MUSIC INTERVIEW: AUTOMATIC LOVELETTER

Vocalist Juliet Simms and Her Guitar-Playing Brother Tommy Play A Little 'Truth Or Dare'

 

At it’s heart, Tampa, Florida’s Automatic Loveletter is a family affair–lead vocalist Juliet Simms and her guitar-wielding big brother Tommy (joined by drummer Ryan Metcalf and bassist Ckint Fowler) have spent much of the past three years stomping around the country on the Warped Tour (amongst others), running up more than 10,000,000 plays on MySpace and negotiating the landmines of the modern music business. Juliet and Tommy sat down with Buzzine in the Hollywood Hills to chat about their music, their struggles, and some life-changing experiences…

 

Stefan Goldby: Give me the background of the band. In some ways you’ve been working on varieties of the same songs for three years...how did it all begin?

 

Juliet Simms: The band started five years ago when I was living in California and was signed to an indie label, and I wrote and recorded an EP that MySpace featured. This is before you had to pay for it. They featured me on the front of MySpace for about a week, and I started getting 60, 70, 80 thousand listens a day and I was like, “What is going on?” Major labels started calling and next thing you knew, I was out touring record labels, playing for presidents of almost every major record label, acoustically in their offices, all bright lights, people on the Blackberrys...she-bang. I ended up signing with Epic Records. I didn’t want to go under my name. I really wanted to put a band together, and Tommy had always been writing with me, so we’d always done shows together growing up. He helped me write my first songs, helped me with my first EP... From there, he just started touring with me and the band formed. We went to three different record labels, three different records, like shit hitting the fan. So many barriers to overcome, sleeping in cars...

 

Tommy Simms: Now everything fell into place and we’re on Sony Japan, and we have a great band, great team and everything, finally.

 

SG: Having overcome those parts and gotten to one of the fun parts--making the record--what stands out to you most in your mind about making this record?

 

TS: I’ll give you a defining moment. There are probably many defining moments for this record, but one that we’ve been talking about lately...we have a song called "Fade Away" on the record, and it’s actually about a car accident that we got into and almost died. It was a terrible car accident--we wrecked the car, totaled it. She had just driven her car across the United States from Florida, been here for two days with it, car gets totaled. We were in the middle of writing the record and we just went straight to the studio and wrote "Fade Away," which is about not dying--dancing around crashes and not wanting to fade away. Perseverance.

 

JS: When I was recording the record, a really defining moment would be when we recorded "Story of My Life." I felt like it brought all the songs, because the record is very different and songs are not the same [genres], I would say. It’s very dynamical and rollercoastery, and "Story of My Life" had a little country to it, and a little bit of the verses are a little bit country, but then the chorus is very rock. After recording that song, I felt really excited about the record. It was like the third song in, and I just knew the record was going to be awesome. It was just a moment, one moment in the studio.

 

SG: For every artist, for every band, the writing and creative process is different. It’s kind of fraught and complicated to start with, so how does inter-family stuff play into that? Do you guys start as a brother and sister, or do you start as bandmates and write together?

 

JS: It gets jumbled. 

 

TS: It’s hard. The easiest it, when we’re writing together, is when there is a third person writing with us because we bicker. “I want my part there.” It just gets petty if somebody else isn’t there. So when we were writing with Kurt Schneider, it was great to have him there, on top of the fact that he is an incredible musician and great songwriter. But I don’t think I approach it as a brother--more as a peer.

 

SG: Looking at the finished album, what are you most proud of?

 

JS: There are a lot of records out there right now where every song is kind of the same core progression. You have to listen to it 100 times to finally be like, “Oh, I can tell the difference between this song and that song.” I feel like this record really accomplished being able to listen to a song one time and knowing the difference between that song and the next song on the album. I felt really happy about that. And it’s kind of an appetizer of what we can do in the future as a band. "Heartsong" is completely different than "Hush" or "Story of My Life," but it all flows together well and you can take it to different branches of music.

 

SG: Is this a good moment to have a little perspective looking back? I mean, obviously you haven’t had the easiest path here. Has it ended up being a good thing for the music? "Hush" is a whole kind of blank-slate approach to that song. How do you think that’s impacted the way it is on this new record?

 

JS: As opposed to the way we recorded it prior?

 

SG: Right. It’s obviously unusual to go back and just completely… What made you take a second bite, and what is it that you like about the way it turned out?

 

JS: I feel like it’s more radio-friendly now. I want to be on the radio. Why lie about it? I think "Hush" deserves a chance as a single, and it was only on EPs.  I think the song is too good of a song to be like, “Okay, that’s done now.” I want the whole world...I want it to be a heartbreak anthem. I want it to be on the radio. I think it could be. As I got a second chance, I want to give "Hush" a second chance.

