"Steve McQueen" | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
||||||||||
Single by The Automatic | ||||||||||
from the album This Is A Fix | ||||||||||
B-side | "Big Ideas", "In This World", "Young Entrepreneurs" | |||||||||
Released | 18 August 2008 | |||||||||
Format | 7", CD, CD (maxi) | |||||||||
Recorded | Sage and Sound Recording Studio, West Hollywood & Warwick Hall, Cardiff | |||||||||
Genre | Alternative rock, post-punk revival | |||||||||
Length | 3:44 | |||||||||
Label | Polydor, B-Unique | |||||||||
Writer(s) |
James Frost Iwan Griffiths Robin Hawkins Alex Pennie |
|||||||||
The Automatic singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
"Steve McQueen" is the first and ultimately only single from Welsh rock band The Automatic's second album This Is A Fix. It is their fifth single overall. The track began radio and video play as of 7 July 2008 and was released on 18 August 2008.
The track premiered on the 2007 NME Indie Rock Tour, along with "Revolution" – which later would be titled "Secret Police", and was originally recorded over the final weeks of 2006 with original member of The Automatic – Alex Pennie, penned to be released in April 2007, the single was for unknown reasons scrapped until 2008 when it was re-recorded with Paul Mullen as a member of the band.
The track "Steve McQueen" was first mentioned in late 2006, after the release of the band's debut album Not Accepted Anywhere. "Steve McQueen", along with another track titled "Revolution" had been recorded over Christmas 2006 by Rob, Frost, Iwan and Pennie. The two tracks were to be released as a transition from Not Accepted Anywhere to their next studio album. "Steve McQueen" and "Revolution" were performed throughout NME 2007 Indie Rock Tour, with bootlegs of the track appearing on YouTube, however after this for an undisclosed reason the release was scrapped.
Not Accepted Anywhere was taken overseas to the United States, where it was promoted on the Vans Warped Tour, with "Steve McQueen" and "Revolution" subsequently being removed from the set list, up until Alex Pennie left the band on 18 September 2007. After which Yourcodenameis:milo vocalist and guitarist Paul Mullen joined the band, revamping "Steve McQueen", stripping away the synthesizer and screaming vocal parts and replacing them with a second guitar and harmonizing vocals
The track was re-recorded at Sage & Sound Recordings in Los Angeles, with producer Butch Walker assisted by Ryan Hewitt. Fellow musicians Frank Turner and Chris T-T also came to the session to provide extra percussion and vocals, along with vocals from Butch, Rob, Frost, Iwan and Paul.