REVIEW POSTED From
UK music blog:

I heard a new song earlier today from a musician named Bradley, the guy behind a brilliant band called Auto Defiance. I had all but stopped writing about unsigned bands because of the pitiful quality of acts that emailed me, but Auto Defiance are worth writing about!
The band hails from Nashville, Tennessee, and there is actually very little information about them apart from their enigmatic frontman. Apparently Boyer has committed heavily to this project, even turning down the prospect of working with The Goo Goo Dolls in favour of Auto Defiance. The band are currently in the studio working on their debut album.

Describing the sound as Indie Rock meets Post Punk (which they do) vastly undersells this band. What I like about them is the rich sonic textures that grace their songs. Captain Kelly is a beautifully performed acoustic song, complimented perfectly with subtle orchestration lifting the choruses. Breathe Air, meanwhile, takes ambient electric rock to exciting places: the kind of song you can get totally lost in.
Look What You're Buying sees the band veering into heavier territory, again with those think guitar textures and insistent snares. I am tempted to say a little like Oasis' famed wall of sound, but with slightly more bite. "Ghost Inside Your House" is by far the most experimental song in their MySpace player, with claustrophobic vocal effects and more good use of strings to move the song along, while sustained washes of distortion underline the melody. Just brilliant.
You can find Bradley and Auto Defiance online on Virb.com and MySpace. There are more songs to listen to on the MySpace page, so I recommend that you check that one out first!
Since today has been a posting frenzy [yes, that's sarcasm right there], why not check out the Auto Defiance MySpace page, listen to a few tunes and tell me what you think of the music. I would love to get a few more musicians on here critiquing and helping each other out.

Auto Defiance Official Bio Jan 24

Biography:

Auto Defiance from Nashville, Tennessee is the vision of Bradley Boyer. Writing music without boundaries, Auto Defiance playfully straddles the lines between Alternative Rock, Acoustic Pop and Post Punk. Small events that would mean little to the untrained eye, through Boyer's work are magnified to form a parallel to something greater in life. Inspired by larger than life characters from pop artist Andy Warhol to musical deity's such as Jeff Buckley, Robert Smith, Bono and Morrissey, Auto Defiance fully understands the power of iconography in music.

As a singer/songwriter, Bradley Boyer's unique palette morphs to accommodate the atmosphere of the song and numerous music business insiders have sung his praises. In 2000, Bradley was approached by industry songwriter Robert Malec who wanted him to co-write four songs for an upcoming Goo Goo Dolls project. Boyer turned it down. However, it did introduce him to a slew of licensing opportunities and a number of well respected contacts, which led to on-air interviews, radio airplay and unanimous positive reviews for the independent artist and his already budding career.

Currently hard at work on a debut full length album, Auto Defiance is branching out to collaborative efforts in the pursuit of an epic new sound/approach. Adding electronica elements with synthesizers, and orchestra strings courtesy of Jesi Kettering (Waiting for Iris), and Gerald Gardiner, and female vocals courtesy of Petra Kelly, Auto Defiance chameleon-like pursuit of grandiose rock music is both endearing and inspiring. Working with three separate producers on the project, Boyer captures the specific feel of each individual song.
More great things to come from Auto Defiance, a band to clearly watch for in 2008.
Debut album in progress.

NEW SINGLE : GHOST IN YOUR HOUSE (2008)

The Auto Defiance is an acoustic alternative, post-punk influenced indie pop band formed in 2008. A trademark sound of lush instrumentation, layered guitars and soaring melodies. Well crafted powerful songs take you from high-energy anthems to dreamy ballads.

Auto Defiance
Genre: Alternative Rock, Indie, Post-Punk

Band History:

From two soldiers in the 101st airborne, the core of a band of guys in the U.S. Army. Led by singer-songwriter part-time airborne trooper SPC Bradley Boyer, they played all throughout the area, with several successful years of playings gigs, parties, frat parties, live outdoor festivals, winning Boss Battle of the Bands, pizza deli to coffee houses to full on metal rock "venues" that were once strip clubs. (with a pole still on stage)

Moving to Louisville, with Boyer dove in to a heavy writing session, working out new sounds and songwriting at home, and playing live, acoustic solo style all over the city, meeting other like minded songwriters, and co-writing with John Woosley, a very talented singer/songwriter in own right.

Asked to finally move back to Nashville by the drummer, who was learning to record and engineer (and had built up a home studio worth $60,000), Boyer eventually did, and began to further perfect his songwriting craft and style through live performance, which they captured to tape as often as possible.

The Auto Defiance is an Alternative Post-Punk band formed in late 2007, hit the studio first with 4 new songs, with snappy jazz rock pro drummer, Brian Dowd, and the then worked into rehearsals, and playing open mics while meeting other local artists engulfed into creating, writing, and performing original songs, other talented musicians began taking notice, they were to fill out the rest of the band by 2008.

Why this name?

>1775 - dark Times in Europe.. . . It spawned from an early name. The phrase auto de fe refers to the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates that took place when the Spanish Inquisition or the Portuguese Inquisition had decided their punishment (that is, after the trial). Auto de fe in medieval Spanish means "act of faith". We changed it to "Defiance" partly to echo our freedom and independence away from corporate greed and the old ways of suffocating labels, media giants, in the music industry.

Do you play live?

Yes, isn't that the point? shows are fun, especially with other bands that are performing interesting, original music. we're now playing larger venues with our new line-up, and everyone's uber-stoked about it. With our engineers on the album coming out to run F.O.H sound live... plus plans for webcasting, with full visual show, and antique 16mm film footage flickering behind our live show.