 

SG: The music in the studio is one thing, but when you come out of the studio, what happens in rehearsal? What is it that transforms the music into what it is on stage?

 

TS: I think what we do that differs, that makes our live show different from the record, is we...not necessarily cut corners or anything, but we rockify the songs. There is a way to perform in a studio that you perform on a record--the precision, the perfection you put into it, and the finite details you don’t want to pay attention to live. You just want to be up there and be a showman on top of also executing the songs. So what we do, personally and with the rest of the guys, is we make them into rock songs live. We’ll ditch the little riffy thing here. As long as we’ve got her singing in front of us, we can really do whatever we want, as long as it’s dynamic enough to keep up.

 

SG: What would make for a perfect night on stage?

 

JS: A little bit breezy--not too hot, not too cold.

 

TS: Guitar full of perfectly tuned instruments. All her pedals set up right, her in-ears perfect.

 

JS: Maybe buckets of cash set up around the stage?

 

SG: Or maybe afterwards the cash...

 

JS: On stage and off stage--I’ll take both.

 

TS: I love playing outside at night, to tell you the truth, when it’s nice out and there are a lot of kids there. It’s a really cool feeling.

 

JS: Unless you play outside and it’s so cold and you can’t even play your guitar because you can’t feel your fingers.

 

TS: It’s better than Warped, though, out in the sun. There’s nothing romantic about that.

 

SG: At least they change the set time every day so you have no idea…

 

JS: We didn’t really have a different set time every day. We pretty much had 5:00.

 

TS: We had two or three sets--it was like changed between 3:45 or 5:00. We were on a stage that had a Battle of the Bands that lasted until 2:00 every day, so we never had to open or anything like that.

 

SG: It makes for a more pleasant performing environment, but you didn’t get those days when you would be done at noon and just start drinking...

 

TS: I would always start drinking at noon anyway.

 

JS: I wouldn’t.

 

SG: The onstage part is awesome. That’s why you tour, but that’s one hour out of 24. What do you guys do the rest of the time?

 

JS: We sleep, we eat, we get coffee, we pee.

 

TS: We do things in the van that keep us entertained nonstop, whether it’s Mad Libs...we all like TV shows. We like to listen to stand-up comedy late at night, especially when it’s time for everyone to shut up and just coast.

 

AL: We do sing-alongs. We get a lot of sing-alongs going at night--someone whips out a guitar.

 

TS: Anytime we pass a Whole Foods, we have to go to it.

 

AL: I love going to the grocery store. If I find a grocery store, I make them take me to one every day, I love being there. 

 

TS: It’s crazy how much she loves grocery stores.

 

AL: Whole Foods is awesome because they have such unique and locally grown organic stuff, and I like cooking and I don’t really get to cook on the road.

 

TS: I have this picture of her sitting outside of a gas station. She’s sitting down, she has a Bunsen burner, a frying thing, a bowl... She sat on the ground and fried herself some food up, made herself a salad and then put it in the Tupperware and jumped back in the van.

 

AL: I don’t like to eat fast food!

 

TS: She does like to, all of a sudden, open a can of tuna fish.

 

AL: Sorry, it’s going to happen.

 

SG: Sounds like you need a new rule in the van.

 

AL: No, the rule is just accept it…

 

SG: When someone sees you guys live for the first time, hears the record for the first time, what is it that you hope they walk away with?

 

AL: Either they see us live and say, "I’m going to buy this record now," or they hear the record online or their friends show them it and then they’re like, "When are they coming to our town," and they come to our show. Either way, I want them to go toward us, whether it’s in paper or in person.

 

TS: I want people to walk away going, "That was a real band I just saw." There have been so many times that I have walked away from stages and shows and gone like, "I don’t believe you. I don’t buy it at all." We have a girl singer, but it’s not a gimmick. We’re a rock and roll band that happens to have a singer that is a female. I want them to walk away with that taste in their mouth: "I believe, I buy all of that passion, the way they play." It’s not a gimmick.

 

AL: Thanks for one-upping me, man.  

 

SG: Can you talk about your corner of the web, your site, your MySpace stuff, the online portion of what Automatic Loveletter is?

 

AL: The online presence of Automatic Loveletter has been around for a while and it’s helped us so much, immensely, with street teamers, fans, MySpace... MySpace is a really big part of the band getting out there. Twitter has helped a lot. Facebook... The Internet has made it so easy to get your music out there and to get new people listening to you.

 

TS: That’s the best and worst part about it.

 

AL: Exactly. It’s also saturated.

