The Not Accepted Anywhere album tour was the touring period from 2005 through to 2007 when Welsh rock-band the Automatic promoted their debut album Not Accepted Anywhere. Over the three-year period, the band covered the United Kingdom several times, as well as touring in the United States, Japan, France and the Netherlands.[1][2][3]
On tour the band were supported most notably by friends Viva Machine on almost all UK tours, and by Frank Turner, who had just begun as a solo artist – with the Automatic being fans of his former band Million Dead.
Background
Support shows
In October through to November 2005 the band supported Goldie Lookin Chain on their UK tour, this tour supported the band's release of debut single "Recover ".[7] This tour was followed by an intense period in the studio recording their debut album, heading back out in January to support The Kooks on their Inside In/Inside Out tour.[8]
Later in 2006 the band also supported Kaiser Chiefs at their performances at the Millennium Square in Leeds, and well as supporting The Ordinary Boys in March.[9] Cancelled supporting appearances included Kaiser Chiefs European tour in November 2006, and My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade World Tour in 2007.[10][11]
During the band's headline of the NME Indie Rock 2007 Tour the Automatic let The View take the headline position at Carling Academy in their native Glasgow.[12]
Design and set-up
From 2006 onwards – when the band were headlining more and more performances, they began using various backdrops – ranging from simple sheet banners, to the more extravagant video screens. The artwork used was all based around designs made by Dean 'D*Face' Stockton for the album Not Accepted Anywhere, and the singles "Raoul", "Recover" and "Monster", many of these were then animated for performances – such as their 2006 London Forum performance where they used three giant screens, incorporating animations with a live feed of the band performing.[13][14] In 2007 Rock Drops recreated D*Face's Raoul 'Globe' artwork from the re-release of the single – and used throughout tour and festival appearances by the band as a stage banner.[15]
Alex Pennie was often noted by critics for being the band's energetic showman.[16][17] On the NME 2007 tour Alex Pennie's stage antics lead to a fans classes getting broken, followed by wrestling a member of the audience who started smoking on stage on the Irish leg of the tour.[18] Pennie whilst playing at New York's' Bowery Ballroom in July broke his ankle half way through the set, after one of his jumps went wrong – and sat out several songs until "Gold Digger" when he rejoined his band mates for the remainder of the set.[19][20]
On several occasions the band's cover of Kanye West's "Gold Digger" would involve other musicians and guests, with primary vocalist and bassist Rob playing flute, Jamie Allen; one of the band's technicians would take over bass guitar, whilst Alex Pennie and James Frost split vocals. At Reading and Leeds festivals in 2006 Goldie Lookin Chain joined the band onstage for the track, whilst Viva Machine joined the band onstage wrapped in bandages in ULU, London in July 2006, and on Warped Tour 2007 Newton Faulkner sung and played guitar on the track.[21] On the closing show of the 2007 NME Indie Rock Tour the band's tour manager Mike Doyle sung vocals on the band's cover of Talking Heads song "Life During Wartime".[22]
Throughout the tour the band requested as part of their rider that venues put together a David Hasselhoff shrine, by October 2006 the band revealed this had been fulfilled by upwards of 20 venues.[23][24]
MTV featured performances of the band at Oxegen 2006, including "Recover" and "Monster",[31] whilst Channel 4 broadcast performances of "Raoul", "Recover" and "Monster" from T4 on the Beach 2006.[32] At South by Southwest in Austin, Texas the band's entire set was filmed by Blaze TV,[33] and later broadcast on Crackle, with "Monster" being made part of the 2007 SXSW DVD.[34]
GMTV Incident and aftermath
We didn’t really wanna be there because we thought we had been tricked into it and it wasn’t really our thing."
