AUTOMATIC + FRANCIS PIG – DALTONS, BRIGHTON 12.11.25
It’s getting on for nearly 6 years since I last witnessed Automatic live in action and so was looking forward to checking out tonight’s set at Daltons which is a beach stone’s throw away from Brighton Pier. Tonight’s event has been collated by Acid Box promotions, who for some time now have had their finger on the pulse of the alternative scene. Automatic are purveyors of hypnotic post-punk grooves and electronic pulses, and that’s exactly the Acid Box vibe.
Automatic formed back in 2017 in the beating heart of LA’s DIY scene. The founders were Izzy Glaudini (synths, vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals). Their sound is darkly danceable as it is razor-sharp and they’ve shared stages with legends like Tame Impala, Parquet Courts, IDLES and not surprisingly Bauhaus, due to the fact that Lola’s father is none other than Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus. Clearly music was in her veins at an early age as she joined her first band, art-rock outfit Blackblack, when she was just 13. Halle and Izzy met playing in local bands in Northeast LA; Izzy was a guitarist and vocalist, and Halle liked to plug her fretless bass into a guitar amp. Uninspired by the masculine energy of the local scene and rock music on the radio, Izzy ditched the guitar for a synth, and she and Halle joined forces with Lola. They named themselves ‘Automatic’ after a song by the Go-Go’s – the only all-female rock band to have written and played instruments on an album to reach No.1 in the US. Izzy studied film at college and Halle used to work at cult video store Kim’s Video in NYC, and the band also counts film as an important influence on their music.
They released their debut album ‘Signal’ in 2019 and began touring internationally, opening for acts like the aforementioned Bauhaus. They made their way to Brighton and headlined at The Hope & Ruin on 11th February 2020 – review HERE.
Their second album ‘Excess’ was released in 2022. Wind the clock forward and the trio returned back to the studio and their new album, ‘Is It Now?’ dropped on Friday 26th September. Find your copy HERE.
In support of this new record, Automatic organised a swift 11-date UK and Europe tour. Amazingly, there are only two UK dates, tonight at Daltons and tomorrow at The Lexington in London, so we’re a lucky bunch and not surprisingly this evening’s bash is totally sold out. It’s really compact but it’s going to be fun!
The band takes to the stage and I immediately notice that Lola is missing and has been replaced by a bloke! Where’s she gone? She’s still showing as being a band member on their social media, so I wonder what’s happened? Has she left? Was she not available for this tour? Or was it passport problems coming into the country? Hopefully someone out there can shed some light on this?
Anyway, moving on…turns out the fella is called Troy – now there’s a cool name ‘Stingray’ fans – and he’s sporting a Front 242 t-shirt, so he has impeccable taste then. Thankfully I got to see them live at the tailend of the 1980’s and in the early 1990’s when they were at their height. Back to this evening and so the lineup is Izzy Glaudini (lead vocals, Moog and Sequential Circuits Prophet synths plus tambourine), Halle Saxon (Fidelity bass, vocals) and Troy on drums and Roland drumpads. We are in their company for 49 minutes from 9:32pm until 10:21pm and during that period we get 13 tunes.
Troy kicks off the set on his novelty transparent acrylic kit with ‘Calling It’ from their debut album and Izzy comes in with some dirty synth backing. The first of a handful of tracks from their new record comes next, this being ‘Country Song’, which thankfully is miles away from Country & Western, but it offers a synth sound not too far off vintage Gary Numan, with added female vocals atop. Izzy busies herself by flitting between her Moog and Prophet synths and just as we get into the groove it abruptly finishes, which caught many a punter out. For tune three, ‘NRG’ from 2022’s ‘Excess’ album, Izzy kicks us off with some Prophet action, whilst Troy gives us some rapid fire drum action and it’s like a speedy Numan tune and it’s the standout track from the first trio of tunes.
After this Izzy addresses the packed crowd for the first time with “Thank you very much Brighton. My fave city in the UK, no bullshit”. They then offload a couple of cuts from the ‘Excess’ album, these being ‘Venus Hour’ and ‘Turn Away’, with the latter having some notable Prophet synth action. The beat picks up with the arrival of the title track from their ‘Signal’ album, with its jarring electronic presets akin to the Flying Lizards cover of ‘Money’. There’s another newbie song with the arrival of the unusually titled ‘mq9’, but there’s a false start as Izzy can’t hear the backing track in her ear, but all is swiftly rectified and this disco beat tune gets a full airing. Izzy then informs us that the next song, ‘New Beginning’ off ‘Excess’, is about “rich people dying in space”. This has a slow start before jumping to a fast skippy B52’s style beat.
It’s the turn of two more cuts from their new ‘Is It Now?’ album, these being ‘Black Box’ which features some lines delivered in the vocal style of Grace Jones, with others in a higher pitched tone; followed by more Prophet synth action and skippy drumbeats on title track ‘Is It Now?’, which is a real set highlight for me. After a final cut from ‘Excess’, this being ‘Lucy’, they launch into the more immediate ‘Too Much Money’ from ‘Signal’ with its droning Prophet synth sound, along with handclaps. They sign off with ‘Mercury’ from ‘Is It Now?’, which sees Halle switch from bass to Moog synth and Izzy concentrates on the Prophet. I’m loving the double keys action as it not only looks cool but the funky sounds are terrific as well, it’s another set highlight. There’s no encore as there’s merch to sell, for which an orderly queue forms behind the rear of the stage. I hope it’s not nearly 6 years until I see them again!