 

TS: Now we have this influx of ridiculous bands and it’s like, who are you on this tour? Oh, you’re another MySpace phenomenon. The thing you notice more and more at the shows is that the fans want to interact with you. They want to feel like they’re part of it. They want to feel like they know you. And that’s what is cool about Twitter--we can comment throughout the day on what we’re doing, and for the avid followers, they can know what we’re doing step by step. She tweets like 40 or 50 times a day. They know when she’s peeing. You know where she is if you follow her on Twitter.

 

AL: I think it also gives us the opportunity to read, like if somebody writes back to you and you’re like, "I’m going to respond to you." You actually talk to them.

 

TS: They love it. The whole social media thing is a cool thing, but we see MySpace as borderline useless now. It was great, it launched us, it’s done so much for us, but there are so many bands on it. It’s slow. There will be one after another--there will be another social network that will come out that will help make it a little easier, so it’s more and more you have to stand out and shine.

 

AL: That’s the key now. You might sound good on a record because there is so much technology, but if you don’t sound good live… It’s sad now when I hear, "They could actually sing live." As a singer, shouldn’t you be able to sing live? Like...what? So that’s what I’m looking for.

 

TS: I’d really like to just stomp this live autotune crap. It’s okay to have idiosyncrasies in your live show--that’s what gives it character. It’s okay to sound vulnerable. We don’t need to sounds like a synthesizer. It’s so obvious and painfully lifeless.

 

AL: I blame Cher. She ruined it with her [sings] “Do You Bel-ie-ee-ve in lurve after lurve...” [Laughs]

 

TS: She totally did.  

 

SG: The other downside of the Internet is all the rumors. Are there any rumors at this moment that you’d like to clear up or counteract?

 

AL: Alex Gaskarth and I are not dating or engaged. He’s a buddy of mine. His girlfriend is a very good friend of mine.

 

TS: Sierra and I, from VersaEmerge, are not dating and we don’t have a kid together.

 

AL: I’m not a slut.

 

TS: This is true.

 

AL: I’m really prude, and I don’t care if you think I was too naked in our music video.

 

TS: I’m so over hearing these things. We know what we were doing there.

 

AL: What else? There’s one more, I know.

 

TS: Ryan Metcalf is not in our band. Just wanted to say that.

 

AL: Yes, he is.

 

TS: And Joshua is not in our band.

 

AL: But Parker is about him.

 

SG: Finally, can we talk a little bit about the video for "Heartsong"? What you remember about that day?

 

TS: I remember getting to the warehouse where we were shooting at like 7:00 a.m., and they had a bottle this big of whiskey for us. That’s all that they got us. There was food and drinks and stuff, but as far as personal things... The director was kind of into us continuing to have a little sip here and there. Nobody got drunk, but everybody was very loose and it made the whole process easier.

 

JS: It was very much getting into ourselves a little bit more--just made it opening up a bit easier.

 

TS: Especially when you’re playing a song 350 times in one day. You need some help to continue to look like you’re enjoying it.

 

JS: Whether it’s Jack or Jameson or Jimmy or Evian...

 

TS: The four wisemen. The day was so tiring. The director would yell "Cut" and we would fall. Just collapse.

 

JS: Thank god there was a bed.

 

TS: Yeah, she was on a bed. They were taking my shirt off between every take. I had a denim button-up on so you could see every ounce of perspiration. One of the runners would have to hold it up to this fan for like 15 minutes and dry it off, and then, "Let’s do it again."

 

JS: And then the next day, nobody came with me to Joshua Tree. The first day, I would get some breaks here and there when they were shooting someone else, but this was literally an 18-hour day. They picked me up at 4:00 a.m., they drove out to Joshua Tree, hair, makeup, so beat from the day before. And then shooting all day long, all the different scenes. There were so many scenes they cut that I had to do that you didn’t even see. We finished up at like 10:00 at night. By the end of the night, I was so happy to just get back to the hotel and stare at the wall. But it’s fun.

 

TS: There is something to be said about Chad because he took us, and in 48 hours he shot an entire music video on 8mm film. The guy is a music genius. He pushes the people he works with, not too hard, but hard enough. It was incredible working with him.

 

JS: He pulled out a really good rock video. You watch "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or Fiona Apple’s "Criminal" or the Foo Fighters... We wanted to pull together that timeless rock vintage video.

 

TS: And make a statement with it too. It’s a staple for us. We’re real. I don’t care if you’re bummed out that she is…

 

JS: I wasn’t naked in the shower.

 

TS: But she’s a grown-up. She’s allowed to get a little…that’s as far as it can go.

 

JS: My parents were hippies. It’s just a natural state.

 

TS: My Dad watched the video. He loved it.

 

Automatic Loveletter’s new album, 'Truth Or Dare' is out now on Sony Music Japan/RED.