If you haven’t heard of Autopassion, that wouldn’t be surprising as they aren’t even a band anymore. If you have heard of them, let’s be best friends.
Autopassion consists of three friends from Winston-Salem, North Carolina – Tim Poovey, Andrew Siebert, and Jon Erickson. There could very well be more people in the band, I just can’t find them; Autopassion is obscure, I can’t even find an album review. But from what I’ve gathered, they were hometown heroes back in 2004, but broke up after moving to New York.
Nevertheless, I discovered this band during a transitional period in my life. I was 18, a freshman in college, and totally flailing. Autopassion hit me like a ton of bricks, loud and fast, with moments of beauty I hadn’t heard anywhere else. To say their music saved me is a bit extreme, but…it kinda did. The first song I heard was “I Like Your Purse,” whose opening line is “don’t go with my heart in your pocket/ I know I’ll need it soon.” This line spoke to my dark 18-year-old soul harder than I’d like to admit (it was my AIM away message for many moons). These were the days when MySpace Music was one of the only ways to find new artists and where I found Autopassion’s first release, “A Tedious Dialogue.” And, I kid you not, up until writing this blog post, I couldn’t find the album version of “I Like Your Purse” anywhere, let alone the whole EP, only crappy live records on cell phones from 2005. But here it is, folks, and I’m losing my shit. After almost ten years, I’m sitting here listening to an EP that was on repeat in my 10×10 foot dorm room nonstop. Another jem off the EP is “Talking to You.” The ascending vocal line on the chorus is straight up giving me chills. The tremolo in the guitar part at the beginning of “Tim is Dead,” a song I assume is about a friendly prank that goes awry, fits perfectly with the songs eerie mood. The whole thing is amazing, please, please check it out.
Autopassion has released two other album since “A Tedious Dialogue.” The first, “Sit Back and Make a Difference,” was released on iTunes on 2008 (can you guess which of the ten comments is mine??). The strongest offerings from this album (in my opinion) are “Double Pleasure,” which is a little funkier than their other songs, and “What You Say,” a song I still find myself humming from time to time. “Sit Back and Make a Difference” is the bands only album that was released on any mainstream platforms (it’s also on Spotify).
Their last album was released in 2013 and it’s sound is simultaneously familiar and brand new. The self-titled album is longer than “Sit Back,” and has interludes scattered throughout. I think “Drunk (alone swimming)” is a triumph, but maybe that’s because I’m a sucker for a good drum fill. But “Where’s my Place” is my favorite, the vocals are powerful and raw, I love when Siebert’s voice breaks. The whole album is definitely darker, possibly foreshadowing the end of times.
There will always be an Autopassion shaped hole in my heart; the fact that they aren’t together anymore is a travesty. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. But this band has been a constant source of comfort in my life for the past 11 years, hopefully this music will continue to comfort me for next 11.
Check out Andrew Siebert’s band, Housghosts, and Tim Poovey’s band, Nightdogs, which has a few albums on iTunes. Man, these guys love taking two random words and creating band names out of them.
This is What I Hear 
I’ve been looking for that version of “I like your purse” for an eternity. thank you so much.
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You’re welcome! Nice to know there are other autopassion fans out there.
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I found Autopassion in college too. A webshow I watched my freshman or sophomore year used a few of their songs, but I’m only really giving the band a fair shake now. Thanks for doing this write up. If anything, it validates the half an hour I just spent hunting down that webshow, and this band.
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That’s awesome, I too have spent many hours looking for different versions of their songs/live performances. But Autopassion is totally worth it.
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I never leave comments – even on sites i frequently visit but i feel like you would get this. i have been listening to is a tedious dialogue on repeat the past few days. i have been v depressed so i wasnt enjoying music until i thought of autopassion and looked them up. well your page helped me find the verison of i like your purse i have not heard since i was 12! i only knew two songs – purse and whatever – so now listening to this album..it has been the only thing to really vibe with me at this low.
anyways, i like your purse i found on myspace when i was in seventh grade. and it was the first time that i really really dug a song (so young lol). and it brought on this huge love for indie rock which is now a huge love for music in general. it is one of my main hobbies. and that is all thanks to autopassion! lol. so made appreciation for writing this post. thank you for this experience
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Thank you for your comment. I know I let this blog die and you’ll probably never see this reply, but it means so much to me that found this post and were able to reconnect with Autopassion. They truly were an amazing band!
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y’all… I can’t believe I found this post. it just brought back a flood of memories, and I feel obligated to share at least just a couple of them, in gratitude. 🤣🤣 I partied with these guys some when I was in art school in Winston Salem.
I was probably 18, sitting on a couch with Andy over a plate of drugs in the wee hours, at a party in a dirty apartment above the sickest grunge bar in town, when we received the news that Hunter S Thompson had died. As the news shattered through our bodies, Andy and I got into a HEATED argument about the Duke committing suicide, and our willingness to accept this explanation. (Andy knew that he had always planned to do it when the time came, but I wasn’t ready to accept that yet.)
At another party, I was making out with my friend Breanne, and Tim walked up and perfectly inserted his face into our make out sesh and we had a shocking and super hot three-way-kiss for a minute.
They were some of my first friends who had made a full album that I could have the cd and listen to it in my car, and that was really influential at the time. It was kind of like a level up in my sense of belonging in creative community, you know, like, real legit music wasn’t just something that people on tv and in record stores did far away from me, it’s something I am a part of. So grateful for that stepping stone.
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My god, I love this!! Thank you for your comment, what a cool experience!
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this is a silent note to the moderator of this page – if my previous comment about memories with the band was super inappropriate please feel free to enjoy it privately and not post it!! I realized after I clicked submit that I don’t know the tone of your content on this blog, so my comments about long past chaos may not be the invited vibe. Anyway, have a great day if you ever do see this!
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No I loved your comment! I don’t post to this blog anymore, but the fact that I’m still getting comments about autopassion is amazing to me
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