Autopilot Off

I was very excited to have the chance to sit down with Chris, the singer for Autopilot Off. I have been an Autopilot Off fan since Tom from Bigwig's old label, G.F.Y, sent us their first EP called "All Bets Off". That was a long time ago, and they were called Cooter at the time. Chris was amazed to hear that I was a fan since that EP, and apparently, there are only 3,000 of those CDs in existance. Cooter made the switch to Autopilot Off due to "...a legal issue over the old name." Because they didn't care for the name Cooter too much in the first place, they didn't want the trouble of fighting for it, and decided to just change it. He thinks that Autopilot Off is a much better fit, and here is what else he had to say.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and you could only bring 3 CDs, and 3 other things, what would you bring?
Oh... it's the question, the question!

Do a lot of people ask this question?
Some people ask this question, but we ask this question a lot between ourselves for the records and things. Can you make mix CDs? Can those be your 3 CDs, or does it have to be albums? I'd probably bring a Beatles album.

Which one?
I don't know, Maybe...

I like the White Album.
I was gonna say the White Album. Probably one of those; maybe Nevermind, and uh... what else should I bring? You've got me here, third record for all time. Maybe some hula music or something, to kind of fit the scenery.

Haha! There ya go! What about three other things?
I guess soap, my girlfriend, and a little Tiki hut.

Would you rather fight Mike Tyson, or talk like him?
Oh, I think I'd just fight him. Take the shot and just go down, and hope I could still talk afterwards.

If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be?
Oh, this is like Hollow Man. If I could be anyone for a day, I'd probably be the President, and try and find out as much secret shit that's going on as I could.

What is the funniest or craziest thing that's ever happened while on tour?
Well, we hung a bag of shit on a guy's hotel room door once. This guy was across from us, and someone was out talking on the phone, he came out and yelled at them. Then, the next morning they were just going out to the van, he comes running out of his door and he's just screaming and yelling at us.

Where was this?
It was in Pennsylvania. We were like "What is this guy's problem, he's been fuckin' being a dick the entire time." We didn't want to do anything really terrible, because other people work at the hotel and they're gonna have to mess with stuff. So we figured the best way, the best thing to do was to shit in a bag.

Yeah, obviously!
And then hang it on his door, because he's coming in and out, and then he's gonna have to deal with it. He's gonna either have to physically take it himself and throw it away, or... he's gonna have to deal with that shit somehow.

Who's shit was it?
It was Rob's. He can shit on command almost.

What do you think about MP3s, and people sharing your music over the Internet?
I think it's great man. It's basically kept us alive for the time when we didn't have a record. So, I encourage it because it exposes you to a far broader audience. People may not have been into you before; they can get your music that way and be into your band. Whether they go and buy your record or not... probably they'll do that, but if they don't do that, they come see your shows or whatever, that's what it's all about, just getting the music out there, so I'm all for it man.

All right, thanks a lot! If you could just give some closing comments, and tell about some bands that are up and coming from New York, that would be awesome!
Bands from New York that are coming out, there's Anna Divine (?), they used to be called Jerk Magnet. They're on, what are they on?... Ides of March, which is a subsidiary of Revelation... Awesome! They're really awesome, it's like if you took Good Riddance and mixed it with like... I don't know, but they're awesome! Everyone knows Coheed and Cambria, they're comin' up. They're awesome. My cousin actually used to play with the singer for that band like way back. Um... who else is from New York? The Movielife is New York; Thursday's New Jersey, Midtown's New Jersey. There's a lot of good bands from around there man. New York and New Jersey is a fuckin' fun place to be.

BW