Los Angeles-based post punk outfit Automatic — Izzy Glaudini (synths, vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals) — can trace their origins to their hometown’s DIY scene: When the trio met, they each individually had been immersed in the scene. They started jamming and writing material back in 2017. And in short order, the trio became a local club circuit mainstay.
Their full-length debut, 2019’s Signals saw the trio quickly establishing their sound, which paired motorik grooves with icy atmospheres.
The Los Angeles-based post-punk trio’s sophomore album 2022’s Excess saw the band sonically riding an imaginary edge where the 70s underground met 80s corporate culture. As the trio puts it, “That fleeting moment when what was once cool quickly turned and became mainstream all for the sake of consumerism.”
Employing that particular point in time as a lens to view our uncertain and seemingly apocalyptic hellscape present, the album’s material thematically saw the band taking aim at corporate culture and extravagance through deadpan critiques and razor sharp hooks.
Some time ago, the members of Automatic contributed a cover of Lou Reed’s “New Sensations” to Light in the Attic‘s Lou Reed tribute compilation, The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, which included covers by Keith Richards, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Rufus Wainwright and many more. Automatic’s take on “New Sensations” is a lovingly straightforward yet subtly icy and modernized take on the original that tightens the original’s groove and hook and adds glistening synth stabs and a brief burst of industrial clang and clatter.
Based on a concept by the band’s Izzy Glaudini, and co-directed by Ambar Navarro and Max Flick, the video features the trio channeling Lou Reed — practicing Tai Chi, riding a motorcycle and fielding interview questions from a gaggle of reporters. Fittingly, there’s even an appearing by Andy Warhol. The band says, “Cosplaying as Lou Reed for this video was the lifetime dream we didn’t know we had. It just felt right.”
Along with the new video, the trio announced that they’ll be opening for The Marias during that band’s extensive US tour. The tour which starts tomorrow includes an August 8, 2024 stop at Radio City Music Hall. There’s a headlining stop at Baby’s All Right on August 10, 2024, before the band rejoins The Marias for the rest of the tour. They’ll close out the tour with a set at this year’s Bumbershoot Festival.
As always, tour dates are below.
Tour dates
July 16: Oakland, CA – Fox Theater *
July 17: Oakland, CA – Fox Theater *
July 19: Las Vegas, NV – The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan *
July 20: Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre *
July 22: Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom *
July 23: Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom *
July 24: Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall *
July 26: Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live Orlando *
July 27: Miami, FL – The Fillmore Miami Beach *
July 28: Miami, FL – The Fillmore Miami Beach *
July 30: Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle *
July 31: Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle *
August 2: Washington, DC – The Anthem *
August 3: Philadelphia, PA – The Met *
August 6: Toronto, ON – HISTORY *
August 8: New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall *
August 10: Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right †
August 11: Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway *
August 13: Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed *
August 15: Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom *
August 16: Salt Lake City, UT – SLC Twilight at Library Square *
August 18: San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU *
August 19: San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU *
August 22: Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Forever Cemetery *
August 23: Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Forever Cemetery *
August 31: Seattle, WA – Bumbershoot Festival
* with The Marías
† with Mary Jane Dunphe
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