Have Mercy is the kind of music that played in the dark and grimy automotive shops of my childhood.
Think of any Hard Rock band you can imagine the stereotypical bogan listening to as they strip back an engine on their front lawn; I’m talking Acca Dacca, Sabbath, Led Zepp, G N’ R, “Smoke on the Water”.
The These Automatic Changers experience is all of those untouchable greats mixed in a reverberating granite pot, broken up by chain gang style Work Songs and Blues worthy of Robert Johnson.
There’s no pussy footing around here. The band know what they’re doing, and when they do it, it’s hard and unrelenting and with a stomp inducing driving rhythm.
The attention to subtle details like the album starting with the sound of a needle running along a 33rpm makes Have Mercy feel like a relic from that golden era of rock and not a tribute to 70’s Cock and Blues Rock or a song of this generation played in the style of our forefathers.
Have Mercy isn’t available yet, it’s slated for an October release, but in the meantime you can find the links to the singles on the These Automatic Changers website (http://www.theseautomaticchangers.com/).
There are also a couple of album release parties coming up. By the sound of the record, I imagine the band playing live is one hell of an experience. Check the link for more details (http://www.muzic.net.nz/news/4252/these-automatic-changers-have-mercy-album-release).
The sound of These Automatic Changers comes from everywhere and nowhere - it carves a crudely drawn map and embarks on a aural road trip through the shallows of blues music; from 70’s inspired satanic blues, chest thumping Neanderthal rock tone to swaggering proto-swing sneer straight from the archives and catalogues of any vintage and retro lover of rock music. NZ Musician Magazine called them, "Psychedelic, dirty, ‘come get some’ rock..."
Wal Reid from premiere NZ Blog Music Nation referred to their debut album as "heading back in time in a hot tub time machine to the dirgey 70's but the band has a great original sound whilst using the guitar sound and riffs of those bands of old"
Somewhere between these countless shows, line-up changes, an ever evolving sound and a lot of miles in the underbelly, These Automatic Changers have finally found their way. Oct 2014 saw the release of their debut album Have Mercy. The agitator distorted Ampeg bass sound, the edgy early Sabbath swing, the raw unfetted stoner-blues rock guitar tone, T.A.C. makes for powerful listening.