask a Warner brother". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  17. "Glassjaw". 24.media.tumblr.com. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  18. "Daryl Palumbo of Head Automatica". farm8.staticflickr.com. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  19. "Automatica UK (Page 2) – Head Automatica – GJN Forum". Forum.glassjaw.net. Archived from the original on 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  20. "Beating Heart Baby - Head Automatica - Sound Control - 7th August 2012". YouTube. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  21. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 247. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  22. "Head Automatica - Brooklyn is Burning". YouTube. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  23. "Head Automatica - Beating Heart Baby (Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  24. "Head Automatica - The Razor". YouTube. 2006-09-03. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  25. "Beating Heart Baby (Chris Lord-Alge Mix) (Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  26. "Head Automatica- graduation day". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  27. "Head Automatica - Lying Through Your Teeth (Official Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.