Spring and Summer (April 2009)
The wait is almost over! The Hotel is about to hit the studio to record it's latest and greatest album! We are planning for a Fall 2009 release. We have been asked to hold the CD release party at the House of Blues in Hollywood, but we are most likely opting for a local release party here in Ventura. Hell, maybe we'll do both! Please remember to check our blogs and show dates on Myspace regularly as we will be adding dozens of new dates very soon! Rock on!
We won! (February 2009)
Okay, so Automatic Hotel didn't win 'all' the awards, but we did win a Mavric for 'Brown Eyed Girl' on our Firefly album. Thank you everyone! People in this town are really getting to know who we are now and next year we're cleaning up with the new album! I'm sure the competition will be even tougher next year, but hey, it's all really about community and making great music. Thanx again to everyone who voted. You guys are AWESOME.
Mavric Awards (January 2009)
Automatic Hotel has been nominated for 12 MAVRIC awards! It seems they are really working hard to build a new music scene in Ventura County, and we are definitely down for that! Don't forget to vote for Automatic Hotel for the Mavrics, as your vote counts for 20% towards winning. Check our MySpace blog for details.
Automatic Hotel - Behind The Music (November 24, 2008)
Hey kids, my apologies for not posting anything in the news here over the last few months! If you click our shows and tours link above you'll see that we played more shows this year than any other year! We don't bother posting here much due to the popularity of networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, but we do blog occasionally about our shows on our myspace pages. There was a time when we had to quadruple our bandwidth just to maintain the thousands of Hotel fans that would come to our website every day, chat in our chatroom and post on our (now removed) messageboard. Hey, we miss those days too! Myspace kind of destroyed all that, but just in case anyone still checks out this news page, we'll try to update it occasionally. We still list our shows on our site, sell our cds here and we plan on maintaining AutomaticHotel.com for the long haul.
So you may have noticed that we mostly perform in Ventura now. All the band members live in Ventura county and none of us are crazy about the commute to L.A. Plus we're appreciated more out here and are paid very well for every show. In L.A., they don't appreciate their musicians and the climate is still 'pay to play'. We want to thank all our new local fans that have come out to support our shows!
To our fans of yesteryear (2003/04), we miss a lot of you guys and hope you'll come see us again soon. The band has skyrocketed in talent and we are playing the best shows of our lives. We will soon be making an album and I know it will eclipse the previous two.
In other news, Automatic Hotel has been nominated this week for 6 Mavric Awards! We will soon be asking our fans and friends to vote for us, then the rest is up to the esteemed celebrity judges. Whether we win or not, we are grateful for the acknowledgement and honored to have so much stiff competition for the awards! The music scene in Ventura is about to break and I think some of the best bands of the coming year will be coming from Ventura! And hey... we are not done. We've got some serious rock to lay at the feet of our fans.
We enjoyed this year rocking Ventura County (and a little in L.A.), and we are very excited for the new album we will soon begin recording and everything that the new year holds for us.
We wish you well for the holidays and hope to see you all again very soon! Until then, keep rockin!!!!!!!!
Hotel out.Automatic Hotel in 2008 (February 10, 2008)
The Hotel is writing for the new album and will be playing new songs at the shows. Expect great things this year as the new music is better than ever and AH has once again garnered the attention of the press. Keep checking this site as new shows will consistently be added, and watch for publications featuring Automatic Hotel!
See you on Saturday, Feb 16th at Sans Souci, and Saturday Feb 23rd at The Cat Club!
KXLU ROCKED (May 25th 2007)
Thanx to KXLU for having Automatic Hotel live on LIVATION! We had a kick ass time and are looking forward to getting back on the airwaves sometime in the near future. Thank you to all our friends out there who stayed up and checked out the show! Also thanx to our new friends that added us on MySpace and to all the callers that called in during our show.
See you guys at THE GIG on June19th!
Music Connection Magazine's "Best Kept Secrets Showcase
@The Gig - 7302 Melrose Ave
Hollywood, California 90046
When: June 19th 8:30PM
Only $5 at door
Yanking on Ventura (March 9th 2007)
Hi kids! Thanks to everyone who came out to support Automatic Hotel last Saturday night at DJ's. Especially to our friends from the OC who trekked for hours to come see us. Here's a virtual high five to Rick, Cindy, Brenda and Esther. Also to Phaedra, who is quickly becoming our most loyal Ventura fan. Your support is greatly appreciated! Thanx to Jeffrey Barber of Floater Six for sitting in on drums. Without any real rehearsal, he was able to bring a passionate and skilled backbeat to our music. We played some old AH songs including, Life of Wonder, Brunette Girl, and Question of Time. We also rocked some of the new ones including "You Can Be A Rainbow (Not A Pain-bow), which Jeffrey hardly knew. He called me that same day and said "DUDE, I listened to Rainbow like 10 times today and I think I can play it!!". Great job, man. We had a really good show and as usual, Brian McCallion BROUGHT IT on guitar. DeeDee's background vocals were AWESOME. If you were there, then you know how 'spot on' they were. Plus she has that cute 'hip shake' from rocking the tambourine. You gotta love that. Mabye somebody else can post and give you a run-down of me on Bass and Vocals. All I can say is, I had a great time and really enjoyed it. We played an impromtu 'Happy Birthday' in the style of Frank Sinatra meets the Sex Pistols for some girl named Sarah, and it was so fun I actually want to play it again. I have to thank the awesome all-girl bartender crew for the free Jagermeister shots and for paying us early so we didn't have to hang around all night. Floater Six played a great show too. I was outside talking to the club owner, Jim when I heard them doing a refrain of Automatic Hotel's "The Game" but I wish I'd been in there for that. I don't know what F6's Brian was singing, but I'm sure it was fun. We're wrapping up our drummer auditions this week and we'll be continuing to play around greater L.A. and Ventura. We'll soon be booking an all ages weekend show in L.A. so we hope to see our fans that we haven't seen in a long long time! Are you gonna play the game?! 1 - 2 - 3 - 4!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike
Automatic Hotel in 2007 (February 28th, 2007)
Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long since I've written any news but I get lazy and just blog on MySpace. Automatic Hotel has had some great accomplishments recently and we're looking forward to an awesome year. We released our music video for "You Can Be A Rainbow" which is getting rave reviews. We are also beginning to release some video of our live shows which is great news for our fans abroad. Our new CD is selling and we're getting airplay on various stations around the U.S. and the world. Make sure to listen for us and you can also request Automatic Hotel at your favorite radio station. We're currently in the process of auditioning new drummers and also writing our next album. In the mean time, we're playing shows with guest drummers and also performing unplugged. Thanks to all our fans who continue to support us. Keep checking back because we're about to fill our calendar with shows. Rock on!
Mike
Gigo Reporto Friday Nighto (October 15, 2006)
Pre-Gig: Okay so it was a gig-packed weekend with highs, lows, hijinks and as usual, a lack of photographic proof. I have to say that Friday night was the funnest gig day I've probably ever had. For once, there was no drama in the band. I don't have to worry about Brian, Greg and DeeDee. They show up, They hang out, they rock. It's as simple as that. No drama, no problem. So Friday, instead of being a lightning ball of stress, I just enjoyed the day and the early evening without a thought to the show. Our stage manager came over with the lovely Monique so I lit the torches, built a fire, put on a webcast radio station directly from Honolulu, Hawaii and proceeded to barbeque some totally bitchin teriyaki Hawaiian burgers. Good times were had by all.
