Live Performances
"Bicycle" — Live At The Galaxy Theater (2000)
This was one of a series of shows with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, just after The Autumns returned from recording a new album in London with Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins. Some funny memories about this show. Matthew had a stalker who had flown from Texas and was hiding in a closet backstage. The Cure had just announced they were considering The Autumns as the opening act for their upcoming world tour. And being Red House Painters fans, there was excitement in the air that Mark Kozelek had been attending these recent shows, which was soon deflated by the discovery he was mostly just there to hit on a mutual friend. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were signed to Virgin Records at one of these concerts.
Matthew Kelly: Vocals, Guitar
Frank Koroshec: Guitar
Zinskie: Bass
Steve Elkins: DrumsThe Autumns In The Studio (2001)
Rare footage of The Autumns in the recording studio with electronics genius and experimental instrument builder Jon Sonnenberg. Jon was often joining the band onstage during this period performing homemade musical instruments, including a mannequin head with patch cables for hair. The cables were connected to a variety of sound devices which were instantly triggered when touched, including analog synthesizers, record players, a talking parrot, an electrocuted tap dancer, or whatever else his imagination conjured. The head enabled him to play them all at once, rhythmically, as his fingers danced across the patch-cable-hair hanging down like bangs over its forehead.
You could write a book on what Jon did in his spare time any average month. I'd walk into Jon’s hermetic laboratory of a bedroom to inevitably find him sawing a piano into pieces for some mutated electro-acoustic instrument he was building. In the first few weeks of knowing Jon, I watched him construct a fully functioning light-powered synthesizer out of garbage he found in the trash, a transparent heart-shaped remote control so he could make eight of his electronic inventions harmonize “Happy Birthday” to a friend, and even playable replicas of Hans Reichel’s daxophones. He rarely used an instrument more than once, as he was already on to the next invention. The need for a machete and a guide to find his bed through the web of electrical cables crisscrossing his room, often left Jon with no space but the hardwood floor to sleep surrounded by the birds of his creation."Fake Noise From A Box Of Toys" — Live In Hollywood (2005)
The Autumns performing what would later become the album "Fake Noise From A Box Of Toys" with live painter Norton Wisdom (Jane’s Addiction, Beck, National Bamboo Orchestra of Bali) in West Hollywood. The sound quality is poor, but there aren’t many documents from this era of the band. Filmed by Anela Bence.
Setlist Includes Excerpts From:
1.) Twice The Prig
2.) Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
3.) Uncle Slim
4.) Hush, Plain Girls
5.) The Beautiful Boot
6.) Clem
7.) Slumberdoll
8.) Trilogy / Outro
For more on Norton Wisdom: https://www.steveelkins.net/Interviews/On-Art/Norton-Wisdom/"Winter In A Silver Box" — Live At The Dirty Mattress (2000)
A mostly improvised show at an art gallery in downtown Los Angeles that includes rare unplanned performances of tracks from the 1998 "Winter In A Silver Box" EP.
Setlist Includes Excerpts From:
1.) Tears And The Sun
2.) Winter In A Silver BoxWATCH: Parlour + The Autumns (West Hollywood, 2001)
Dear friends Parlour performing with The Autumns in West Hollywood circa 2001 or so. Both bands shared many memories (and shows) at Parlour's magical loft in LA's skid row — illuminated by a constellation of trash can fires from the local homeless — where the band narrowly evaded several attempted car jackings, and danced with potentially getting murdered while unloading gear into the lift. This was a beautiful time.