By John Earls - "I know a lot of bands say this, but it really does feel like we're starting again."

Having been overshadowed by Monster, The Automatic are making a bold switch to the crunchier guitars of new album This Is A Fix after two years away.

"With the instant-attention span of the media these days, we've got to fight our way back in," says Rob Hawkins. "But it's also let Monster die down."

Although he knew it'd be a hit, Rob was unprepared for the scale of Monster.

"It's weird it's been used as a football chant," says Rob, 22.

"I heard from a roadie whose day job is at a Scottish prison that inmates chanted Monster when new paedophiles were brought into prisons. That's uncomfortable; it's just mind-boggling to think that our song is used in such a sinister way."

The band are also indelibly associated with shouty keyboardist Pennie, who quit after touring their debut album.

"We couldn't have made another record with Pennie shouting over everything," admits Rob.

"He stopped writing with us a year before he left. Pennie felt trapped in this box he'd created, like a cartoon character. He got into hardcore metal, and both us and him were so unhappy."

Yet the band's new member - guitarist Paul Mullen, ex-singer of the ubercool Your Code Name Is: Milo - raised many eyebrows in the underground scene.

"Oh, I totally see why," admits Rob. "If I wasn't in The Automatic, I'd be thinking 'Why the hell's he doing it?'

"But we didn't want to be seen as just a pop band, and Paul had become a mate. I understand the suspicion but, really, it's been an incredibly natural fit."

Despite Paul slotting in, the band had another hurdle when they went to LA to work with huge producer Don Gilmore.

"He made everything so crisp," explains Rob. "We write pop songs, but with dirt to them. Don's perfect for Linkin Park, but after a month we had to leave.

"Don's methods were too businesslike. Nice as he is, we didn't gel as friends - if we'd loved his production, we'd have carried on, but it didn't help."

They turned to producer Butch Walker.

"We only had two weeks left in LA, and I thought we'd have to get the whole album done in a fortnight," says Rob.

"That was the low ebb, until we thought 'Let's do what we can.' We got five songs done, then came back and finished it with a mate in a scuzzy studio back in Cardiff. There's a lesson there - but don't tell our record label, because it was really nice in LA!"