The Automatic Hotel Experience: San Souci in Ventura is definitely one of the better dives. Even without the bands, the place is hella popular. There are usually three times as many people hanging out outside than in and I don't know if that means there are more smokers in Ventura than other places? or people just dig patios. Anyway, lots of people, which is always preferred at a show. Automatic Hotel played first at about 10:30pm. I'm very proud of my bandmates because even with the recent drastic change in line-up, they really rocked the show! Those of you who have been out and seen our new drummer, Greg, already knows how good this dude plays. We're lucky to have him. Brian McCallion on guitar again is the only reason I feel good about myself switching to bass guitar. Brian is G-O-O-D. I'm very surprised by DeeDee's performance, I must say. She joined us for the last three shows so we'd still have background vocals and it was largely a temporary fix, but damn! For those that heard the show, you know how good she sounded. I never knew she could mix with my voice so well. Some people commented that it sounded as if Justin was singing! That was something I did not expect. Dee got skillz brotha! Plus she has a pretty and consistent tone color that I really enjoy. She also rocked that tambourine pretty good for only two rehearsals. So I'm very pleased with the peformance. I was concerned how we'd sound as essentially a 3-piece but I'm happy to find that our sound is very streamlined and clean. I'm really enjoying that. The crowd got DOWN and really dug in with us. Great crowd! We sold a few CDs and a Green Machine T-shirt.
Number 6: The next band up was "Number 6". Very cool guys. They had some really good songs and frequently worked the crowd into a frenzy. Especially the 'boob' song in which boobs were present.
Floater Six: The crowd was really great and it's actually more happenin' of a club at midnight than the primetime 10:30pm slot! I have one favorite song of theirs that I never know the name to but it kind of goes "What can I say, what can I say....use me up and then throw me away HEY!". I really enjoyed this one and went up in front to rock it out with the crowd. They played a new 'love' song, which I also don't know the name to, and even though it had that 'new song' level of performance I could really hear the great potential of it. It's going to be a really good song I think, and Brian sounds great singing it. I think he has a very distinctive voice that needs to be heard on the world punk scene. Great show guys! Also, props to Brian and Seph for trying to kick some guy's ass while still playing one of their songs. This guy deserved it too. Ah well, as Brian said, "Too late off the nipple"
The GiG at..well The Gig! Last night was great. AH played one of the best shows ever. The sound was so clean and it felt great being on that stage. The Gig really has it together. The sound guy, Lee, was awesome. The nicest and most pro guy I've worked with in years. There were about a million people there. Actually, I could be wrong about that, but somewhere between a million and some lower number. You guys gotta get out there for our next show at The Gig, 'cause the sound is great.
If you're not yet on our NEW mailing list, please subscribe now so you'll get the low down on some fun upcoming shows. They are going to be a blast! You can subscribe HERE!
Also, if you've been waiting to hear the new Automatic Hotel CD, you can now purchase it atCDbaby.com!
Mike
Rocking the Universal (October 8, 2006)
I must admit that I was a little worried when heading for the show yesterday. When you spend weeks working with a team and then lose a team member the day before the game, the results can be disastrous. It takes a lot of time to build a sound with a band. It is a very delicate balance and every member plays a crucial role. Even replacing that member with a substitute still means you've got to start from scratch. The musical nuances, sound, tone, texture and personality of each person affects how everyone else plays. Losing Justin meant that I had to play the bass myself, which takes all my guitar work including solos completely out of the music. Brian becomes the sole guitarist but since he plays different guitar parts than me, the music changes. Many of those guitar parts are written to complement what I'm already playing, but suddenly he has to temper those well-ingrained riffs with some interpretation of what I was previously playing. Also, as Brian does not know my solos, since they're my solos, he either has to improvise or we simply play those parts with the absense of a lead instrument. For Greg, it's not much of a problem because he is the backbone of the music and rocks the beat no matter what, but he has to be intuitive enough to help fill up the voids left by the missing instrument. Additionally, it isn't just my guitar that's missing. The bass lines I'm playing are different from what Justin played. They are almost improvisational and largely based on my knowledge of the song notes as played on guitar. Also, Justin's backing vocals are missing and everyone knows how big a part of the music they were. Not too many people out there can sing like Justin and I haven't met any yet. Also, the way his voice mixes with mine has a very special quality that's hard to match.
So with all this change, you can see why I was nervous about the show. Actually I was nervous about ALL the upcoming shows. I had the idea of bringing DeeDee into the mix to help us fill out the sound. She was to play the tambourine and sing backing vocals. At least that way, the musical layers stay nice and full. Brian, Greg and I decided this would be a good temporary idea in spite of the feared 'Yoko Ono' effect! hahaha. But Dee2 is cool about that stuff. She's well aware of and wholly against the application of the Yoko principle. TRUST ME when I say that Automatic Hotel has been occasionally plagued with the nightmare girl-friend scenario. All it takes is just ONE idiot to break up an entire band. It's an incredible but powerful factor that has destroyed many a band. Fortunately, all of us including DeeDee have witnessed these perversions first hand and know how to avoid them.
Let me get on to what actually occurred at the show. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm rarely entirely happy with our performance. Even at some of our historically best shows, the sound on the stage is loud, messy and raw and I walk off stage wrongly believing that the performance was terrible. But last night at The Universal, I felt really great about the whole show. I'm not just saying that to appear optimistic in the face of undesireable change. We really did rock! I was really impressed with Brian & Greg. Brian got down and rocked that guitar. Even with all the changes and improvisational playing, I never heard a sour note. Greg constantly surprises me with very difficult and amazing fills and this show was no exception. The dude is quiet and sort of floats around in slow motion, but put him behind a kit and he goes nuclear. DeeDee, just having learned about 70% of the usual backing vocals earlier that very day did awesome and really nailed it! I also loved the tambourine. It really added to every song and I'm now convinced that certain songs are always going to need one. She also rocked a little too hard. That tambourine put some serious and scary bruising on her hands and all down her leg. Any future playing she does is going to require some additional protection so this never happens again, but you have to hand it to her for rocking like that. So the show rocked, and eventhough we lose some good things with J's absense, we gain new elements that keep our music right there at the same level it was. Not only that, but it was somehow cleaner and more streamlined than it's been lately. some said that it was actually a better show than or last gig at 14 below. It definitely felt better.
So now we are beginning the process of auditioning new bass players. Why do this if I'm happy with our sound as is? Because I wanna play guitar man!! I would miss my axe too much and I'd miss rocking those solos. I'm actually pretty happy on bass, but happier on guitar. Hopefully we'll find the perfect new member who will be able to put in the committment that the current members do. I guess some of you are wondering why Justin left in the first place, and I'm going to go ahead and answer it here instead of in dozens of emails that I anticipate receiving soon. Justin simply has too much on his plate right now and his focus is more on a non-musical career. There's no personality conflict occuring, no in-fighting or anything negative going on. In fact, we've had smoother and more enjoyable times in the Hotel over the last several weeks than ever before. Yeah, I got really mad at him for leaving, but I'm pretty much over it now and we are of course still friends. I wouldn't discount the possiblity that J might join us for a show or two in the future as I'm sure he would enjoy that, but for now we'll be focusing on maintaining our musical integrity and chemistry. I really want to urge you guys to come out to the upcoming shows! I promise you won't be disappointed and you are sure to enjoy some of the other bands we'll be performing with. I'm very excited about upcoming shows with The Drills, Kingbaby and The Starfu##ers. If you're not yet on our NEW mailing list, please subscribe now so you'll get the low down on these shows. They are going to be a blast! You can subscribe HERE!
