It's a dependable formula in the music industry: if you want to be a successful rock band, you need to possess chemistry, originality, and a great singer/frontman. In the modern rock era, singers are not only the voice, they are the group's ambassador, the main connection between the band and the audience. A great frontman can lift a group to stellar heights, but they can also bury the band. The music itself becomes a secondary notion.

Tampa's Auto!Automatic!! is changing that focus. When you see Auto!Automatic!! live, you'll see Brian Larsen on Guitar, Alex Fedelle on drums, and Nate Murray on bass. You won't see a singer and you won't hear vocals—though that doesn’t mean you won’t be captivated by their presence on stage. The framework of their songs is unconventional, and with no vocalist to monopolize your senses, you're actually forced not only to hear, but to concentrate and listen. Auto!Automatic!! shapes their music with stunning guitar work blended with thick bass lines and drum patterns that will make you want to stand on your feet. And just when you think the song is merely a vehicle to showcase their individual talents, Auto!Automatic!! pulls you in with their best power move: the awesome hook. This is when all three members and all three sounds come together, creating an addictive melody, cleverly giving us something familiar where there is no voice to familiarize with. With no driver at the helm, Auto!Automatic!! is letting their music steer us into the world of instrumental indie rock.

After hanging out with Auto!Automatic!! before their last show, I realized that their chemistry and originality is based on one element missing from the rock group formula: friendship.

REAX: When did you guys come together as Auto!Automatic!!?

NM: We hung out before we started playing. We were friends. Actually, Brian and Alex played together for awhile.

BL: I originally met Nate through mutual friends at the University of Tampa, and we became good friends. And I've known Alex for a while, and we would always get together and mess around. Eventually, we began to push ourselves to do something more serious, and it developed from there. But we had all known each other for a while before we played as a group.

REAX: I know you guys had your first shows at the short-lived Green Room in Ybor. How were those shows compared to now?

NM: That was before me. I actually came and saw them at that show. That was kind of cool.

BL: The story of Nate is legendary. His dreams came true the day we asked him to play bass for us. I'm pretty sure he came to every single show we played until we made him our bass player, so he's been there pretty much from the start.

NM: I've been to every show…playing or not, I've been there.

REAX: And you had already had a bass player, right?

BL: At the time, yeah, but when Nate came in, it became a totally different sound.

REAX: You've played shows with an assortment of diverse musical groups. At the Dirty But Sophisticated show, you shared the bill with Breakdown. How do you like being on bills like that?

BL: Really, it's nothing new for us. As far back as we can remember, we've been playing shows with a whole mix of different types of bands. Even with indie rock shows, there's so many different styles of it. Overall, the majority of our shows have always been kind of mixed in with all sorts of bands like hardcore bands, hip hop, indie, emo, funk…everything…across the whole board, which we love. I love playing with all sorts of different bands. It definitely helps expose you to numerous crowds.

NM: Yes, the different circles all being there helps. It's pretty cool, especially the past few years—there's been a noticeable difference where shows are being more and more affected, at least around here and maybe Orlando, where to play with Breakdown, to have Auto!Automatic!!, and then another rock band and then a DJ. It's becoming more and more accepted in terms of crowd response, because a lot more people are just coming out and responding to that, versus having a bill with just all Florida new bands or just hardcore bands. It seems like around here, the real eclectic shows are accepted. People will come check it out.

REAX: Has this sort of integration influenced your music?

NM: Not yet, but, for example, we know Breakdown, so for instance, if we're trying to put something together we'll have a backing track and he'll MC on top of it. Whether it's an actual recording or something we play live, just that collaboration… if they're open to it, we're open to it, and I'm sure people will be open to it if we perform it live… hopefully. So, we just feel like, "Hey let's just do it. Let's just rock it.” It's all music.

REAX: For indie rock, your music is pretty different in that you are an instrumental band. Do you find it difficult to explain your music without a singer?

