Along with the Sex Pistols and The Damned , the Automatics regularly played the Marquee Club in London and toured clubs around the U.K. and Europe. Their hit song “When the Tanks Roll Over Poland Again”, (released on Island Records in 1978) was number one on the punk/new wave charts. It was one of the first records to be produced by Steve Lillywhite , who was Philp’s flatmate at the time, and who went on to produce U2 . It is listed at 22 of the top 50 punk songs from that era by Punks Reunited. The Automatics also played gigs with Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers and Thunders himself played on the Automatics first album, Walking with the Radio (available through Angel Air, UK). The Automatics toured England with the Vibrators and played the Reading Festival in august 1978. In 1980, Dave Philp moved to California, where he remained lead singer and songwriter for the Automatics but with different players in the band. This early history is recounted in No More Heroes: A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980 by the English critic Alex Ogg.
When the Tanks Roll Over Poland Again
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