On July 21, 2006 the band made an appearance on GMTV – ITV's breakfast program. The band had been told that they would be playing a track on a morning show "not GMTV, it's something on just after it".[36] With a performance the night before at Bristol's Carling Academy, members of the band decided to stay up all night drinking, until the 6:00am start at GMTV. The band went on live at around 9:00am, miming their single "Monster" as GMTV were unwilling for the band to perform live.[37] The performance went on to involve guitarist Frost smashing his rented guitar repeatedly onto the floor, before jumping into the drum kit, whilst Pennie walked around with his Alesis Micron keyboard, taking off his trousers and eventually ending up on the floor with Frost, whilst Rob and Iwan continued to mime along to the backing track. During the performance an ITV cameraman received an injury when Frost was destroying his equipment, the cameraman reportedly threatened to sue the band, but later decided not to – saying he was simply pissed off at the time.[38]
A month before the GMTV incident the band also were forced to mime on Channel 4's T4 on the Beach 2006, which they were unhappy about doing – stating prior to playing "Will we go on drunk? Let's just say there will be some interesting dancing going on as we aren't allowed to plug in our instruments."[39][40]
Personnel
Musicians
Robin Hawkins – bass guitar, flute, vocals
Alex Pennie – synthesizer, percussion, vocals
James Frost – guitar, vocals
Iwan Griffiths – drums
Additional musicians
Jamie Allen – bass guitar during "Gold Digger"
Guest musicians
Goldie Lookin Chain – guest vocals on "Gold Digger" at Reading and Leeds festivals 2006
Newton Faulkner – guest vocals and guitar on "Gold Digger" on Vans warped tour 2007
Mike Doyle – guest vocals on "Life During Wartime", NME Indie Rock Tour 2007
Adequate Seven – guest vocals on "Gold Digger" at the Newquay Boardmasters Festival in 2006
Capdown – guest vocals on "Gold Digger" at the Newquay Boardmasters Festival in 2006
Mystery Jets – guest vocals on "Gold Digger" at the Newquay Boardmasters Festival in 2006
Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly – guest vocals and guitar on "Gold Digger" at the Newquay Boardmasters Festival in 2006
Crew
Stan Saunders – sound
Jamie Allen – engineer
Mike Doyle – tour manager
Darren Lovell – lighting
Peter Hill – engineer/photography
James "Jizz" Lawrenson – sound mixer
Reception
During their Not Accepted Anywhere tour the band were noted for their energetic live performances, particularly the antics of keyboardist Alex Pennie, whose performances would involve running around the stage with a Cow bell, strangling himself with a microphone, climbing on-top of amps and speakers[41][42]
there's no shortage of energy expended onstage in an attempt to jump-start the party. White-drainpiped Pennie is the star, jabbing at his keyboard, pummelling a cowbell or strangling himself with a mic lead, eyes rolled back in his head and tongue lolling like a madman. His partner in crime is guitarist Frost, who jerks violently on the spot like his foot's caught in a high-voltage electric fence. – Sam Richards, NME[43]
Similarly Robin Monheit of Spin Magazine reviewing the band's New York show in July 2007 wrote "the Bowery Ballroom might not have been packed for last night's Automatic Automatic show, but synth-player/vocalist Alex Pennie performed as if it most definitely was" praising the band's energy.[44]"...Pennie, is a sort of wee-sized caged animal, combining his fidgety keyboard fiddling with the most intense punk roars I've heard since At The Drive-In. Throughout the gig, he will run directly into the crowd, shove any and all fans in his way..." wrote themusicslut.com of the band's performance in New York in March 2007[45]
Critics of the band's live sets were often quick to point out that single "Monster" was best received by audiences at live shows[46]
Set list
With only one album out, the set lists were composed almost entirely of the album's 12 tracks, although on occasion some of the album's b-sides were performed, including "Time = Money" on the October leg of the 2006 tour[47] whilst in mid-2006 the band began covering Kanye West's track "Gold Digger"[48][49] this was eventually accompanied with a cover of Talking Heads track "Life During Wartime".[50] It wasn't until 2007 that the band began including new songs in their set list, "Steve McQueen" and "Revolution" (later retitled "Secret Police") were first performed on the "ShockWaves NME Indie Rock Tour", originally intended for a new single soon after the tour, but ultimately released on This Is A Fix over a year later.[51]
Yourcodenameis:milo are an English alternative rock/experimental/post-hardcore band from Washington, Tyne and Wear. Their mini album, All Roads to Fault, was released in 2004, followed in 2005 by the full-length album Ignoto, both on Fiction/Polydor Records. In 2006, the band left their Polydor contract and within a month signed a new record deal with V2 Records. In November 2006, the band released Print Is Dead Vol 1, a side project album featuring collaborations with other bands. Their second full-length album, They Came from the Sun, was released in 2007.
The Automatic were a Welsh rock band. The band's last-known lineup was composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesisers, James Frost on guitar, synthesisers, backing vocals and occasional bass, Iwan Griffiths on drums and Paul Mullen on vocals, guitar and synthesiser. Mullen joined after the departure of Alex Pennie, who provided synthesiser, percussion and vocals.
¡Forward, Russia! are an English rock band from Leeds, active between 2004 and 2008, before re-forming in 2013. The band's debut album, Give Me a Wall, was released in 2006. Until 2006, the band only named tracks with numbers, in the order that they were written. The band had used faux Cyrillic, with its name occasionally typeset as ¡FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД!. The band went on hiatus after the release of their second album, Life Processes, in 2008. They re-formed in 2013 for a show at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds in November 2013 for its 10th anniversary, and then played the Live at Leeds Festival at Leeds Town Hall in 2014.