Automatic:
Izzy Glaudini – lead vocals, synth, tambourine
Halle Saxon – bass, vocals
Troy – drums
Automatic setlist:
‘Calling It’ (from 2019 ‘Signal’ album)
‘Country Song’ (from 2025 ‘Is It Now?’ album)
‘NRG’ (from 2022 ‘Excess’ album)
‘Venus Hour’ (from 2022 ‘Excess’ album)
‘Turn Away’ (from 2022 ‘Excess’ album)
‘Signal’ (from 2019 ‘Signal’ album)
‘mq9’ (from 2025 ‘Is It Now?’ album)
‘New Beginning’ (from 2022 ‘Excess’ album)
‘Black Box’ (from 2025 ‘Is It Now?’ album)
‘Is It Now?’ (from 2025 ‘Is It Now?’ album)
‘Lucy’ (from 2022 ‘Excess’ album)
‘Too Much Money’ (from 2019 ‘Signal’ album)
‘Mercury’ (from 2025 ‘Is It Now?’ album)
Support this evening came from Francis Pig who are Brighton’s “Dirty little secret!”. Their lineup has now extended and they have become a quintet with the addition of a drummer, who has replaced the drum machine which previously has been operated by frontperson Alana Doyle. The lineup now reads Alana Doyle (vocals, tambourine), Henry Wickett-Padgham (vocals, guitar), Jacob Newman (guitar), Phoebe Feren (bass) and new boy Christopher Hallen (drums).
Thus far they have unleashed a trio of singles to an unsuspecting world and once seen never forgotten! Their image, sound, and I guess ethos, is an amalgam of punk rock DIY attitude, which is channelled via the energy of Alana, who is very much inspired by the strong women associated with the genre, including punk priestess Jordan Mooney, (who Alana met at a gig at the Concorde 2 before the icon’s sad passing) and New York’s Lydia Lunch who Alana has seen performing live. I suspect that Poly Styrene, and Ari Up (Ariane Forster), Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Romero), Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt aka The Slits are in the mix as well. There’s the edginess of seedy sex clubs about them too, which is reminiscent of Soft Cell’s ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’, an electronic sound that is thankfully incorporated into the Francis Pig sound. There’s also the added chaos and unpredictability of Alana’s live actions which remind me of famed US duo Suicide.
Henry Wickett-Padgham on the other hand brings the retro coolness of The Velvet Underground, The Jesus And Mary Chain, with an added smidge of The Horrors to the table. It’s almost as though they were in different bands, but amalgamate Alana’s and Henry’s heritage together and you joyfully arrive at Francis Pig, who have the look plus the sound, and I suspect more material in their armour waiting to be released.
We are in their company for 32 minutes from 8:30pm to 9:02pm and in that time they dazzle the packed house with 7 compositions, commencing with the yet-to-be-released ‘Honey’s Money’, which commences with an echo guitar intro and develops into a slow chugger. This segues straight into the more immediate ‘Obscene Dream’ debut single from last year, which repeatedly carries the aforementioned “Dirty little secret” lyrics. Drummer Christopher has the opportunity to shine here and lead the others along with his beat. That’s the punters ears sorted, but our senses are being drawn to our eyes as Alana starts to get into her stride and those in the front row are being stalked as if she was a big cat, no-one is safe! The large chain decoration around her neck is taking a pounding and at some point during proceedings does partly break, but is thankfully retrieved.
Cleverly, the lighting is held at solid red throughout the whole performance, which adds to the eroticism of the set. The unreleased ‘Like It Like You’ sees the lead vocals switch to Henry and it’s here where we receive The Velvet Underground vibe with some guitar action to boot. Alana meanwhile utilizes a tambourine, whilst relative newcomer Phoebe holds her bass-station and summons her innermost Siouxsie. There’s more gritty guitar action and solid drums as they offload their ‘Sex Talk’ single, which witnesses Alana in full flow, as she repeatedly screams “Let’s all talk about sex baby” as she crawls off the stage on her hands and knees, only to return to the stage and writhe around on the floor for their longest tune. Is it art or a theatrical performance? Possibly both, but we get the message and the punters show even more enthusiasm.
There’s more sexual tension on offer with the arrival of their ‘Daddy Said’ single, after which they perform a new tune, this being the slower choppy ‘Supertrash’ which features some more solid drumming. They then sync into their final offering, the unreleased ‘Who’s The Junkie’, which has a much faster beat and Jesus And Mary Chain style drumming. I’m liking this one a lot! Next single please!
So in essence….they came…they played…they conquered!
You can catch Francis Pig live in action in Brighton when they headline the Green Door Store on Thursday 18th December, and they’re bringing along likeminded souls Solid Pleasure as well as U Men. Yes I know it’s a week before Christmas, but the venue has taken this into consideration and thus it’s a free entry concert with the doors at 7pm. Rude not to go I say!!
Francis Pig:
Alana Doyle – vocals, tambourine
Henry Wickett-Padgham – vocals, guitar
Jacob Newman – guitar
Phoebe Feren – bass
Christopher Hallen – drums
Francis Pig setlist:
‘Honey’s Money’ (unreleased)
‘Obscene Dream’ (a 2024 single)
‘Like It Like You’ (unreleased)
‘Sex Talk’ (a 2025 single)
‘Daddy Said’ (a 2025 single)
‘Supertrash’ (unreleased)
‘Who’s The Junkie’ (unreleased)
