Automatic Lover update with Uriel, Brett and Joey B. Banks on Max Ink Radio

Maxine Concific Media, we are local music

that is automatic lover and Helena.

That was your number one most played song

in 2024 on Maxine Media.

Radio is bravo.

Crazy.

Hey folks, how you doing?

Welcome to Maxine.

Original local music from Wisconsin.

I'm joined in a studio here tonight

by three awesome people from automatic lover.

We got Brett here, we got Ural, we got Joey B. Banks.

Gentlemen, good evening.

Welcome to Maxine Gradio.

Thank you, thank you so much.

Thank you for stopping in tonight.

Hey, let's talk about automatic lover

because you all were a band that exploded on the scene

last year here in Madison.

And we love it.

Basically, Atwood Fest was kind of the main big show

that where everybody, that had a better

great experience for you.

Get up on stage on the Clyde Stubble field stage

and see the sea of people while you're performing to them.

Yeah, it was a great time when we worked really hard

to get up to that point.

We had only a couple of shows before that.

You were hot.

You was really hot.

It's always hot at night.

Right.

I was melting.

Ural, what do you guys work it on these days?

Automatic lover, what are you cooking for 2025?

We have some shows coming up.

We are playing actually Thursday.

It's Thursday and February 8th at Gamma Ray here in Madison.

And we're going to talk about that show with more in detail

in just a couple of minutes.

I understand you guys might be writing

and possibly recording some new music soon.

Yeah, actually, we are in the middle of some recordings already.

However, we are making some new tunes with our new drummer,

which is Joy Banks.

And then...

And what was that like in the search of the new drummer,

what was the search, how did Joy be Banks

at Automatic Lover connect?

What was that story?

Well, we needed a drummer to fill in for Atwood Fest.

And our last drummer had some other things going on.

And Joy worked out great.

He learned the songs like it was crazy.

How quickly he learned the songs.

And then we had a couple more shows after that that he filled in for

and then the other original drummer couldn't do it anymore.

So we asked him and thankfully he said, yeah.

We were meant to be because I think we asked like 10 different people

and all 10 different people.

They mentioned their first top like choice was...

Joy Banks.

Joy, the music is definitely in your wheelhouse.

You had to be pretty excited to join this band.

Yeah, actually the music was obviously a big part of joining the group.

The Latin aspect of it and the fusion, Latin fusion aspect of it.

The Latin funk and pop fusion.

There's just a lot of cool styles that I don't get to do with anybody else.

That I get to do with this band.

And it's real fun, energy, it's original, which is great.

It's great to be in an original band and do original music that people love to hear.

It's got great energy and songs are well written.

And I love playing with these guys.

Who else is in the band and what do they do?

What's the line up of automatic rubber right now?

We have in Saxe, Nick Bartell,

Trombone, Jamie Campbell,

trumpet, Mike Bowman,

keyboards, Matthew Reif,

guitar player, Shannon Galligan.

Here with us, Brett Farrie,

but Farrie, on bass,

Joy, the Banks, drums, and myself, Yuri Lopez, singing.

And you bring one heck of a strong stage presence at a...

Yes, I know so.

I've seen you guys play it three times.

And that's the part about seeing automatic rubber.

It's because you bring the shoulder to the front.

You don't play a musical instrument on the front,

but you do sometimes.

I'm going to be playing guitar in a couple of songs and some percussion,

minor percussion, but that's it.

That's new, isn't it?

Yeah.

We're going to be doing that soon.

He's not giving it all to you, right?

He's saving some, you know?

He's quite an instrumentalist and musician, so...

Yeah, we have a few, like, plans going on

and putting some, like, maybe some

turntables or something,

or like a scratching DJing and the live shows.

Let's see.

Yeah, for the EDM segment.

That's the ever-important EDM that brings in kids in, right?

Joey, how many drumming projects are you in now?

About 14, 17?

Yeah.

Well, yeah, I would like to preface that my answer

was saying that everything I'm doing, I love doing,

and I'm only doing what I want to do.

So with that said, you're living a life, yeah.

Yeah, it's great to Steely Dane.

Obviously, my bands, the funky JBs,

and the JB-3s, automatic lover, play machine.

Still hanging onto the thieves.

We're still hanging in there after 40 years of being a band.

That group would probably be doing a couple shows this summer.

Nice.

Really good.

And I'm in a Jimmy Hendrix tribute with Dennis Shepard

from Steely Dane called Up From the Skies.

No kidding.

We're actually playing this weekend.

Who's playing guitar?

Dennis Shepard.

Really?

Dennis Shepard in Kurt Bauer in Todd Fipps.

It's a quartet.

And we do four albums of Jimmy, material.

No kidding.

And yeah, this is our second time playing

at this pet school brewing company on Saturday,

up in Manitawak.

