Daryl Palumbo On The Status Of Head Automatica: “I Haven’t Really Talked To Those Guys In A Minute”

While keeping creative and making music in quarantine, Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo has also seemingly been reflecting on his time in alternative rock mob Head Automatica, who released two studio albums – 2004's Decadence and 2006's Popaganda – before eventually losing the battle to drop their third (and final) record Swan Damage.

Now, the frontman reveals that he's perfectly fine with the band being over, explaining to AltPress: “I haven’t really talked to those guys in a minute. I’m just the type of guy that always wants to wash the slate clean. It’s not necessarily that I outgrow anything. I’m not pompous. I just think sometimes you get that taste in your mouth. Like, it’s time.”

Read this: How Head Automatica killed the concept of genre

He continues: “When I’m over something, I guess I’m just over it. You just get that hair up your ass that does something else. I’m not saying that in any weird pointed ways. And then that was the end of Head Automatica.”

While it's clear Daryl has no interest in bringing the band back, he does go into more detail about why Swan Damage never saw the light of day, explaining how “things weren’t great at the label”, and his vision and direction for the band was at odds with theirs.

“‘Do you want to make hits? Are we going to put a bunch of hits on it?’” he remembers of those conversations at the time. “Shit like that. That was part of it. And I was like, ‘That’s not where I am. That’s not what I’m about. Look, I’m not trying to make 10 [versions of] Beating Heart Baby.’”

An agreement was eventually made that Head Automatica (and also Glassjaw) could leave and Swan Damage would be shelved, but Daryl reckons that he might have wav files of this unheard material somewhere. He doesn't, however, know if he would ever put them out.

“It feels old at this point,” he admits, reflecting his previously mentioned ‘wash the slate clean’ mentality. “Maybe that’s just because I’m familiar with it. Feels like it’s from a couple of lifetimes ago.”

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