Formed in 1996

Autopilot Off formed in 1996 under the name Cooter. They slowly gained popularity by doing live shows throughout the 90s while sharing the stage with more popular bands such as MxPx , Goldfinger , Sum 41 , Yellowcard and H 2 O . Cooter released a split with Slick Shoes on May 23, 2000. They eventually recorded their first full-length album, Looking Up . In 2000 the band was involved in a bitter lawsuit with the Mississippi punk rock band The Cooters, who own the trademark to the name Cooter. The New York band changed their name to Autopilot Off in April 2001, and settled out of court in 2002. However, Autopilot Off’s record label Fastmusic, took the lawsuit all the way to Federal Court and lost to the Mississippi band. In December 2001, Autopilot Off signed with major label Island Records . After this they released their eponymous EP of April 23, 2002. They supported Sum 41 on their headlining tour of the east coast of the US and Canada. In November and December 2002, the band supported the Ataris on their headlining US tour. The band left the tour a week before it ended to start work on their next album, which they started to record in March 2003. The band went on “The Made Tour,” which ran from June to August; they played alongside Further Seems Forever , the Movielife , and Anberlin . The stint featured an appearance at Hellfest . In August, the band released the Regenerator EP , which consisted of cover versions of songs by Quicksand , Bad Religion , U2 , and Guns n’ Wankers . In September and November, the band played a handful of Northeast and Midwest shows with Lost City Angels .