Crimson Moon: How did the band get started?
Nate: Well I wouldn’t really call AutomatoN a “band”, haha. I’m just one guy doing everything. AutomatoN was started in mid-2016 as a filler project in between writing for my other band Isolated Antagonist. It became much more than that though. It became my life.
Crimson Moon: What kind of music do you play?
Nate: It’s hard to label it. I would call it cyber metal / sci-fi metal / industrial metal.
Crimson Moon: How has the band response been?
Nate: It’s been great! It’s getting more and more response and more fans. Way more than I expected it to be. It’s been a positive response.
Crimson Moon: Where did the band name come from?
Nate: Long story short, I love the idea of robots and mechanical things so I was looking at alternative names for robots and Automaton came up.
Crimson Moon: Introduce the band members
Nate: Just me (Nate Exx Gradowski)
Crimson Moon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Nate: All me, haha.
Crimson Moon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Nate: It comes from me being bored and trying to create stories in my head. I’m a huge sci-fi nerd so I thought about a concept of robots or automata being mistreated by humans and therefor rebelling against them for justice. Kind of like the movie iRobot but a different plot and world.
Crimson Moon: How many albums/CDs have you released?
Nate: Four albums for the main story.
Crimson Moon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Nate: It’s tough trying to explain just a few songs because the whole album is a concept, and a continuing story. The opening track “Sub Coma” deals with a crew member on the ship, which is where the album takes place. This crew member is recording himself speaking into an audio recording device to log what’s going on about the automata going out of control, and how it needs to stop without destroying them. It’s mostly all dialogue stuff throughout the whole album. “As The Ship Burns” deals with the ship exploding in space, which the automata have set the self-destruct sequence to kill the humans. Everyone dies except one lone Automaton, who just floats out into space (does it die? I’m not telling – haha).
Crimson Moon: Do you have any side projects?
Nate: Yes – many, haha. I have my main band Isolated Antagonist, and my other solo projects Quo and Demise and Domination. Quo is my progressive metal project while Demise and Domination is just straight on industrial death metal. I’m also working with an aggrotech/industrial band called Man Made Horror, and I’m doing the guitars for their upcoming album.
Crimson Moon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Nate: My biggest influence before anything metal is Little Richard and 50s rock and roll. When it comes to metal and industrial, it ranges from Fear Factory, Gary Numan, Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Geoff Tate era Queensryche, Sybreed, and Sepultura.
Crimson Moon: Which current bands?
Nate: I’m really loving this band Mystic Syntax. As for other current bands, I don’t know really… That’s tough because there isn’t any current bands that really influence me to the point of writing material.
Crimson Moon: What is the band like when you play live?
Nate: I don’t play live yet anyway. I’m trying to work that out now.
Crimson Moon: What was the best band you played with?
Nate: I haven’t played with anyone yet sadly, but that’s gunna change soon.
Crimson Moon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Nate: Nope. Maybe someday though. It’s tough being a one man band and trying to get other live musicians to play with you.
Crimson Moon: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Nate: Can’t say – haha.
Crimson Moon: How is the crowd response when you play?
Nate: Well I will say this, fans keep begging to see AutomatoN play live.
Crimson Moon: What is the scene like over in your country?
Nate: Um, it varies drastically. I notice that there isn’t a big industrial scene where I am, which is the New England area. But there’s a pretty decent industrial scene in the LA area.
Crimson Moon: What made you want to be in this band? And if you weren’t in this band what would you being doing now?
Nate: I was just bored and needed a new path besides Isolated Antagonist where I could write everything and express myself through a story telling concept. Where would I be now? Well nowhere to be honest. Music is my life and it’s the only thing I’m really decent at – haha. I do work as a Pet Care specialist on the side but I can’t see myself just doing that all the time.
Crimson Moon: What does the future hold for the band??
Nate: Well I hope to get out there and start playing some live shows soon. There will also be more albums to come. AutomatoN has become a part of me, and I couldn’t think about stopping it.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/theautomatonband/
https://automatonofficial.threadless.com/