Not Accepted Anywhere is the debut album from Welsh rock band The Automatic, originally released in the United Kingdom on 19 June 2006 and in the United States on 22 June 2007. Working with producers Stephen Harris, Richard Jackson and Ian Broudie on different tracks at a variety of studios around the United Kingdom the album was released through a joint deal between B-Unique Records and Polydor Records.
"Raoul" is both the second and the fifth single from Not Accepted Anywhere, the first album by the Welsh band The Automatic. The single was released twice, first on 27 March 2006 and again on 8 January 2007 at the decision of the band's record labels Polydor and B-Unique.
"Monster" is the third UK single by Cardiff-based Welsh band the Automatic, taken from their debut album, Not Accepted Anywhere. The track was released on 5 June 2006 in the UK and subsequently reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. It was released in the United States under the alias of the Automatic Automatic on 14 May 2007. It is the Automatic's highest charting single to date in the United Kingdom.
Robin Hawkins is a vocalist and bassist. He was a member of Welsh band The Automatic.
James Martin Frost is the guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist of Welsh band The Automatic, and guitarist and backing vocalist for Cardiff-based band Effort. As well as his musical duties for The Automatic, Frost has also directed two of the band's music videos and their tour video diaries. He currently resides in Cardiff, Wales.
"Recover" is the debut and fourth single by Welsh rock band The Automatic, taken from their debut album Not Accepted Anywhere. Originally released on 21 November 2005 as a limited 7" vinyl, CD single and digital download, it was re-released on 18 September 2006 as the band's record labels, B-Unique & Polydor, believed it could perform better and reach a larger audience after the band's success with previous single "Monster".
Alexander Gregor Pennie is a musician who was previously in the band The Automatic from the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, where he provided backing vocals as well as playing synthesizers and keyboards for the act. Pennie left The Automatic in late 2007. Since then he has been in other bands, the latest of which was the Goodtime Boys, which disbanded in 2015.
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Iwan Griffiths is drummer for Welsh rock band The Automatic. Iwan originates from Cowbridge in Wales, and lives in Cardiff. He has a law degree from Cardiff University.
Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce. Lead track "Slow Life" appeared on the 2003 album Phantom Power and was originally composed as a purely electronic song by keyboardist Cian Ciaran several years earlier. The band were keen to finish the track and Ciaran encouraged them to jam over his original version—this jam was then edited and made into the finished song. The track "Motherfokker" is a collaboration between the Super Furry Animals and rap group Goldie Lookin Chain.
Paul Mullen is an English musician, multi-instrumentalist & singer songwriter who first gained recognition for being vocalist and guitarist of the band Yourcodenameis:milo, who went on hiatus in 2007. Since their hiatus, Mullen has gone on to both join and form a number of bands, which he currently splits his time between – including The Automatic, Young Legionnaire, Losers, HorseFight and Bleach Blood.
"That's What She Said" is the lead track on Welsh band the Automatic's debut album Not Accepted Anywhere. The track was recorded in Stir Studio in Cardiff.
This Is a Fix is the second album by Wales-based band The Automatic. It was released on 25 August 2008. The band worked with producer Don Gilmore in Los Angeles, but were disappointed with these sessions, and instead worked with Butch Walker at Sage and Sound Recording in Los Angeles then back in Cardiff with Richard Jackson and London with Stephen Harris.
"Steve McQueen" is the first and ultimately only single from Welsh rock band The Automatic's second album This Is A Fix. It is their fifth single overall. The track began radio and video play as of 7 July 2008 and was released on 18 August 2008.
Tear the Signs Down is the third and final album by Wales-based band The Automatic. It was released on 8 March 2010 in the United Kingdom, and then on 12 April 2010 for the rest of the world. Tear the Signs Down was the first album released by the band on their own Armoured Records after splitting with B-Unique. The first single "Interstate" was released on 6 December 2009, with second single "Run & Hide" released a week prior to the album itself on 1 March 2010. Third single "Cannot Be Saved" was released on 20 June 2010.
The Tear the Signs Down album tour was a tour by the Welsh rock band the Automatic, in support of their third album Tear the Signs Down. The band made their live comeback at Cardiff Barfly on 19 September 2009 and soon after announced a string of dates in November where they would preview new material from their then upcoming album. The band undertook a full UK tour, with plans to tour in Europe and America.
The This Is a Fix album tour was the 2008 tour surrounding the release of Welsh band the Automatic's second album This Is a Fix. The first leg of the tour was played at smaller clubs and venues around the United Kingdom, whilst later dates were at some of the countries larger venues.
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