Also, if you've been waiting to hear the new Automatic Hotel CD, you can now purchase it atCDbaby.com!
Mike
Then October Leaves Fall (October 6, 2006)
And once again we say goodbye to Justin. I know I know, someone's got to nail that damn revolving door shut! I will be taking over Bass guitar and Brian will handle the guitar while we audition new people. So fear not! The gigs will continue without a hitch. For some of the shows, we'll have a very special guest on tambourine and backing vocals! See you at the show!
Mike
The Colors of October (October 1, 2006)
Hey kids! Here's a quick update of what's goin on. Automatic Hotel is very pleased to have Justin Davis and Brian McCallion back in the band. They're working hard getting all the songs down from the new album and having a great time doing it. The Hotel also welcomes new drummer Greg Severence to the Hotel universe. Greg is a graduate of M.I. and the dude ROCKS. We are now in the process of booking shows and we've made a big change on how we go about that. Instead of playing one big show every month, we've decided to book several small shows each month. It's more fun for us, less stress, and better prepares us for touring. We've made thousands of dollars for music promotors in the past, but now it's time to supplement our own incomes. Keeping a band together is very tough when you're also holding down a full time job, so every little bit helps. Our goal is for all of us to be making a full time living off of The Hotel by the time our second album with SDS Records is released. As always we are very grateful for the support of our fans. Our new CD is now available for purchase so get yours today! We hope to see you at the shows. Stay tuned because we're going to be listing all our shows through Decemeber. Rock on!
Mike
Albums and Live Shows (August 05, 2006)
The trouble with life sometimes is that things just don't happen as quickly as you'd like them to! The album, for a myriad of reasons, be it mastering, artwork or whatever, has taken far longer than expected, but I can assure you that they are being pressed as we speak and will be available any day now. The first place you'll be able to purchase the album is from sdsrecords.com. After that it will be available online anywhere records are sold including Amazon.com and every other major chain. At the moment we are beginning preparations for live shows and touring. Rehearsals begin next week! Keep checking back to get the list of upcoming shows. They will be posted soon. Rock on!
Mike
Spring en mass (May 1st 2006)
For the record, we did not take this day (May Day) off of rockin'. Here's what's been goin down on the Automatic Hotel front. We lost our rehearsal space before playing the Normandie gig in March and we've had some challenges finding a new one. Fortunately we had enough shows to keep our chops up. We had a kick ass show at the Dragonfly on April 15th, and although we missed many of our friends who were celebrating Passover, many thanks to those who could make it. We also celebrated Eliabeth Ann's birthday and kicked up a lot of dust at Jerry's Famous Deli afterwards. Good times! It's nice to see the Automatic Hotel community coming together again. Since the big "band mitosis fiasco", a few fans think they need to 'take sides'. Let me assure you that nothing could be lamer, except for the very intelligent and observant people who took my side. :D hahahahaha. Just kidding. Just remember that there are two sides to every story, and in this case, only mine is accurate. :D heheheheh. Okay, sorry... just having myself a good laugh there. I'll just say this; Do what you do, be you and we love ya anyway. (snicker) Geez, I'm really bad today.
So back to legit Hotel news. I've been informed by our label that the new album will be done being mixed by next Sunday. When I announced that the album was done before, I meant the actual recording of it. Hope that clears up any confusion. Once it's done being mixed, we'll have a week to listen to it and make any last minute decisions on changes, afterwhich it will be sent to the mastering house. The artwork will be simultaneously applied and we'll have ourselves a summer release! In the meantime, we are preparing for touring and we're having a GREAT time writing the next album.
The Nicholby's show on Saturday was definitely rockin' and I'm happy to report that our troubles with security have completely vansished. They were polite and helpful. The big dude who got in my face wasn't even there. We heard that he was fired, but this hasn't been confirmed. It was defintely a bit of work last night, at least for me, as I was still recovering from a pretty bangin' head/chest cold, but the club manager enjoyed the set enough to ask us for an encore performance on the main stage next Thursday. Hope to see you guys there!
Lastly, we're working hard to update our mailing list. If you're not receiving news of our shows, tours and radio performances, please email us right away on our CONTACT US Page.
Don't forget to check out our new PHOTO PAGE, where pix of the Nicholby's show (Thanx DeeDee!) have just been posted.
Mike
Well hotdamn howdy (April 7th 2006)
Hi kids, it's Mike again with another AMAZING news article. Okay, maybe not so amazing, but let's just hope it's at least mildly interesting mmkay? I'm going to cover three gigs here because I'm a little behind on the news. Thanx to everyone that came out and supported us at our last three shows. Normandie Casino was great other than the fact that it's in a terrible part of town and I almost had to use my Kung Fu when walking out to the parking lot. No, but seriously, music is my Kung Fu, so we're all happy to avoid the violence. It was so great to see some of the AH fans we hadn't seen in a while and I really enjoyed hanging with you excellent people in the hotel room afterwards.
Elsie's was a cool place where me and J (That's Jeremiah) grooved on the acoustic vibe. Thanx to Kat who sat right in front and cheered us on and drove an hour to get there. Wait a minute.. Bruce Willis is here.
Okay back, sorry. Anywho, tonight we played Nicholby's in Ventura. Man but I'm like shredded Mike right now. We had a real love/hate night tonight. Let me splain.. The bouncers were the most meat-headed jerks we've ever encountered. It was like Roadhouse II. I've never had to deal with such macho-man morons in my entire career in music. First of all there was like 6 of them and they could have handled the night easily with one or two, or none, if I'm being completely honest. What a waste of oxygen these guys were. Everyone who knows us knows we're nothing if not the friendliest band in the business, and totally professional, but these guys couldn't help but to bully Geoff for absolutely no reason. I won't go into details, but they were totally out of line. Then the largest security meatsack tried to pick a fight with me. Got in my face simply because he didn't like a question he overheard me asking someone else. By the way, the question was "why do you guys need so much security tonight?". I asked this is a pleasant and legitimately curious tone but this big meatface couldn't help but to get all up in my grill. Their antics continued after we played our show and we were escorted down the service elevator with our equipment with Mohawk Boy, the security wanker that started the whole mess. This guy, after all the trouble he caused, had the nerve to tell us "You guys were really good" and continued to compliment an AH song he liked. Well $@#% him. On a good note :) everyone in the audience really seemed to dig the music and man did they scream! I was kind of amazed because most of the people in there weren't fans and had never seen us before. Also, the management and the booker were very pleased with the set and asked us back for Saturday, April 29th. We had to make it clear that If we get the same treatment the next time, we'll have to walk. None of our usual 'Gig Report' writers were there so I'll just say that it was a great show, which is to say that we played our hearts out and we had a great time. Jerimiah and Geoff just completely rocked and it was way more intense than the Normandie show. Nice job guys. We got some new fans and we welcome you guys to the AH universe.
We've still got some great shows coming up this month so check our calendar and don't miss anything! Woo hoo!
