The Queen's Hall, Narberth, has secured The Automatic to play there on June 3, prior to performing live the following day on Top of the Pops. Said Ashley Calvert, of the Queen's Hall: "In essence, this is huge news for us with the promise that if we sell out the gig more bigger names will follow. "This is massive news for us and means putting the Queen's Hall securely back on the gigging map." The Automatic (pictured) are four teenagers whose songs are route maps to escaping the humdrum life of the small Welsh village of Cowbridge. Growing up on the edges of Cardiff, they started playing together in primary school using sofas and five string guitars. By the time they were 16 and staring at a future that said get a job or go to college, they knew making music was the antidote to,'the automatic life,' says Iwan. "When we came up with the name The Automatic, the irony of us escaping that life, of not doing what was automatically expected of us meant a lot to all of us." Rob, Pennie, Iwan and Frost recorded some rough demos and soon attracted the interest and rapid signing to their management. The band then spent the second half of 2004 in rehearsal studios in Cardiff working on new material before starting gigging around the South Wales scene. In May 2005, they went into studio to record demo versions of 'Monster' and 'Rats' with producer Richard Jackson which caught the ear of happening independent label B-Unique Records. They caught the band in June at Cardiff Barfly and, having been completely blown away by the show, a whirlwind romance followed and in July, a deal was signed. By October, the band were on the road with The Ordinary Boys and Hard-Fi, while their Ian Broudie produced debut single 'Recover' started making waves with critics and fans alike. They then returned to Wales for a week of dates with the Goldie Looking Chain boys, before settling down to write tracks for the album. Taking only a brief break for Christmas Day and a sell-out live show at Cardiff Barfly on New Year's Eve, the band launched into recording the album with Richard Jackson (60ft Dolls, Crashland, Super Furry Animals) in Cardiff and Steve Harris (U2, Kaiser Chiefs) in Liverpool and Lincoln. With the album safely recorded the band headed out on the road with The Kooks at the start of the year before embarking on their own UK headline tour. A third single and the album will follow together with more UK dates in June and festival appearances in the summer.