BL: Yes. That's one of the hardest questions to answer and the easiest answer is to just say, "Come see us play." But really, it's very hard to explain. I mean, I could list a whole bunch of bands that have influenced us where you could draw comparisons, but for most people that means nothing.

REAX: Do you feel that without a singer, you're more open and free in your songwriting?

AF: Yes, the music can really take any turn. Being instrumental and not having a vocalist, we could have a part where it's just a jam for a while and it becomes really progressive; there's nothing holding us back. If we feel like we wanna break into a death metal part, if we could come up with a transition, that'll happen. It's really free. We're not stuck with verse/chorus and a vocalist to follow. It's more of a musical painting.

BL: We tend to have a more linear structure to our songs, where it kind of goes through start to finish. It goes wherever, and without a vocalist you can do that. You don't necessarily have to repeat a part for a chorus or anything like that.

REAX: Describe how you came to be a purely instrumental band.

NM: The whole process is pretty organic. We didn't plan on this being an instrumental band, the songs just kind of worked into each other like that. We've tried out vocalists. We never thought it would just end up as us playing instrumental music, but it's just how it panned out, and we eventually realized that the songs are pretty solid by themselves. So right now, we are an instrumental band. We're not going to have a vocalist. There was a time when we wanted to try it out, but it just didn't work and it kind of refined itself to what it is now.

REAX: In terms of writing, how does it all start? With drums, guitars or bass?

BL: Some of the best work I think we've had in our writing process is usually when one person will bring a part and there's nothing planned after that, and you just go from there and see what happens. And some of the best work we've had has come out of that.

REAX: So you could argue that some songs are created by accident?

BL: One of our songs, "That's Some Sick Mouth and Knee Coordination," is a good example. Throughout normal practices, we go through our songs, and in between songs we usually mess around. And the main theme of that song came about from messing around in between our other songs, and just built from there, kind of by accident.

NM: A lot of times when that happens and we're just goofing off, and we'll all just tell each other, "Remember that part, remember that part!"

AF: One thing that's nice is that we do have equal artistic input into the songs. If I have an idea we'll try it. If Nate has an idea we'll try it. And if Brian has an idea, we'll try it and it's usually better than Nate and my ideas so we'll go with it. We just take whatever is best.

REAX: Without a singer, how do you maintain the audience's attention throughout a show?

AF: The music has to have an excitement level and keep people's attention when you're in an instrumental band. You can't just play a three chord rock song and everyone's like, "Why don't they have a vocalist?" And we still have that question asked at our shows.

NM: That's one thing about our band and instrumental music in general—you can't hide whatever you play. You have to play it here or there, you can't hide behind a vocal or hide behind a hook. Our songs have hooks and melodies, but it has to be cohesive. I've been told, “Your song is cool and all, but it's music for musicians,” which is an interesting point. But I think there is accessibility in the stuff we play, though the instrumentation is still there.

REAX: The guitar playing is an eye catcher, with your finger-tapping and cool melodies. When did you realize that this was the sound for Auto!Automatic!!?

BL: The introduction of finger tapping was just rare and we just took it to a whole new direction. I mean, we only had one song that was really kind of different but once we started doing finger-tapping, it' became the foundation of our sound.

AF: We all have slightly different tastes in music, too. Which is good, because each one of us brings different elements to the table. You know, Brian listens to a lot of abstract indie rock that uses finger-tapping. He also listens to a lot of electronic music. And then there's metal, too—all around, all three of us listen to it. And Nate listens to a lot of…

NM: Ashlee Simpson.

AF: He listens to Hot Water Music and bands like that. I listen to a lot of jam bands and Mars Volta. And with all these different influences, it kind of adds up to what you play.

BL: One cool thing is that really, I could be doing the exact same thing I'm doing now, but if I was with two different guys playing, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't sound anything like what we do right now and I also think we wouldn't have come this far either.

AF: Awww

Auto!Automatic!! is releasing their first full-length album in August. Check them out at www.autoautomatic.net