Mike
2006 with a Fury (March 25th 2006)
The Automatic Hotel universe is definitely shakin' now! The album is done and we're just adding the art before it goes into production. I'm very proud of the album we have and can't wait until it's release. You'll be able to get it on all the major online stores, such as Amazon, and a few music stores as well. We'll be touring to support the album shortly after it's release and we'll announce the tour schedule here in a few weeks. In the meantime, we've got several shows booked in Hollywood, Ventura and Santa Barbara. The next few shows are listed on our Shows & Tours page. Thanks to everyone who came to our show at Normandie Casino with Stroke 9. We really enjoyed the awesome stage, sound and atmosphere! It was a perfect place to make our Los Angeles comeback. Check out some photos of the gig HERE We truly appreciate the support of our core fans. Thank you! We know this is going to be our best year so far. Expect great things.
Mike
Recording The Album (January 9th 2006)
Automatic Hotel has certainly been through it's trials and tribulations over the past two years, with emphasis on 2005, and all that drama has delayed the new album. But all the songs are written and the album is almost done! We have a final recording session this Saturday to record the last of the drums and bass. We've got two albums worth of music so we're going to have to make some decisions about what to hold for the next album. I am so excited about the new songs and wish the album was out right now so I could share it with all of you, but just a little more patience and it will be in your hot little hands! See you all at the next show! Rock on!!!
Mike
Automatic Hotel is back! (October 25, 2005)
Well, we made it back alive from our Portland tour! I want to thank everyone that treated us so well during the tour, making things very cool for us. A special shout out to Rev. Kate of KPSU Radio and Theresa of Porky's Pub. You guys rock and made all the difference for us. I'd also like to thank everyone that came out to support us at the LRS in Fresno, Especially Elizabeth Ann, James and Mother Kus for your hospitality. Gotta also thank my new band mates Jeremiah and Geoff. You guys rocked every show and made the tour a blast. Lastly, thanx to Dee for helping out so much with pictures, merchandise and all the etceteras. We'll soon be posting more news and tons of photos from the tour once I've recuperated a little. New shows and events will be posted SOON, and the new album will be released by December! Keep checking back!
Mike
Reap the Whirlwind! (October 10th, 2005)
Oi!!!!!! The messageboard is back! yay! Also, Automatic Hotel will soon be embarking on the Fall Mini-tour. If you're hailing from up North, then come check out the shows at Porky's Pub in Portland. If not, then be sure to tune in to the live simulcast of Automatic Hotel live on the radio on Friday, October 21st at 5pm. This will be the debut show for Bassist Jeremiah Robin and Drummer Geoff Haywood. We'll be back in town in a couple weeks and we most likely won't be performing live during NOvember and December as the holidays tend to be 'slow' for rock and roll, and we want to concentrate on finishing the album. See you all very soon!!
Where's the Message Board? (October 1st, 2005)
Hiya peeps! The messageboard is down for maintainence but will be back soon! Keep checking this news page for updated Automatic Hotel events and news. If your email has changed or you're not currently receiving the monthly newsletter, please send your email address to fans@automatichotel.com. You will never receive spam or be added to any other list. Ever. Keep on rockin!
Automatic Hotel Getting Airplay (September 19th, 2005)
Hey everyone! The Hotel has been getting airplay on various radio stations but most notably on 98.3FM in Portland, Oregon. They've been playing several songs from the Firefly CD and have aired the world premier of 'Road' which will be on the upcoming album. Mike also performed live on the air on 98.3, August 18th. You can download the whole show HERE! Automatic Hotel will be back en force on Friday, October 21st at 5pm, live on 98.3 Portland and simulcast worldwide on the internet. Check back for more details. A big thanx to Rev. Kate for putting AH on the airwaves. We want the airwaves baby!! Be sure to check www.sdsrecords.com for song/cd downloads and Automatic Hotel RINGTONES!! The Hotel is currently working hard rehearsing, booking future shows and recording the new album. VERY SOON you will again be Hotelisized to your little heart's content!! On a darker note, the Automatic Hotel fansite 'Dark Reverie' has inexplicably vanished from the web along with over 600 pictures of The Hotel live in concert. We're hoping it's just temporarily hanging out in some alternate universe and will be back soon, but if not, don't be blue. We'll move the Street Team to a brand new virtual location. If you're interested in joining the street team, let us know on our contact page. Or you can join the Fan Club HERE Keep checking back for new stuff!!! ROCK ON!!
AH is a Playland (June 8th, 2005)
Well, chalk up another amazingly cool weekend for Automatic Hotel and it's fans! We'd like to thank all of the awesome people who came to the BBQ and brought all the incredible sustenance. Thanx also to everyone who made it to our unplugged performance at The Joint. We're having a lot of fun doing those while we audition new drummers. And okay, I'm putting the cart before the horse here, but yes, AH is currently auditioning drummers! A big thanx to Shane for providing two years of backbeat for the Hotel. We wish him the best of luck with all his future endeavors! In the meantime, we'll be announcing our new member soon and we'll commence recording the next AH album! We've already got the entire album written and probably half of the third album by now. We've been pretty quiet for a while now, but once this album hits we're going to be very busy with touring and publicity. We'll be announcing our first tour schedule very shortly so keep checking back! If you'd like to read about the events of the prior weekend you can get the whole story HERE, and be prepared to laugh. By the way, if you didn't get the email about the BBQ, it's most likely because it ended up in a bulk folder somewhere. Just write to us at music@automatichotel.com and we'll remedy this for you. We want to make sure that you're all getting the invites, newletters and gig reports. Lastly, don't forget to join some AH fans in chat every Friday night around 8 - 8:30pm. Cheers!
Mike
Summer Update (May 30th, 2005)
Hi people! We hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. As you know, Automatic Hotel is planning an album release and subsequent tour very soon. Keep checking back as we'll soon have some dates posted. Justin and I are performing some unplugged shows in the mean time. Don't forget to check us out at the Joint this coming Sunday! Details on the Shows & Tours page. Also, thanx to everyone who came out to The American Legion Hall in Ventura to see our unplugged performance. We appreciate your support and we welcome the new fans who purchased cds! I think I enjoyed the following day's events even more than playing the show. (ooo sacrilege!!) As usual, the afterparty went all night long. The next day we all went to the beach. Perfect weather! Ya, we got a little fried, but the pain didn't set in until after we went to see Revenge of the Sith! That's right, our after parties continue to rule the afterparty universe. Good clean fun, man!!! I should also mention that the cafe where we all had breakfast together was really good. (hi-five myself). In other news, we still have the pending record deal for 3 albums. We've already almost written the second album so once the first one is released, you won't have to wait as long for the next one.
Site Updates
I've updated the Automatic Hotel font, among other things, and fixed the glitch today that still showed the old font on new messageboard entries. I didn't notice it was doing that until I read about the 'upside down cross' controversy on the messageboard. No more crosses of any kind! Just letters. yee ha! (hi-five myself again). Lastly, I've added another review to the Extras page. See you all at the Joint!
Mike
There are people passed out all over my house (April 23rd, 3:49am 2005)
Hi.
