Head Automatica
Encyclopedia
Head Automatica is a Dance Rock band, formed by Glassjaw
Glassjaw
Glassjaw is a four-piece rock band from Long Island, New York. The band is fronted by vocalist Daryl Palumbo and guitarist Justin Beck, and have undergone numerous line-up changes since their inception...
frontman Daryl Palumbo
Daryl Palumbo
Daryl Palumbo is an Italian American musician, , grew up in Bellmore, New York. He is the frontman of the bands Glassjaw and Head Automatica. As a youth he was a member of the Long Island straight edge band XbustedX, however he has since rejected that philosophy...
with Jarvis Holden, formerly of Give Up the Ghost
Give Up the Ghost
Give Up the Ghost was a hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts.-History:Give Up the Ghost was formed when Tim Cossar and Wesley Eisold met up with Azy Relph and Jesse Van Diest in 1998...
or American Nightmare, Jim Greer
Jim Greer
James Greer is an American politician, serving from 2006 to 2010 as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Previously, Greer served as Deputy Mayor of Oviedo, Fla., worked as a lobbyist in Tallahassee for the restaurant and bar industry, and ran a company called Regulatory Compliance...
, and Brandon Arnovick.
History
The beginnings of the band stemmed from singer Daryl PalumboDaryl Palumbo
Daryl Palumbo is an Italian American musician, , grew up in Bellmore, New York. He is the frontman of the bands Glassjaw and Head Automatica. As a youth he was a member of the Long Island straight edge band XbustedX, however he has since rejected that philosophy...
's interests in the hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
genres. Palumbo felt that the material that was inspired by these genres did not fit into Glassjaw
Glassjaw
Glassjaw is a four-piece rock band from Long Island, New York. The band is fronted by vocalist Daryl Palumbo and guitarist Justin Beck, and have undergone numerous line-up changes since their inception...
'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
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and Top Heatseekers charts, 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
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
and Handsome Boy Modeling School
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Handsome Boy Modeling School was a collaborative project between renowned hip hop producers Dan the Automator and Prince Paul...
. 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, playing with bands such as Interpol
Interpol (band)
Interpol is an American indie rock and post-punk revival band from New York City. Formed in 1997, the band's original line-up consisted of Paul Banks , Daniel Kessler , Carlos Dengler and Greg Drudy . Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino...
, The Rapture
The Rapture (band)
The Rapture is an Indie rock band based in New York City. The band mixes influences from many genres including post-punk, acid house, disco, electronica and rock, pioneering the post-punk revival genre...
, Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
and The Used
The Used
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. The band was founded in 2001 and signed to Reprise Records the same year. They rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third...
.
The band released their second album, entitled Popaganda, on June 6, 2006. This album was instead produced by Howard Benson
Howard Benson
Howard Benson is a two-time Grammy-nominated music producer and aerospace engineer.-Biography:Howard Benson has a degree in materials engineering from Drexel University and studied composition at the Philadelphia College for Performing Arts. Later he worked for Garrett AiResearch, where he worked...
, who is best known for his involvements with alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
acts such as P.O.D.
P.O.D.
Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...
and Cold
Cold (band)
Cold is an American post-grunge band, formed in 1996 in Jacksonville, Florida. With two gold-albums Cold has sold over 1.2 million records in the US alone. On November 17, 2006, Ward announced on MySpace that, after a period of uncertainty since that February, the group had decided to disband. In...
. With the departure of Nakamura, the band took a more organic, classic power-pop approach citing Squeeze and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
as influences.
The Pop Rocks EP was released April 6, 2006 and featured four tracks from the upcoming album: "Graduation Day", "God", "Nowhere Fast", and "Laughing At You".
In 2006, the band toured with Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ....
and Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
, and joined Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday is a rock band from Long Island, NY, formed in 1999 by guitarist Eddie Reyes. Current members of the band are Adam Lazzara , John Nolan , Eddie Reyes , Shaun Cooper and Mark O'Connell ....
, Angels & Airwaves
Angels & Airwaves
Angels & Airwaves is an American alternative rock supergroup led by Blink-182 guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, also including guitarist David Kennedy from Over My Dead Body, Hazen Street and Box Car Racer, bass guitarist Matt Wachter from 30 Seconds to Mars and former Lostprophets and Nine Inch...
