Automatic Slim singer/guitarist Gelu Sulugiuc comes from a small village in Romania where horse-drawn wagons shared the streets with the occasional car. Rock 'n' roll was banned in those days in the communist country, so Gelu had to wait for a revolution to discover the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Metallica. He learned English so he could understand what his new heroes were talking about in their lyrics and moved to New York to start a band. He named it Automatic Slim after a Howlin' Wolf song and forged an intense blend of jagged guitars, furious drums and wailing vocals -- a sound critics have compared to A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age, Jane's Addiction and Muse. Bassist Greta Brinkman teamed up with Gelu after touring with Moby, Debbie Harry, L7, and The Nuns. Automatic Slim released their debut album, "Daisy Cutter," (also available on CD Baby) in 2002. With the song "Never The Same" gaining play and praise on college radio, the band took its incendiary show to colleges and clubs on the East Coast. The first national tour followed in the spring of 2005, with the band getting good press reviews. Automatic Slim released its second album, self-titled, in 2005, partially mixed by John Siket (Helmet, Sonic Youth) and mastered at Masterdisk in New York. You can listen to samples from this album and buy it right here on this CD Baby page. The first song, The Candidate, is featured on the soundtrack of an independent film to be released early next year. The band also has a song on a compilation released in Romania.