We played the Whisky tonight and I ripped the strings off my guitar. That's how rockin this show was mmmmkay? So if you weren't there, I'm sorry you missed out on all the debauchery. Somehow an afterpary showed up at my house and videos were shown of me lipsinking to U2's 'I will follow' at age 16. Also, Justin at age 15 doing his famous 'moron man' act that inspired a line of clothing. All in all there are people crashed everywhere. I'm in a sea of people. Let me tell you how good this afterparty was. The toilet overflowed so bad that it created a small fishing village out of the bathroom. But I enjoyed the experience. I'm going to put an add in the paper tommorrow for 'Rock Star Toilet Mechanic". I know I'm going to make a lot of money. Tonight at the show was so fun! Thanx to all our most awesome fans who showed up to support us and I'd like to say a big feck off (with love) to those who said they were going to be there and didn't show up, unless you had a really good excuse. ;) My mom was there! She was a little disappointed that I said the f-word in one of my songs but I explained to her that it's just art and I really only say F*** in one song. The reason I say it in that song is because it adds the feeling of anger about how F***ed up the world is. Mom said "can't you just say 'darn' or 'hecky'? or something? The song is good enough that you don't need the f-word! I said, yes mom but I only say it once and the kids get a buzz out of it when I say it. If you know me, I say it thousands of times a day in traffic. May I just take a moment to say that most of the people on the road are amazingly stoopid meatwads. I wish I had a horn that would not only honk at them but punch Them in the ear.
Mike
Automatic Hotel Will Sign Record Deal (March 23rd, 2005)
Hey PPL! Automatic Hotel has been offered a three album record deal with an independent label. We haven't signed yet, but we and the label are very excited about the near future. When the deal is signed, we'll make the official announcement and head into the studio to get our next album recorded. We are shooting for a Summer release, followed by touring. Thank you so much to our awesome fan base for all your support. Because of your love, encouragment, and dedication to promoting good music, we have come this far and we're going to go all the way! Keep checking back for updates!
Mike
Universal City Walk (March 22nd, 2005)
Once again, a million thanx to our awesome fans for coming out to support us on March 20th. It was great to see you guys again. We had an awesome time on stage perfomring our brand spankin' new songs for ya! Don't worry, I may have gotten a little too excited at the end, but my guitar (Emily) is okay and still in one piece. ;)
Mike
Rumblings of destiny (February 17th, 2005)
We know that The Hotel (of the Automatic variety) has seemed incredibly quiet over the last couple of months, but we've been heavily into the writing and rehearsing of our next album. Speaking of that album, we're going to have a very big announcment within the next few weeks so keep checking back! ALSO... we've booked a show for March 20th at The Hard Rock Cafe in Universal City Walk. We chose that day to accomodate our fans coming in from out of the country and it's an all ages show so the younger Hotel fans can rock out with us too! There are no tickets for this one, just ten bucks at the door. Check out the Shows & Tours page for more info. See you there!
Mike
Buzz for the New Year (January 29th, 2005)
HEY ALL YOU MANIACS! We have a lot of plans for 2005 so keep checking back for updates. We'll soon be announcing new shows, a tour schedule and of course.....the new Automatic Hotel album! We're really excited about what this year will bring. We'll see you soon!!
Mike
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (December 25th, 2004)
Ho ho ho people! We hope everyone in the AH community is having a great holiday. We wanted to let you know that we're really looking forward to the new year. We will be releasing our new CD very soon and we're planning on touring to promote the new music. We know it's going to be an exciting year for Automatic Hotel and we're grateful that you'll all be there to enjoy it with us. We want to thank you for all the support you gave us during 2004. Because of you, the most awesome fans on the planet, Automatic Hotel is going strong and will keep on truckin'. We've been through a lot of changes and evolution over the last couple of years, and as in the past, we will continue to thrive on our evolution. We plan on being there to share our passion for music with you for years to come.
On another note, thanx to all the fans that came out to support us at our last show of 2004 on December 18th. We had a great time! Thank you for your gifts and a special thanx to Caitlin for making the trip from Florida just to see Automatic Hotel! Our fans rock! We'll see you all again in 2005!
MikePost-Pandemonium Quiet (November 7th, 2004)
Automatic Hotel is taking this holiday season to rest, compose new music and prepare for recording the new CD. We will be in the studio sometime in the next couple of months. We might play a special show in December so keep checking back for updates. Happy Holidays and ROCK ON!
Mike
PANDEMONIUM PART II (October 13th, 2004)
Okay, I just woke up. Went to bed on October 8th. Hey, needed serious sleep after that last show!! I'll have to make this an ultra quick summary because too much happened at the last show and my fingers can't take the all the typing. Stage Manager Jason was NOT arrested for beating the tar out of the very drunk guy who tried to attack the band during Firefly because his girlfriend was standing at the edge of the stage crying over it while trying to get her top off which is not what pissed him off initially, but that's only a guess because we think it was when she wouldn't let go of Justin's pants for two straight songs which we think he enjoyed but it did, however, keep him in one spot and may have also had something to do with utter bemusement on his part at how 'emotionally taken' this girl was with him, at the chagrin of her very drunk boyfriend who, as a matter of fact, was the very first heckler we ever had, but again we say it was because of his girlfriend who apparently mistook AH for the Beatles or something, but we don't mind because his heckling only added to the crowd reactions, and was quickly shut down by Jason anyway, who, we think, enjoyed finally getting to be the security guard he appears to be especially because the offending dude was about 8 feet tall and 7000 pounds of pure motorcross so you get the picture, but that's not all that happened because the crowd was over-capactiy and when the manager of BB King's showed up at the front of the stage during one of our songs, whatever song it was escapes memory, but we thought he was about to shut the whole thing down, INSTEAD pulled his business card out of his wallet, held it up high in the air, then set it at my feet while we were still immersed in whatever song it was. Okay, that sentence had to end sometime. Anyway, it was a fun show. We were invited back to BB King's by the manager, next time with a better slot on a weekend. Then we can REALLY get into trouble. Thanx to all the new fans that signed up for the mailing list. Welcome to the hotel!
Mike
PANDEMONIUM!!! (October 8th, 2004)
Whoa! One of the biggest, craziest most insane rock shows we've ever been to, let alone played. Stay tuned for details here in the news section, but for now we must sleep for several more hours.
(AT LEAST)
Mike
Autumnul Hotelinox (September 29, 2004)
Thanks SO much to all our wonderful fans who packed the Hard Rock Cafe last Friday night! It was truly great to see so many of you there. You waited a long time for it! Aside from an acoustic show that Justin and I played two weeks ago, we've been off the stage doing a lot of writing and evolving in our sound during August and September. We played 3 new songs for you at the Hard Rock and there will be many more in the near future! We're looking forward to recording our new CD which will be released in a few short months. Don't miss our show at BB King's next week and keep checking back for upcoming performances this Autumn.
Mike
July: Powered by sheer venom (August 2, 2004)
Okay, so ya, we're a little behind on this news thingie, and SOOOO exhausted. I still owe a sincere thanks to all the fans that came out to support our Cat Club shows last month and everyone who came to the El Rey last Saturday. Wow, 4 shows in one month. That's got to be some kind of a record for us. We're going to take a break for a while, I'm sure you all understand! :)
El Rey Goodness
The El Rey show was a great experience. We tried something new on ya. (the intro to Sunnydale). That was only a small taste of the future, as we're planning to continue raising the bar on our live shows. So, we played the new intro for you then the lights blasted on as we launched into Sunnydale. Once the lights came up and I looked out into the crowd, I was in awe of how packed the entire theater was. There was a giant crowd all the way to the back bar. And the screaming of the crowd......my goodness but can you people SCREAM!! We were totally blown away by the support from the crowd. It is the most amazing experience. Need I say again the best fans on the planet? I don't say that flippantly. You all truly are the best. I'd also like to add that it was a pleasure performing with Powder. They are one of the best bands in existence and we are honored to have perfomed our third show with them.
