The Automatic

Playing in bands together since they were 13-year-olds, the schoolmates won a five-year deal with B-Unique Records based on demos recorded in their gap year. Full of raucous, bouncy, shouty, infectious indie pop, The Automatic were soon building a following with a place on the NME New Music Tour 2006, support slots with The Kooks and numerous festival appearances, before debut album Not Accepted Anywhere (2006) made it to Number 3 in the UK charts. Though singles Recover and Raoul fared well, it was Monster which propelled the band, shooting to Number 4 in the UK charts and becoming a summer anthem which echoed around the nation's festival sites. With keyboard player Alex Pennie leaving the band in 2007, Paul Mullen of Yourcodenameis:milo stepped in for the release of second album This Is A Fix (2008). Despite some positive reviews and a small hit with lead single Steve McQueen, album sales were disappointing and they quickly moved on to third album Tear The Signs Down (2010).