So I'm in Ashkash with Steely at the Grand Theater Friday,

and then scoot up to Manitawak on Saturday to play with them.

What's the name of the Jimmy Hendrix?

Up from the Skies.

Up from the Skies.

The music of Jimmy Hendrix.

Like that.

I got to check that out.

Yeah.

It's a cool song, too.

It's a song.

It's a song played with brushes, actually.

It's a real cool little jazzy kind of tune.

So check it out.

Love Hendrix.

Definitely check that out.

And another band is brand new that you're

doing.

We're going to talk about that in the show.

We're also going to play a song from play machine

in just a couple of minutes.

Now, this is a new banjoey of yours.

Talk about this.

It's really a collaborative producer

effort that I'm doing with Brian Liston.

So we're both writing songs together.

And the bulk of the tunes that we've

been performing recently are mostly

songs that he's created and allowed me to drum on.

But it's just a duo.

And so we do a lot of produced music.

And I have the headphones on with the click track going.

And the sequences are going and backing tracks and stuff

like that.

But it's, again, really real fun, original music that kind

of bridges has a wide range of, it's more like art pop

meets EDM, basically, because we do all of it.

And like, oh, go ahead, sorry.

And it's original.

And again, it's fun.

We do a little video segments behind our show, too,

because Brian has a big video head.

He's a video, well, his studio is a sound end video studio,

clutch studios.

So the mighty clutch studio, we're

going to play the song Blanket here in a couple of minutes.

And this is brand new.

It has it in, it's not officially released to it.

Yeah, does it?

It's released.

And there's a video that goes along with it that's on YouTube.

You can check out.

But yeah, it's been released.

And play machine, any plans to play some EP's

or get some albums rolling here soon?

Yeah, actually we're working on some original stuff right now

and definitely working on trying to get something released

soon, within a year.

Awesome.

And in the meantime, automatic lover and play machine,

your guys are playing a few shows together.

The one you just mentioned, you're all

is Saturday, February 8th in Madison here at the Gamma

Ray Bar.

Yes, not Thursday.

Saturday.

Saturday.

He's in the neighborhood.

Just up the hill.

That's a great little venue.

Have you played there yet or not?

Not yet.

It's going to be a were first time.

I haven't played there yet.

I played there with Gabor Duas, actually,

for his Christmas homecoming, so the day after somebody's

heart attack.

Oh, yeah.

That's our rockers.

I arrived with those drums on the stage still

from the night before or something.

That had been a little awkward for you.

Because you would rock or go way back, you know?

Well, yeah.

Yeah, we go back a few decades, a few decades, just a few.

So anyway, that show was happening Saturday, February 8th,

at the Gamma Ray Bar.

That's going to be a fun show, automatic lover,

play machine, anybody else on the bill for that one?

That's just us.

It's just us.

And we've been, you know, for me, it's two new bands

I'm playing with.

And a drum set up is similar in music electronics.

And it's kind of a hybrid kit with electronics

and acoustic mixed with both groups.

So it's kind of cool to have that opportunity

to play with both bands.

And kind of we're both kind of getting out there at the same

time and trying to develop a fan base

and get people to our shows.

So it's kind of really a new beginning for both groups.

I think it's been fun just supporting each other, too.

Yeah, absolutely.

We're both doing original music and just having a great time

doing it, so.

That's all about us having a good time.

And I appreciate, personally, I'll

appreciate the original music.

And then a month later, March 7th, you guys

are head down to Chicago, playing at Regis down there.

Yeah, great venue with Chicago.

And bringing the dance party to Shy Town.

Yeah, I think, well, I book bands

and I have relationships with some venues.

So I just kind of try to push what I believe in

and what I want to do into those venues.

And also, it's getting some Madison representation

in Chicago, a stream of Madison artists

into that venue specifically, which

is a pretty high-level venue for Chicago.

It's hard for Chicago people to get

in that venue, let alone people outside of the 125-mile radius.

So yeah, we're going to play there.

Hopefully we can have a regular quarterly kind of thing

going on there and then expand from there.

But yeah, Regis is a super cool.

We're playing in the music shack.

Nice.

And yeah, if you're in Chicago, you want to take a road trip

and come check out some Madison bands in Chicago,

but in Chicago venue, get a hotel, hang out,

hang out the Navy Pier, go to some shop.

You can make a whole weekend out of coming to see a show.

The music vacations by Joey Bebex, I love it.

Joey, it's great to see you.

Thank you so much for coming in and sharing your stories

with us.

We appreciate you.

Thank you, Jimmy.

It's always a pleasure to come on the show, for sure.

You're all great to see you again.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations on all the success with automatic lover.

Thank you so much.

Brett, it's great to meet you again here at the studio.

Yeah, you too.

Appreciate you guys coming in.

Let's hear blanket.

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