Published: Tuesday, 18th November, 2008 09:00
Interview with: The Automatic
By David Birchall
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The Automatic
Staring at a half-drunk bottle of rum on the floor of their tour bus, a hoarse and tired Paul Mullen prepares for the long, hard slog to Glasgow.
“Touring is not as glamorous as people think,” he says, in typically understated fashion. “I don’t feel good right now but this is the best job in the world. It’s all worth it once you get on stage.”
Paul joined The Automatic last year as a replacement for keyboard player Alex Pennie.
The ex-Yourcodenameis:milo star met the band when Milo launched their Print Is Dead collaborations project, in which a selection of bands visited their Newcastle studios to write, record and mix a track in 24 hours.
The Automatic’s contribution, The Trapeze Artist, was an obvious highlight. When Milo decided to split, it did not take long for Paul to find himself a new home.
Musically, the decision has paid off.
Paul’s first big event with The Automatic was the Reading Festival, where they made their first appearance on the main stage.
He said: “That was fantastic, really scary at first but our confidence grew because the crowd were so supportive, they seemed to love it.”
That gig was their first big performance of their second album This Is A Fix, and it is a far cry from the catchy but ultimately vacuous style of their debut album Not Accepted Anywhere.
Paul admits that his new band mates were “not happy with the mix on the first record”.
“I think there are better songs on the new album. I think we’ve all grown up since we got together and new album reflects that.”
Asked about his role in the new-look quartet, Paul said: “More than anything I think it helped to freshen everything up. It’s like we’re a new band now. Steve McQueen [the album’s first single] was perfect for me. Hopefully it has set us on a more mature path.”
As a band promoting their second album, it almost seems stereotypical that some tunes come laced with venom directed at the industry. Their second single, Magazines, rails against the media, while Bad Guys and Accessories are aimed at Hollywood and record labels respectively.
For Paul it is a subject charged with emotion. “There is paranoia and anger on the album,” he explained. “Since the band took off we’ve realised that people have changed. It is hard to trust people in some positions and you have no time to sit back and take stock.”
There is no doubt that stardom is a double-edged sword for the band.
Fakery and thinly-veiled contempt from those whose wages musicians pay are not helped by vitriolic reviews with little purpose above egotistical swipes at the band’s success. Stature exists only to be destroyed, says Paul, while the bombardment of hype stifles creativity.
“Pressure is good, but hype can destroy a band,” he said. “The first album is key. It sets your future up.
“If it’s good there’s no time for more development, you’re swamped by the media and labels and so many bands fail after that.
“If it’s not going to be huge, no one wants to know.
“Biffy Clyro show how a band should develop. They’ve been around for years, they went at their own pace and now they’ve evolved into a great band. It should be that way for everyone.”
Having played at Wembley and The Royal Albert Hall in recent months, the young lad from Sunderland has realised his dreams and should be riding high.
But like Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, who Paul says influenced more than anyone else, the realisation that the music industry has little love for its biggest players is breeding resentment.
With the rise of the internet, Paul says, the industry grows ever more extreme: “The media kills bands. Everyone wants everything instantly. A band is either brilliant or rubbish. That’s all there is now.”
Such cynicism should be more shocking from such a young and passionate musician but perhaps, in an industry grown all too repressive, it is the only attitude that can survive.
The Automatic play 3sixty Students’ Union in Reading on Thursday, November 20. Call 0118 378 4100.
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