New Music
Automatic Hotel will be taking a break from live shows through August and most of September to write and learn new songs for the next album and to add more versatility to the live show. We may be playing the Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday, September 25th at 10pm. This is still just a rumor however. :)
Mike
Rock rock rock! (July 8, 2004)
Damn I'm tired! We hit the Cat Club at the very beginning of this week and last night we headbanged and blasted our guitars practically to smithereens at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park. One of our beloved street team members, Yani, lives right there, 4 blocks from the club and yet she couldn't make it!! Next time, Yani, you're getting kidnapped. (muahahahaha). We've had some technical malfunctions over the last couple of shows, but these smaller shows are the ones to get that carp out of the way. (ya, I meant to say carp. It's a typo that comes up frequently in our chat room and I've taken a liking to it). Anyway, in spite of my blown up pedals and my broken string, we had a super-carplicious time bashing the shite out of our instruments. (thus the "carplicious"), which is a brand new word only invented seconds ago that we will all start using from this time forward, so sayeth the D.L. (don't ask.) Right now, we're having a lot of fun playing in your collective laps and it gives us a chance to really loosen up and enjoy the music. It's great fun at the big whopper shows too, but these dinky ones are virtually stress free, which is nice once in a while. It's also a total kick in the pants to be playing with The Drills, one of my favorite bands.
New songs coming... I've written 4 new songs over the last couple of weeks and I know that Justin has been writing like a maniac as well. I think he's got two ready to go right now that I can't wait to hear. I've already posted the lyrics to "Another Day Gone" which will soon be part of our set, along with all the other new ones. We're going to concentrate most of our rehearsal time to new material and get our new CD out to the fans as quickly as possible. We're very excited about the future, here at Automatic Hotel. ;) There's also news that we've been played on radio stations in various places recently but nothing has been confirmed yet. We'll let you know! In the mean time, keep supporting local music!
The Automatic Hotel Bug Squad This should have officially been announced in the news a couple weeks ago, so I apologize for my tardiness, but the Official Automatic Hotel Street Team has been formed and is being hosted over at the Dark Reverie website. You can get there by clicking the "extras" link above. A million and one thanx to Yani and DeeDee for all your hard work making it happen. We wish you the best of luck with your endeavors. Your success is our success! YOU ROCK!
Mike
What Happens in Vegas... (June 9, 2004)
Considering the rule about "what happens in Vegas" I am not authorized to write anything about it. Let's just say it was hot, it was fun and it was WAY HARDCORE. I gotta say thanx to Kirsten who drove all the way up from San Diego to party with the Hotel.
Upcoming Rockfest...
To make a long story short, we're kinda burnt out on the big whopper shows where we have to sell a billion tickets, and we want to have some fun! So we're going to play three rock shows in a row at the Cat Club with our good friends The Drills! Who are the Drills? Well, the drills have three things...Phil X, Lieutenant Dan and J-Bo. End of story. We WILL see you there. This is your chance to get up close and personal with Automatic Hotel. We will play a different set each night and we'll probably throw stuff at the audience. Please wear raincoats and bring cricket bats. If you don't like rocking hard and partying down like rock stars then PLEEEZE do not attend these shows. They will not be for the faint of heart. Click HERE for details. Whoo hoo! (horns up!)
MikeAutomatic Hotel bonfire! (May 26, 2004)
The very first thing we'd like to do is thank everyone that came to our show in San Francisco! Especially the 40 or so people at the front of the stage who screamed and cheered us on. You guys ROCK and you always make it so much fun. I'd like to send out a huge and gigantic thank you to Pepper for organizing our street team and promoting the show. Also for throwing us an awesome after-party at the beach. We had acoustic guitars, blankets, gallons of alcohol and a raging bonfire. What more could you want? We had a really great time with everyone. Thanx to Tatianna for running our merchandise booth. Much love! Thanx to Elizabeth for also helping to promote the show. If I missed anyone, please accept my humble apology and just know that my brain was mush after the show. So if anyone got missed, somebody please email me and let me know so I can update the news.
We would also like to thank Sweet Duration for use of their equipment and The Miggs for letting me use their guitar cabinet. You guys all rock! Also thanks to T-Roy for offering us the show and Trent for running it.
We had a great time performing for you all and we completely exhausted ourselves. I think two of us were even close to stepping over "God's electric fence", if you catch my meaning. We're glad that everyone survived. It was H O T on that stage, but we knew we were okay because we made sure we drank plenty of beer beforehand. ;)
Lastly, I'd like to say a gigantic
F*** YOU
to the Clarion hotel for being rude to us, and trying to charge us $24 a day to park at the hotel. Our rooms were prepaid and they never disclosed this fee to us. The rooms were not cheap to begin with. They pulled this parking fee out of the hat at the last minute. Hey, when you get a hotel room, you pretty much expect to be able to park at the hotel for free right? On top of that, their staff was truculent, ineffective and dull witted. What a rip off. So after staying there Friday night, we bailed on Saturday without paying the parking fee and they don't have our credit cards so they can't charge us. HA HA Jackholes!! (finger up)
MikeLook! it's pointing North! (May 18, 2004)
Automatic Hotel will be wandering the streets of San Francisco this weekend in an attempt to align the northern colonies under the Hotel banner. Uhm, well, I thought it sounded cool. Okay, we're going to play a big show in San Fran this Friday night and we're really looking forward to it. I'd like to thank Pepper, Elizabeth and the rest of our Norcal Street Team for handing out all those flyers, hitting up the record stores and basically dragging people's booties to the show. You ROCK!
In Other News- We've added a new page to our website! Check out the "extras" link above. We've got Fan Sites, Interviews and Reviews! Soon to be added will be Fan Art and web links. If you have any Automatic Hotel art you'd like to submit, or if there's another AH page out there somewhere, let us know and we'll add it to our site! Thank you so much to our fans who are out there creating. You make this all worth it.
Mike
Can't Stop The Rock (May 14, 2004)
Thank you to everybody that came out to our Whiskey and Viper Room shows! If you were at the Whiskey then you probably saw me lose my balance during "Doesn't Matter" while running full speed backwards and about to crash through a wall and break every bone in my body. I'd like to thank whatever dark power that pushed me back the other direction and kept me vertical. Drummer Jeff Barber of F6 was there and swears there was some evil force on stage helping out because as he put it "Dude, you were so going down! There's no way that was humanly possible". See what you guys miss out on when you can't make it to a show?? The Viper Room gig was a lot of fun for us and we're pleased that the two new songs "Coming Down" and "The Devil You Know" got such a good reaction. After the show we took about 20 fans over to the Key Club to see our good friends Powder for free! That's right, if you were hanging with the Hotel, then you were automatically on the guest list! We'd like to thank our promoter Sean Healy and the Key Club for the VIP treatment. Very cool. After the show we ended up at a small pizza joint on the strip. Had a good conversation with Kirsten and Jeremey who drove up all the way from San Diego, as they do for every show. Jeremey is about to be deployed to Iraq. We're sending good wishes with you Jeremey. Stay in touch!
Automatic Hotel on Tour We're heading North a couple times this summer for some rockin' shows. On Friday, May 21st we'll be performing at Slim's in San Franciso with a local SF band called Sweet Duration. We'll then be off to Vegas on Saturday, June 5 to bust the Cheyenne Saloon in Las Vegas wide open! We'll be performing with the popular Vegas band BentValve. Both these shows are all ages and there will be no end to the fun and debauchery. More info by clicking the Shows & Tours link. See you on the road!!
