Start Listening To: Drastic//Automatic
We had the chance to speak with Drastic//Automatic, punk pariahs who bring forth themes of pandemonium, hysteria, and satire in their art.
Since the release of their debut single, A Smash Hit for the People, in May 2022, the Sheffield-based punk trio, Drastic//Automatic, have been steadily accumulating a devoted fan base. Harnessing an atmosphere of breakdown and disorder, their songs are an anthem for the dystopian anxiety of our times. The band have since released two more singles: Bluetooth and The Cup Final, both accompanied by music videos that capture their distinct sound and concept. With a sound that comes from the depths of Sheffield's concrete jungle, Drastic//Automatic have certainly made a name for themselves.
How does the music of your band reflect the dynamics of the members?
My lyrics serve as an outburst of whatever thoughts, critiques or anxieties are preoccupying my mind within the time that they are written. I rarely sit down with a pen and paper with the intention of writing a song. The process usually involves spontaneous observations of my surroundings and my current frame of mind, which I then transcribe into rhymes. For instance, the lyrics for Bluetooth were written first thing in the morning during a claustrophobic day within the pandemic. Like many others, I felt a palpable sense of reliance on technology for social contact and mental stimulation during this period and needed to express my fractured frame of mind. I don’t really think too much about what the words mean and focus more on how they sound. Focussing on how the words sound and fit into the song as opposed to what they mean usually results in meaning becoming apparent. ‘Extract, Syntax, Cut Copy and Paste’ - I still don’t know what syntax is, but it sounds computery and technological, and more importantly cool, so it fits the theme of the song. Writing words allows for me to make sense of my thoughts and serves me as a form of self therapy. Often this will resemble rambled observation of my current situation, because I’m trying to make sense of my place world as a twenty-something citizen, while my surroundings rapidly evolve and things progress and stagnate alarmingly. It’s all a bit of a madness at the moment, don’t you think?
When I was eleven, I started learning guitar. After receiving a few introductory lessons at school, I quickly became frustrated with the instrument and gave up with it for a period of time. As I got older and developed a closer obsession with music, I started to play again using YouTube tutorials and attempting to mimic songs to my own accord. Not receiving much formal tuition allowed for me to develop a style that resembles the sounds that persist within my head, which I transcribe disjointedly and obtusely within my own capabilities as a guitarist. I have always struggled to comprehend music theory and fight the sight of music notation repulsive. I prefer to replicate the themes and moods that occupy my psyche within my own capabilities.
When me and Benji first started playing music together, almost seven years ago, I didn’t have much understanding of dynamics within live performance, as I had only really played music by myself up to that point. When we first started jamming, we would play senseless, volatile noise that had little melody or structure. The only way that I could hear myself sing would be to yell intelligible vocals as loudly as I could, which subsequently became my vocal style as we progressed musically. I am a shy person, so shouting and screaming allows for me to explore this alternative frame of mind, a sort of shadowed subconscious. And it’s fun.
How do you create and develop your songs?
During the early days, frantic anxiety and polish lager fuelled our rehearsals. A riff or a beat would enter the realms of our practice space, a rusty, dusty and most definitely crusty room within a crazy rave cave in Sheffield called The Night Kitchen (R.I.P.). We would just play whatever came to mind on our instruments until something clicked. I constantly write things on a continuous notepage on my phone, which I would then scramble to through and emanate vocally. Writing this way has allowed for us to explore different styles of performance, because we don’t feel limited by trying to adhere to a set concept or method. Much of a track is written within the first session of it’s conception and we then revise our individual parts over many months.
At times, this period of revision can really test our sanity. Our upcoming single, The Finish Line, was first drafted in late-2021 on one weekday evening. Benji had built a fuzz pedal out of a Golden Syrup can, which Chris was using for his bass. Something happened with it and it stopped working midway though the rehearsal. When I touched it, I received a minor electric shock and my brain must have conducted some of that syrupy, fuzzy energy. The riff was written almost instantaneously. However, the process of finishing The Finish Line took many wrong-way, right-way, long-way diversions and disruptions before being finished. I wrote the ‘Where Is The Finish Line?’ during a break at a terrible job I was working in April 2021. The rest of the words remained unfinished for over a year, a blank state within my brains backlog that constantly nagged me. I would improvised nearly all of the lyrics when we would perform the track live, which was kinda jokes looking back at some of the footage, but I still felt unsatisfied with how we were presenting the track. When we recorded the instrumental in October 2022, there were no vocals and I continued the grueling struggle with finding the meaning of the track and it’s climatic phrase, until our last show of 2022. Sheffield legend and close associate of the band, Soph, mentioned that our music is for people who feel like they’re running out of time. That was a moment of epiphany, the final piece of the puzzle, providing me with the incentive to write the remaining lyrics. It was torturous experience finishing up this track, but we’re proud of what we’ve produced and hope that people can relate to some of the imagery that we’re proposing.
