The Automatic Year

In April, 2007 a local group of Orange County musicians met up and decided to form a new project shortly after their previous musical endevours had come to an end. The first direction for the band was to go with a agressive rock sound but, after a few music listening sessions between Dave Hall and James Diaz, the two agreed to take the music in a different direction. One that followed the ways of their influences and would be more accessible to a wider audience. After a number of auditions with male singers, the boys entertained the idea of including female vocals. Mandie Becker soon found herself mixed in with a group of people from very different backgrounds but all possessing one common goal... to share their music, their hearts, and their years with as many people as possible. Around the same time at a social gathering the group was introduced to Ian Russel, who the band soon discovered was a skilled bassist. So naturally they had him try out and soon enough he was a permanent addition to the group.
The Automatic Year was formed.
The band started off writing all original songs with extreme diligence and attention to detail. Progress continued during practice and at the studio recording their two song demo in June of 2008. At practice the band continued creating and perfecting their songs for a upcoming series of shows in Southern California. This is when the group began searching for the right person to take over responsibilities of our second guitar spot in the band. After meeting up with many talented guitarists and seeing what each of them had to offer we were excited about Billie Miranda. Billie brings to the band a whole new dimension in songwritting and musical prowess.
Every musical creation is a bit different from the next with the help of their diverse individual influences. The sound of The Automatic Year is identified by James D's writing abilities to combine dreamy and melodic guitar work, Ian's driving & catchy bass lines, and Dave bringing a strong clean sounding beat reminiscent of his influences, Erin Tate, and Chad Sexton. This solid sound paired together with Mandie's lyrics of poetically told tales of life, love, and coming of age with influences coming from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), and Monique Powell (Save Ferris) helps create a full sound that does all the members efforts justice.
With everything in place and the band going ahead at full speed, the fans can expect to see more shows, more recorded songs, EP, and a full line of merch ready to go in 2009.