Mike
Official Statement (May 13, 2004)
I would just like everyone to know, categorically, once and for all and for the record, that Automatic Hotel does not condone, engage in, justify, dabble in, worship, or have interest in anything evil, dark, or Satanic. If you've ever watched cable shows about the 1980's, or you remember the heavy metal bands back then, you probably remember the gimmicks they constantly used to antagonize people or to just be contrary. Nowadays, 20 years later, I find that stuff really hilarious and not truly evil or threatening in any way. I joke about evil a lot and use it as a pun. For Automatic Hotel, it all started with the interview we did for www.whylive.com. The whole thing was in fun and was meant as a SNL type sarcasm, making fun of the throwback "dark" metal bands of the 80's. That said, You've probably noticed at all our shows that I make a certain "sign" with my hand to the audience and many of you do it back. To me, that hand sign means "rock and roll!" and that's it. It's just a cool audience participation thing that I do because it's so cool to have everyone do it back. You can call 'em devil horns or whatever you want, but I'm not advocating the devil when I do that. It started as a corny 80's joke in the beginning but it was so cheesy, it turned cool! A little background on that hand sign; It was a man speaking on a religious cable tv station back in the 80's that proclaimed it is the sign of the devil because it looks like two horns sticking up. He was trying to make a case that certain kinds of music is "Devil's Music". Well, I'm not saying anything against religious people or anyone's beliefs, but that guy was full of shizer, and by saying what he did, he made it even more famous, which of course made the metal bands do it more often to antagonize the man and his followers. I'm not citing sources here, but if anyone is truly interested, I'm sure it can be researched easily enough. In any case, that was a long time ago, and whenever you see me do it, it's rock and roll. Okay, maybe there are one or two people I wouldn't mind antagonizing. Like my 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Thomas who found out I was a musician and sternly informed me that my music was of the Devil because I was using a 4/4 beat! Well to me, the true evil in this world is ignorance, and I am defintely against that. To finish, I'd like to reiterate that we are not evil, and if you ever met any of us in a dark alley, you'd be safe! And we would probably quickly suggest getting out of the dark alley and to a well lit pizza place or something. Extra mushrooms please!
Mike
"They bought me a hat, the hat was awful rad. wore it every day, made my teacher mad. She tore it off my head, now my head's well read. My head gets cold at night sometimes, but I can't be mislead."New Stuff! (Mar. 3, 2004)
Automatic Hotel is currently writing and we'll be playing some of those new songs at our next show. The next show date will be announced soon and we're also planning on tours to various cities including San Diego, Fresno, San Francisco and Las Vegas in the coming weeks. Other cites may be added. We'll also be shooting a music video in the next few weeks so keep an eye on this website for the casting call! Lastly, the new Hotel web pages will be going live soon! You'll be able to get the correct lyrics for all the songs, plus we'll have links to reviews, Fanlistings and interviews!
Mike
Hence the rain... (Feb. 26, 2004)
Friday night at the El Rey was a great success for Automatic Hotel and Powder. The crowd was awesome! I can't tell you what a great feeling it is to have that kind of support on stage. Another big thank you to such awesome fans. We had no sound check prior to performing, but overall we were happy with the sound and we had an awesome time on stage and really enjoyed the crowd interaction. I love to see so many of you singing the lyrics!
After loading in, Automatic Hotel and it's crew walked over to IHOP so we could unwind a little before the show. For those of you wondering where this rain storm came from, it's all Justin's fault. He must have knocked that large glass full of ice water about 10,000 feet in the air. This is a guess though, based on the fact that it had time to do a couple of hundred aerial spirals before finally coming back down. I'm sure the waitress didn't mind all the water up her nose and down her shirt as she sort of looked a bit warm from having to make so many trips to the kitchen. It was spectacular. I never saw anyone take so much water in the face before, except when jumping into a swimming pool. We have not as yet ascertained the reason why Justin's arms were flailing all over the place like that, but we think he might have fallen asleep at the table then awoke suddenly from one of those torrid nightmares where a bass guitar is falling out of the sky and you have to suddenly reach up and grab it before it smashes your face in. Well, that's one theory anyway.
Thanks to Danielle for the cooler of drinks and all the heavy AH promotion. Also a big thanx to Danielle and Amber for the afterparty. Thanks again to Ariel for running the Merch booth! I'm glad you could actually watch the show this time Ariel. :) Lastly, thanks to Jason Huml for working as our Stage Manager!
Stick around everyone, a new show will be announced soon!
Mike
KEY CLUB MASSACRE! (Feb. 26, 2004)
Automatic Hotel, Powder and Ghost of The Robot packed the Key Club on Saturday, January 31st from the front door to the edge of the stage. What an awesome crowd! It's ususally a little tough to be the first band of the night, but when Automatic Hotel took the stage just around 9:30pm, the crowd immediately welcomed the band with open lungs! Hey, don't scare us like that! In a moment of fear, my head snapped around to find Justin because I thought he might have forgotten his pants or something....but no...lucky us, just a supportive crowd! ;) For the Hotel players, it was our best night ever. The band was buzzing with raw energy and the place was jumping with people getting into the music. From the stage, you can sometimes see the crowd collectively "swell" as a result of certain pieces of music and it's an awesome site. Thanx to everyone who helped make the night such a success. Especially the fans, who helped us sell out our entire supply of tickets, and the new fans, that practically cleaned us out of CDs! A special thank you to Ariel, for running the merch table, especially because she had to watch the show on T.V. Thanks to Hally and Danielle for the drinks and baked goods, and thank you to Sarah for the great pictures! If I left anybody out, somebody please email me and let me know. There are always so many people we are grateful to.
Mike
You screamed your friggin' heads off (Dec 8, 2003)
Automatic Hotel rocked the Knitting Factory on Saturday night.... or was it the fans that rocked the house? You guys were louder than us! That's just one of the reasons we think you are the coolest fans in existence. To the AH faithful and your black wrist bands...How cool is that! If I didn't have to maintain such a cool exterior I would have teared. Thank you. That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We loved rockin' for all of you and we had such a great time on stage. We sincerely regret being cut off one song early, but our usual production manager could not make the show, and the club got way behind schedule. In any case, we are adjusting our standard contract so this won't happen ever again. At future gigs, you can count on getting a full set from Automatic Hotel! We love you all and thank you for your awesome support!!
We're happy to report... that due to your intense loyalty as fans, Automatic Hotel recieved half a million hits to our website in October! We averaged 574 hits per hour! We were totally amazed by this. Let's kick it up to an even Mil!! Just keep comin' back to our chat room and keep posting on the message board!
The CD is hours away! We expect to see the first shipment between today and wednesday which means your pre-ordered CDs will be in your hot little hands by the end of the week!
Lastly, Automatic Hotel has signed a music licensing deal with SummerSalt Records, a division of EMI/Orpheus. So start listening in a few months for Automatic Hotel songs in movies, TV, and video games!
Don't forget to buy your Key Club tickets early as they are already being sold at a faster rate than we've ever sold tickets before. This show will sell out very quickly. Don't wait! We're performing with Powder (www.powdermusic.com) and Ghost of the Robot! (www.ghostoftherobot.com). My good friend Phil X is the guitarist for Powder and is one of my all-time favorite raging rockers. This man is not to be missed, not to mention the incredible talent of Ninette the lead singer, Alan the bass player and Wiley the new drummer. Add all that with the mojo of James Marsters and his band, and of course a little band called Automatic Hotel, and you've got one hell of a raging rock and roll show. See you there!
