Hello Rob from The Automatic.

Hello, Slashmusic!

Your band name is The Automatic - is that a cheeky reference to S Club Juniors’ seminal hit, ‘Automatic High’?

Ha ha! No, I didn’t think of that.

Why, are you mad?

Perhaps. We were called White Rabbit, but there’s a rap group in the US called White Rabbit and we weren’t going to mess with them!

Are you afraid of being punched?

Yeah. We flitted around and all agreed to be called Automatic.

Your single ‘Raoul’ can also be pronounced ‘rrowl like ‘growl’ instead of your preferred ‘Raoul’ like ‘roll’, can you ‘rrowl’ like a lion?

I'm not sure I understand the question, but yes. Rrrraw!

Did the inspiration of the song come from that noise?

Ha ha! It’s actually inspired by the guy who makes sandwiches for us. He's called ‘Ra-ool’.

But Rob, in the ‘Raoul’ video, the sandwich man wipes his nose then carries on making the sandwich. Do you think he’s giving the real Raoul a bad name?

It possibly gives the wrong impression of Raoul. The real Raoul is very clean and uses cloths when he makes sandwiches.

Good to get that sorted. Now, Ian Broudie produced your album. Did you for a split second panic and think, ‘Arrrgh it’s the Moors Murderer, Ian Brady’?

I’ve never even thought of that. That’s quite scary. I could start circulating that rumour though.

Your website claims that when you started, you played with sofas. How?

We started when we were 12 or 13 and couldn’t afford real instruments. So we got some drum sticks and used an inflatable chair which makes a kind of beat-y sort of noise when you hit it.

Will you ever revisit that early sound?

Maybe we could go a bit left field on the 5th album - give it a bit of the old Radiohead...

You’ve just been on The Friday Night Project with Trisha Goddard, what would you appear on Trisha for (if she hadn't been cancelled)?

Having a spat with another band. Humanzi, definitely.

Would you take them down?

Yeah definitely! Their bassist is only small. He’s like a leprechaun!

You could whack him in the bollocks with your inflatable chair!

Yeah. Get the inflatable chair, whack them with it and then attack them properly. It's the only language they understand!

Excellent work, Mr Rob from The Automatic. Thank you.

No Slashmusic, thank you!

Watch Automatic videos