The Valley of Bones got hold of Massachusetts own Automatons...

And actually made it out alive!

 VOB: Good evening and how is everyone?
Automatons: good for being undead
thanks
VOB: very nice.. Could you please tell me where you're from, who's in the band, and what does each person do
Automatons: we hail from Mortville, Mass. We have Andy Von Automaton on vocals, Mark the Machine plays guitar, Matt the Cleaver on Bass Guitar, and Bobby Bones on the Human Skins

VOB: how long have you been together and is this the lineup that's always been in place?
Automatons: We've been together for a little over a year. Our original bassist Shaun Von Rose had to leave due to his family relocating. He was the bassist on Cemetary Reign EP. Matt joined our band about two months ago.
VOB: have any of you been in any other projects before being in The Automatons?
Automatons: No real projects. This is the first real project for all of us.
VOB: that's interesting, having heard some of the songs i would have expected experience from other bands
Automatons: We're all so different in music background that when we play together it just works.
We all have had years of musical experience just not with bands.
VOB: awesome... are you self taught, lessons, how did you get involved in music?
Automatons: Andy Von learned his vocal range from the dark croons of the devil and the howling of werewolves, Matt the Cleaver learned how to play Bass from pluking the tendons of corpses, Mark the Machine learned how to play guitar from the screaming souls of the unholy dead, and Bobby Bones learned how to play the drums from his VooDoo priest father
VOB: oh my
Automatons: it's all true
VOB: well, that IS a rather wide range of background.. how did you get the name "The Automatons"
Automatons: the name The Automatons came from a 50's horror sci-fi story. The Automatons were killer robots that were sent out to destroy amd annihilate all that is human,
VOB: that sounds intriguing, so what are your influences, i notice you have a very old school "original" Misfits sound(danzig era)
Automatons: hell yeah we are heavily influenced by the Misfits as a group, but seperately we are all very different, and that all comes togther for our original sound. Mark the Machine adds more of a 80's metal Iron Maidenish guitar influence, Bobby Bones is influenced by the Ramones and The Clash, Matt the Cleaver was influenced by the Misfits, and Andy adds a 50's croon with a Danzig/Billy Idol sound
VOB: it does my heart well to hear your music, the sound and everything, because it doesn't seem to be as "psychobilly" as the current onslaught of "horror punk". but that's my opinion, how would you classify it?
  how do you feel about the current horror punk situation in the united states
Automatons: We consider ourselves Horror Punk but we don't pigeon hole ourselves into a genre. We just write music that we think sounds good and it just comes to us. About the current horror punk situation...we think that it's great there is a resurgence of horror punk and punk itself. We don't like when bands claim to be "Horror Punk" and sound like a bunch of whiney bitches.

We love playing music and spreading horror punk like a virus.


VOB: have you seen or heard anything about Horror Punk over seas, or in Canada or Mexico? how do you think the other countries accept the music?
Automatons: Myspace has been great for us because we get fan/friend requests from people in Portugual, Spain, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, the U.K., and we just received a message from a radio station in Brazil who said that they had played our music over the air and the people loved it and they said that people were calling in and requesting to hear more of our music...so it seems to be pretty well accepted around the world.
VOB: Wow.. sounds like you've got some good promotion going on. Do you do anything beyond Myspace.com for promoting the band and shows?
Automatons: We have a website, but it's under construction... www.masshorror.com We just received a sponsorship from hotpicksUSA (monster collection)...www.hotpicksUSA.com...they're promoting us on their website as well.
VOB: great! how many releases do you have?
Automatons: just the one EP right now, but we are looking forward to recording another one real soon. We have a lot of new material that we need to record.
VOB: are you on a record label?
Automatons: No. We are currently looking for one.
VOB: wish you luck on that. on a more technical side.. what kind of gear do each of you use?
Automatons: Mark the Machine uses Crate GT 1200H Half Stack and a Epiphone Les Paul Special Edition Guitar. Matt the Cleaver uses 1200 watt Behringer Bass Half Stack and a Squier Precision Bass. Bobby Bones uses Pearl Drums, Sabian Cymbols, and 5B drum sticks. Andy Von uses Shure microphones. Mark and Matt use HotPicksUSA Monster Collection Picks.
VOB: how was your EP recorded? digital or computer recording? what did you use to record?
Automatons: Our friend does recordings. He recorded us for nothing. He used digital recording equipment. We're not too sure on the type of his equipment. We recorded that EP in 5 hours after only being together for 3 or 4 months in our band space.
VOB: wow.. that's awesome.. do you feel that friends and home recording studios are helping underground bands get more exposure?
Automatons: oh definately...most underground bands don't have the money to put out a professional recording and it's too bad because there are a lot of great bands without the means to record their music.
VOB: does Andy write the lyrics or is it a group effort? and what do the lyrics generally express?
Automatons: Andy Von writes most of the lyrics, Mark the Machine writes all the riffs and then we all get together and finish the writing process.
The lyrics mainly express all aspects of horror and death
for example the song, Grave For Two where Andy Von writes how he caught his ex in bed with another man so he had to kill them both...therefore Grave For Two
VOB: that makes sense.. how do you feel about bands that voice their beliefs in music, whether political, religious or dietary?
Automatons: They can do whatever they want to do, but we don't believe in putting politics and other beliefs into music because we think it turns some people away from the music. They could really like the sound of a song and dislike it for the views that it expresses, unless the beliefs are in necrophelia and killing girls hahaha
VOB: *Pause to regain composure*
VOB: do you have any tours planned? does the current economic situation with gas prices and the like put a damper on that?
Automatons: gas prices and us having full times jobs puts a damper on any tours right now. On weekends we'll go out to Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, new Jersey, New York, and Pennslyvania until we get a sponosorship or record deal, and we can make this our full time jobs.
VOB: why do you do what you do? what are your goals, short term and long term, as a band?
Automatons: We love playing music and spreading horror punk like a virus. Our goal is to be able to make this our living and Matt the Cleaver's goal is to take a shit on our own tour bus.
VOB: hmm.. is that on a tour bus that has a lavatory... or to sit on top of the tour bus, and release his bowels, for the rest of the band to clean up?
Automatons: as long as it our tour bus
VOB: wow.. remind me and i'll send some TP

Automatons: thanks buddy
VOB: do you have any advise for other indie/underground bands that would be reading this?

Automatons: just keep rocking, stay tight, don't give up, and go KILL!
VOB: do you have anything you'd like to say, something i didn't ask that you're just dying (even tho you are undead) to say?
Automatons: not that we can think of

Website- MassHorror

Myspace Site- Automatons