The writing process remains largely unchanged since we first formed in 2020. Recently, we have spent some time writing new material, something we didn’t do throughout 2022 as we were focussed on launching the band and performing as much as we could. We still feel a shared musical energy drawn from the catacombs of our creative construct. The only thing that’s changed this time round since our last writing period is that we are now more capable with our instruments and we are much more self-aware of the style that we portray through our sound.
What do you hate right now?
Sheffield City Council’s insistence to decimate art and cultural spaces within the city. Logo on the foam. People who litter. Synonymous social media scrolling within pubs and cafes. Wetherspoons. Franchised films.
What do you love right now?
Creative flow within the early morning. Green spaces and green vegetables. Herbal tea. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The Five Pound Munch. Spongebob Squarepants seasons 1-3. Drinking on trains. The Moor Market. Shane Macgowan. International football tournaments.
What’s been your most rewarding experience as a band?
The crowd carnage. People feel compelled to mosh at our shows.
What message do you want people to take away from your music?
Drastic//Automatic is a vortex for carnage. We fuel the anxieties and frustrations that lurk within the catacombs of the soul, throwing fire upon the brain’s senses through senseless sonic soundscape. We want people to feel something visceral from our music; to analyze their evolving surroundings, to question social values and abject pattern trends infested within society by the corporate elite.
Who are some of your musical influences?
The music of Modest Mouse has had a persistent influence within my own artistic vision for over a decade. Their second album, The Lonesome Crowded West, opened my eye to alternative songwriting methods; the desensitised social attitude towards the corporate heist of the natural landscape. Isaac Brock’s knack for volcanic vocal cadence and non-linear guitar playing had a profound influence on me as an aspiring artist during my adolescence. As of recent, I have been revisiting their discography after learning about the death of drummer Jeremiah Green and have since rekindled my love for their music.
I have always been drawn to music that sounds imperfect or written within limitation. Punk and Hip Hop fit this criteria and I have largely gravitated towards artists within these genres when looking for inspiration. During the pandemic, I had a period of chaos surrounding my living situations. Memphis rap fuelled my anxieties, frustrations and the overarching social abstinence I felt at the time. The lo-fi grade of many artists such as Tommy Wright III, Playa Fly and Three Six Mafia matched the absent frame of mind I felt during this period. Much of the early material we wrote was written at a time where I would listen to Memphis rap endlessly, drawing from the deprecating themes these artists, amongst countless others, proposed through their music.
Throughout university, I was exposed to an array of dance music, most notably bassline, as this was arguably the dominant form of independent music within Sheffield for a number of years before the pandemic. I’m useless at mixing, but I could channel the pulsation and rhythm that I felt from hearing DJ’s perform at various parties and venues through guitar. Much of our music resembles this structure, because we want to convey a sense of addled hypnosis through rhythm and repetition.
Other notable influences included Elliott Smith, King Krule, The Clash, Danny Brown and Show Me The Body, to name a few. I am constantly searching for new music and new sounds, so that I can continue to innovate musically. It is arguably the fundamental component for writing. You can’t write new things if you aren’t listening to new things.
Could you tell us about one of your most memorable shows?
My equipment has broke at several of our shows. I have had to borrow guitars from audience members at many of our shows and it always makes for a unique performance as I feel like I’m playing the songs in an entirely new way. Audiences have come to anticipate something breaking at our gigs. During a show in Nottingham, one of guitar leads snapped off of my pedalboard. I invited Mickey Nomimono, provider of mayhem, on stage to scream senseless phrases to the audience alongside me as a replacement for a guitar solo. Our shows are episodic in the sense that no performance is ever the same and anything can occur.
The first show that we ever played was on 1st February 2022 at The Washington in Sheffield. This was the first time that I had ever performed music in front of an audience in my life. It was quite the madness. Bodies and pints launched into the stratosphere from within the first minute. All expectations were overachieved and this fuelled our desire to continue stirring up chaos at our subsequent shows.
We headlined our second show, a riotous single release for A Smash Hit for the People at Dryad Works in Sheffield. The turnout was much larger than we had anticipated. During the encore, for which we played our rusty rendition of ‘Where’s Your Head At?’ By Basement Jaxx, I recall a wave of carnage, with a sea of crowd surfing bodies occupying my hazy line of sight. It was a vibe.
What do you think the future holds?
We want to break new grounds. To challenge and defy expectation, through means of sonic insurrection. The more places we see, people we meet, knowledge we gain, possessions we acquire and sounds we absorb, the further our creative repertoire expands. Drastic//Automatic is synonymous with progression.