How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?

It's good to be hearing and discovering new artists, and that's great. So Auto Defiance is keeping up with the latest digital trends, and where music is headed. We've made our music very easy to find, being found on hundreds of websites and portals across the internet. The downfall, sadly, the art is lost (as in owning a tangeble album), music quality has suffered tremendously, and Piracy is still a major problem.
I mean, really, which sounds better? a streaming mp3 or a CD? On the upside you've got You Tube, and dozens of other outlets to get exposure to the fans, so you can be big in Japan.

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?

>Maybe.

Discography
2007 "Auto Defiance" Self-Titled 5 song EP courtesy SPAT! Records.
2008 "Ghost inside your house" Debut single

Publisher:
Underground Mass Media Music (BMI)

Instrumentation:
Bradley Boyer: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Lyrics, Production
Bonnie Lavender: Vocals, Synthesizer, Electronica
Bill Bois: Bass Guitar
Brian Dowd: Drums, Percussion

Additional Artists:
Petra Kelly: Vocals, Violin
Gerald Gardiner: Synthesizer, Cello, Orchestral Arrangement

Electronic, Indie, Rock, Acoustic, Ambience, electro, New wave, post punk, ambient, shoegaze, music.

A few Musical influences include: Massive, Attack, My Bloody Valentine, The Smiths, Garbage, The Cure, U2, Depeche Mode, Concrete Blonde, The Bravery, The Cure, Kill Hannah, Smashing Pumpkins, The La's, New Order, Enigma, Jeff Buckley, and many, many others...

Underground Mass Media Music

Boy / Girl electro bands Rule ! (some -post punk, new wave, shoegaze, dreampop, Indie rock, Dance - Punk Blogs) Jan 21

"No matter where or with whom I am playing, it never fails to thrill my heart, to see the kids getting into the music, to feel the connection and look out at the beautiful smile of a stranger who digs your music." - Kelli Ali
( I couldn't agree more, Kelli ! )

So there's just something great about Ambient moody soundscapes, dreamy melodies, with heavy electronica backbeats and pulsing synth bass. If you add deep, twisted romantic lyrics with Boy / Girl Harmonies, even better. Not many bands today can pull off the Airy female vocals matched with Heavy, noisy guitar, industrial, effects, ambience & feedback. Maybe it's because here where we are at (Nashville Music Scene), it's oversaturated with Country, Man rock, Bluegrass, Thrash, twangy /swampy indie bands and music that (to me) is outdated or just plain dull. Don't get offended Nashville, There are many exceptions, and there are some extremely talented artists here. (More so than fans)

But it seems (here anyway) good Dream pop, shoegaze, layers of female vocals on keyboard & Synth with clean guitars is just hard to find. I know of a few around town. Plex Plex for instance, are damn good .... ..... Ethereal guitar dream pop shoegaze instrumental music must really thrive in Toronto, New York, Seattle, and of course UK / Europe. Japan? This isn't such a bad thing, it only makes us work 10 times harder. So we've been networking, co writing and involved withcollaboration with a few talented boys and girls in Toronto, the UK, (as well as a few cool people in Nashville) who have much enthusiasm for the Auto Defiance sound and vision with anticipation of some fresh sounds & songs on the way! ! !

Some of these bands include: Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Frou Frou, The Pixies, Portishead, Smashing pumpkins, Filter, Siouxsie and the Banshees,Ladytron,

Concrete Blonde, Cocteau Twins, The Bravery, Fiest, The Cure,

Slowdive, Sigur Ros, Garbage, The Smiths, Curve, Bjork, Depeche Mode, New Order, Enigma, My Bloody Valentine, Massive Attack, Silversun Pickups, Veruca Salt, The Cranes, Hooverphonic, Thievery Corporation, Goldfrapp, etc. ,,, and one could not fail to mention the new duo storming out of Totronto - CRYSTAL CASTLES. What incredibly fresh and amazing dark dancey retro songs written and performed with the wild antics and crazed blank stares of uber-hot Alice Glass backed by electro master mind Ethan Kath. These two have amassed a cult following in no time, and are my favorite artist of 2008.

Very well put together music blog by "Nicky Digital: with tons of great artists and bands in this genre

What makes great songs also include orchestral strings,(cello, Violins), synth pads, and ambient wall of lush instrumentation that blend with the unusual "Post-Punk" sound of guitars. Auto Defiance is post-punk alternative rock. While the genre engenders much stylistic diversity, several key characteristics are usually present:
- atmospheric, moody or ethereal soundscapes
- sonic textures, variously created by shimmering feedback and processed, echo-laden guitars and synthesizers
- pop-oriented melodies delivered by breathy, often high-register female vocals or androgynous male vocals
- introspective, existential lyrics, sometimes profound, dark, and tells a story.

Much debate has ensued about the shades of difference between auto defiance dream pop and her sister, shoegaze. Generally, it is agreed that shoegaze tends to be louder, more noisy and more aggressive than dream pop, but often the terms are used interchangeably by auto defiance fans, artists, non nashville artists and music journalists alike. Related musical styles also include space rock, bliss pop, slowcore, ambient pop, neo-psychedelia, noise pop, trip hop and even some post-rock. CMJ and college radio have often overlooked great music and bands in these genres.

If anyone else has any artists, or bands that fall into this realm, Please comment!

Thanks for your support !

~ Bradley