The Automatic: "Don't Mention 'Monster'"

'What's that coming over the hill? Er, let's not talk about it...'

Some new bands would think they'd made it if they discovered one of their first hits had become a terrace anthem - but not 'Raoul' rockers, The Automatic.

Come Saturday afternoon, footy parks up and down the country (well, Spurs' White Hart Lane and Cardiff City's Ninian Park) sway to the refrains of 'What's that coming over the hill. It's Pascal Chimbonda/Michael Chopra' to the distinctive tune of the band's first smash, Monster.

However Automatic keyboard player Alex Pennie, whose band are sitting at no 30 in the charts this week with 'Raoul', says it doesn't impress him much.

"I'm not the biggest fan of football, I class it a waste of time," he told MTV.co.uk. "Do I get a buzz (from hearing footy fans sing our song)? Not really. Is it horrible that I don't? I don't understand the amount of passion that goes into (football) for for what it is."

And the ivory tinkler says the band's monster smash (geddit) has actually become something of a weight around the band's necks.

"We don't want to be (known as) that band who do 'Monster'. It's not that we're tempted not to play it on our gigs though. We still enjoy playing it live and it's the one that gets the massive reaction out of people, so we try and do different mixes to give people a fresher view of the song."

The band's subsequent hits, 'Recover' and 'Raoul', have peaked at Nos 20 and 30 repsectively after 'Monster' made No 5, but Pennie is not fazed, "I think there's pressure on us from our record lable to get another top 5 hit, but, and I know this might sound really adolescant or whatever, I don't really care if we don't.

"I didn't start doing this to be in a massive pop band; record sales are just pound signs and figures. I'm just glad we're getting more people coming to see us play gigs."

Just don't mention the footy...

'Raoul' is in shops now.

SLJ

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