Garden on a Trampoline

BIO.pdf

"Automatic Pilot tucks introspective lyrics inside grand washes of shoegazer guitar" - Greg Kot, The Chicago Tribune, 2002.

G.O.A.T was formerly known as both Automatic Pilot as well as solo artist, James Eric. James is now managed by an online digital label known as Grey Noise Media. James has been actively recording since the year 2000, but started writing songs after a near-death experience left him with only one lung and a weakened immune system back in 1996 during his senior year of high school after contracting a rare, life-threatening bacteria. Doctors told family and friends to prepare for his passing, but James overcame his illness with the help of a very smart infectious disease specialist who looked like Tom Petty and had a hook in place of a right hand.

It was this confrontation with mortality that fueled his need to write songs and dedicate a huge part of his life to the arts. Despite recently returning to school for psychology, and working for a bakery, James continues to play shows and record a plethora of material, dipping into all kinds of genres from electro-pop to ambient to indie rock. GOAT's main musical influences include Wilco, Frightened Rabbit, The Flaming Lips, eels, Smashing Pumpkins, LCD Soundsystem, and The Magnetic Fields. Some of the lyrical content deals with dark takes on loneliness and death, but each song manages to uncover a layer of liberation from the shadows, fueled by a love for music itself and a steadfast passion for creative self-expression. GOAT is mainly a one-man band, with live musicians helping out along the way. All of these songs are written mostly late at night using headphones, recorded in a bedroom studio. Most of these sounds are improvised/created with the help of an old Casio, fancy Yahama keyboard, Boss Loop Station, 5-string bass, Alvarez acoustic, and a Fender Jaguar.

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