Cleveland's Autopolitan To Celebrate New Album's Release with Regional Tour

Autopolitan. Credit: Courtesy of Autopolitan

Autopolitan’s Joe Boyer started playing piano when he was 5 and formed his first band when he was 12.

“We played Nirvan and Green Day covers,” he says via phone. Autopolitan celebrates the release of its new album, Around Ways, with a show that takes place on Friday, Sept. 19, at Mahall’s 20 Lanes in Lakewood. Fuss and Nature Nvoke share the bill. “We played it all very badly. But not long after that, I started writing original material.”

His first band of note was the Flukes.

“I booked our first show from a pay phone in the cafeteria in high school,” he says. “I spent time touring with that until early 2000s.”

He would join Cloud Nothings, the local-turned-national act, in the 2010s, but left the group to pursue his punk band Chomp, which fell apart a few years later.

Autopolitan came about when touring shut down because of COVID.

“Me and TJ Duke were in Cloud Nothings together years ago,” says Boyer. “During the pandemic, TJ started sending me songs online because we were stuck at home with nothing to do. He had songs, and I had songs. We were sick of doing things alone. I was ready to play with friends again.”

In 2023, the group recruited drummer Juan Granda and cut its first demo at Cleveland’s Dark Current studio.

“We did all on a Sunday morning between 8 a.m. and noon,” says Boyer. “It was a very un-rock ‘n’ roll time.”

For its follow-up, last year’s Autopolitan, the group recorded in Brooklyn, NY with friend Carlos Hernandez.

“We recorded half of the album with Carlos and the other half in Akron at the Akron Recording Company,” says Boyer. “It was undefined. We didn’t have any plans when we started recording. We didn’t know if we would make an album. We were naïve. We were just recording it for our own sake. When we finished, we thought it was pretty good and should do something with it. Andrew [Kirschner], who runs Mistake by the Lake Records, was interested, so we put it out on cassette.”

With Around Ways, the group refined its approach to writing songs.

“We knew the songwriting had leveled up,” says Boyer. “We thought Carlos nailed the recording vibe. We went back to him and recorded the album in two days and mixed it in one day and mastered it in one day. We don’t like to overthink things. We knew the songs were good. Once it was done, we thought it was a really cohesive. We wanted to put it on vinyl.”

The first single, “Outlines,” feeds off angular guitars that give it a Joy Division vibe.

“To me, that song sums up the vibe of the record,” says Boyer. “Lyric-wise, it’s not as literal. It has to do with the instinctual. I think that when a band tries too hard to make a statement, it falls short because there is pretension there. With music and lyrics, we trust our instincts and extrapolate. We’re not trying to say anything; we’re just expressing. Sometimes, it’s vague and sometimes it’s specific.”

The newest single, “Dreams to Eyelids,” features a stop-motion animated music video that the group recorded in Boyer’s garage.

“Honestly, the music video comes from my experience of dealing with vertigo,” says Boyer. “There is acrobatic, slow-motion moves. At the same time, it is pretty vague. There might be a bit of a story in there, but we didn’t have much of a plan other than slow-motion acrobatics. We had to think, ‘How do we make a video without knowing any gymnasts or renting any equipment because we don’t have any money?'”

The group draws from experiences playing in rock’ n’ roll bands but also from band members’ experience playing with classical and experimental acts.

“it’s a normal setup — bass, guitars, drums and vocals,” says Boyer. “We’re trying to expand on that set up. We want to try to do more with the basic set-up and be creative within these rock ‘n’ roll confines.”

The upcoming Mahall’s gig is part of a short tour that begins on Sept. 16 and includes stops in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

“It’s seven shows in a row,” says Boyer. “We’re hitting all the big cities that are relatively close to us. TJ and I haven’t toured so much and we want to get on a steady run of shows to try to spread the record out. We wanted to do a solid run of seven days straight. We’re really proud of it and want to get on the road to spread the album around.”