Mike
CD Release Party! (Oct. 24, 2003)
Automatic Hotel will be headlining The Knitting Factory Hollywood on December 6th and celebrating the release of the new CD! We finished recording 8 new songs this week and we've decided to go back into the studio next week to update and re-master a few tracks from the previous CD. So you'll have to wait just a little bit longer for your new Hotel CD, but you'll have more music to enjoy! We are working fast to release it very quickly. Come on out to the Knitting Factory on December 6th and celebrate with us! Mike
Oktoberfester (Oct. 20, 2003)
Well, it has been one hell of a weekend for Automatic Hotel. Felt like a rock and roll marathon! On Friday night the Hotel got together for a minature acoustic rave where we played acoustic songs, drank interesting things and watched top secret gag reels from a certain show we shall leave unnamed. Sorry for the cryptic news item here folks, but I am bound by my obligations as a musical agent of Automatic Hotel. Sleep was also not to be had on Friday night which meant that we really did look like a full blown rock band the next morning at the recording studio. In spite of our 'wretched' appearance, you will all be happy to know that we made excellent strides in furthering our new CD which will be released within days. After 4 hours of recording, and a quick 'brunch' at the 4'n 20, we headed straight to Oktoberfest 200blah blah blah, where we were promised a massive crowd of up to 2000. I'm not sure what happened, but apparently somebody lost one of the zeros. We should have known better, since this was right smack in the middle of the San Fernando Valley, a place not generally conducive to high end rock and roll. We worked hard getting all the equipment there, and in spite of our instincts to turn around and go straight back home for some much needed sleep, we opted to hold up our end of the deal, even though our big OKtoberBlahWhatever turned out to be the most rinky dinkyest of carnivals. By the way, I use such bad grammar, because an event that lame doesn't warrant proper English. Trust me. Still, in spite of a one or two bad tempered vendors and one very, shall we say, "massively anal rententive" event organizer, we were able to enitce some new fans into our fold while selling t-shirts, Cds and signing a few autographs. Welcome to the new fans! You join the ranks of literally the best fans on the planet. Let me add, The support we get from our fans is truly amazing and we are so grateful for all you guys. You guys rule, and we sing your praises. So off we went from Oktoblah carnival thingie, and tried to get a little sleep before Sunday. Sunday was easier...football and Viper Room. Aside from the cockiest stage manager in the world, in dire need of being kicked in the face, the show was fun and we really enjoyed performing for everyone. The sound guy, Frank, was awesome and mixed us perfectly. Frank sounded exactly like Ozzy Osbourne (without the slurring), which made him seem even cooler. Frank, if you read this, you rule. Thank you for your professionalism and your expertise. Your stage manager can kiss my ass, but you rule, and we love ya. Viper Room is a great venue. We'll be back...on a Saturday next time. Normally we'd haved played the weekend slot anyway, but we were filling in as a favor to our promotor. Thanks to those faithful that made the trip out on a Sunday night. Especially those coming from Norcal! Well, that's all for now kids. Stay tuned for the new CD. We're having a great time creating it, and we hope you'll enjoy it enough to keep it in your CD player for days at a time! Don't forget to check out the chat room. It gets really busy, and fun sometimes, especially on Wednesday nights around 8:30pm. The next show will be announced soon, so keep checkin' back! Mike
Oktoberfest 2003! (Oct. 03, 2003)
Automatic Hotel will be at Oktoberfest 2003! Admission is free! There will be a carnival and car show along with many other things to do and see. Automatic Hotel will play on an outdoor stage from 7pm to 8pm. Check out the Shows & Tours Page for more details about the event and to get driving directions. See you there! Happy Halloweeeeeeeeen! Mwahahahahahaha!
The El Rey Show (Sept. 28, 2003)
We would like to thank all our fans that helped make the El Rey show such a great success! You guys are truly the best and we appreciate all of you. We'd also like to say thanks to all our new fans that have been letting us know how much they enjoyed the show. We completely sold out of all our CDs and Tshirts, so we apologize for not having more for those of you who got to the table a little late. We'll have more CDs, Tshirts and other items for sale at Octoberfest on October 18th. We'd also like to say big thanks to Sean Healy Presents for putting us together with 'Ghost of the Robot', both for the El Rey show and House of Blues in July. I'd like to say to all the James Marsters fans out there that he is a very cool, down to earth guy and we enjoyed sharing the stage with him and his band. We'd also like to send out props to 'What Goes Around', who played just after us.
We'll see you all at Octoberfest in three weeks! Until then, keep checking back for more news and keep posting on that message board!Mike
Booked at The El Rey (Aug. 07, 2003)
Automatic Hotel will be performing at the El Rey Theater with Ghost of the Robot, featuring James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This show is all ages! Click Here to buy tickets online! We also recommend buying a CD online if you'd like to have it signed at the show. We'll have CDs at the show, but we may run out. There will also be Automatic Hotel T-shirts and Stickers! Get your tickets today as we have a limited supply. See you at the El Rey!
HOUSE OF BLUES (July, 22, 2003)
What can I say about the HOB show last night? It was a sold out show and the place was packed! We want to thank everyone that came out to support us. We had the time of our lives last night. I'd like to say a big hello and WELCOME to all of the new Automatic Hotel fans that are signing up for the mailing list and buying CDs. We appreciate all of you. More news to come...
Automatic Hotel welcomes new 4th member, Brian McCallion. (July 17, 2003)
Automatic Hotel has always had a very full sound as a three piece act, but we'd like to add more layers to the music which will give us a larger canvas to work with when writing. Justin and I have historically written songs with drums, bass, separate lead and rhythm guitar tracks, a keyboard track and 3 part harmonies, but when I put this band together initially, I wrote a 10 song set that would get us quickly playing in the pop/punk scene. I didn't really expect it to go as well as it did, but our success with these types of songs kept me from going back to a more layered and textured sound. For several months, Justin has been after me to get more serious about the writing and add those other elements and layers that we know are there, waiting to be played, but have remained absent due to the lack of a 4th bandmate. Also, Justin is very talented at creating harmonic layers and texture in his own writing which has been somewhat sparse due to our limitations as a 3-piece. But no more. Brian will be bringing a second guitar to the mix and we are in the process of adding new elements to our existing songs and writing new songs that incorporate the second guitar. The line between lead and rhythm will remain "fuzzy" for now and may actually stay that way. For our fans that are devoted to the current Hotel vibe, we're not going to drastically change our sound or genre; We'll still be Automatic Hotel, but with a wider spectrum of sound. Brian won't be joining us for the upcoming House of Blues show, but our plan is to have him integrated with our sound by the end of August. Welcome to the band, Brian!
Automatic Hotel booked at House of Blues! (July 08, 2003)
The Hotel will be opening for Ghost of the Robot, featuring James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We're very excited about playing this show as House of Blues is the pinnacle of Hollywood venues. We're also looking forward to performing with Ghost of the Robot. James has some pretty good solo mp3s on the net, so we're looking forward to hearing the full sound. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Buffy T.V. series, James plays a badass vampire named Spike. Spike is the only character from Buffy that will go on to a regular role in the series "Angel". For those of you that are Buffy fans, you definitely don't want to miss this show. Tickets at the door and on Ticketmaster are $20-$25, but you get almost $10 off for buying your tickets online right here at AutomaticHotel.com. Don't miss this show!!