, and The Subways
The Subways
The Subways are an English alternative rock / indie rock band. Their debut album, Young For Eternity, was released on 4 July 2005 in the UK and February 14, 2006 in the U.S. Their second album, All or Nothing, was released on 30 June 2008 and their third album Money and Celebrity debuted on the...
for a month of touring on June 22. The band also scheduled a headlining fall tour with Rock Kills Kid
Rock Kills Kid
Rock Kills Kid is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California that consists of Jeff Tucker , Shawn Dailey , Sean Stopnik , Reed Calhoun , and Mike Balboa . Their music often draws comparison to The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Duran Duran and U2, as well as new bands such as The...
, but chose to cancel it after playing only a few dates. Instead, they supported 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...
on the MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
$2 Bill Tour along with The Receiving End of Sirens
The Receiving End of Sirens
The Receiving End of Sirens is a rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 2003.-Overview:The band played on the 2005 Warped Tour and has toured with such acts as Gatsbys American Dream, A Wilhelm Scream, 30 Seconds to Mars, Funeral for a Friend, Saves the Day, Senses Fail, Thrice, and New...
, Cobra Starship
Cobra Starship
Cobra Starship is an American synthpop band created by former Midtown bassist and lead vocalist Gabe Saporta in 2003 in New York City, New York...
, and Rock Kills Kid
Rock Kills Kid
Rock Kills Kid is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California that consists of Jeff Tucker , Shawn Dailey , Sean Stopnik , Reed Calhoun , and Mike Balboa . Their music often draws comparison to The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Duran Duran and U2, as well as new bands such as The...
. In early 2007, Head Automatica played direct support on The West Coast Winter Tour with Jack's Mannequin
Jack's Mannequin
Jack's Mannequin is an American rock band formed in 2004, originally hailing from Orange County, California. The band began as a side project of Andrew McMahon, the frontman for Something Corporate, and is composed of guitarist Bobby Anderson, bassist Mikey "The Kid" Wagner, and drummer Jay...
, We Are The Fury
We Are the Fury
-Musical career:The group was founded as The Fury in Toledo, Ohio in 2004. Prior to forming the band, all original members were in a local Toledo, OH band called Hearsay TAO. Shortly after the demise of Hearsay TAO, the remaining members started The Fury, a name they chose inspired by one of...
, and theAudition.
The band appeared in Alternative Press most anticipated albums of 2008 in the January 2008 issue.
The band appeared in a skit on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on December 18, 2008.
On 27 May 2009, Palumbo confirmed that Head Automatica had completed work on their third studio album, titled Swan Damage and they were in the mixing stages. On 21 October 2010, he supplied a link to the Cubic Zirconia remix of the new track "Can't Stand Amadeus".
Members
- Daryl Palumbo – vocals (2003 - present)
- Craig Bonich – guitar (2003 - present)
- Jessie Nelson – keyboards (2005 - present)
Former members
- Jim Greer – keyboards (2003 - 2004)
- Brandon Arnovick – guitar (2003 - 2004)
- Dan "The Automator" Nakamura - production, turntables (2003 - 2004)
- Larry Gorman – drums (2003 - 2006)
- Brandon Reid – drums (2006 - 2007)
- Sammy Siegler – drums (2007 - 2009)
- Josh "Jarvis" Holden – bass (2003 - 2009)
Unreleased
- Swan Damage (2009)
- The Vipen Sessions/Bang! Hon Out! Sessions
- Decadence (May 2004 Production Disc)
- Tokyo Decadence (February 2004 Production Disc)
EPs
- Beating Heart Baby EP (iTunes Download) (Import) – Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
– 2005 - Beating Heart Baby (remix CD/digital release) – Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
– 2005/2006 - Pop Rocks EPPop Rocks EPPop Rocks is a four track EP released by the rock group Head Automatica. The EP features selections from the Head Automatica album entitled Popaganda which was released exclusively for download from the iTunes Music Store on April 6, 2006...
(iTunes Download) – Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
– 2006
Singles
- "Brooklyn Is Burning"
- "Beating Heart Baby" – UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#44 - "At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet"
- "Please Please Please (Young Hollywood)"
- "Graduation Day"
- "Lying Through Your Teeth"
- "Scandalous"