Autechre

(for now, dump all non-release related trivia, i.e. events, anecdotes from interviews, history notes, etc.)

Biography

[INCOMPLETE]

Sean Booth and Robert Brown both met each other in Rochdale's graffiti scene in 1987. Rob notes that a mutual friend of theirs, Ged, first met Sean on a bus tagging and later Rob and Sean formally met each other to exchange graffiti files. After the inital meeting, Sean ended up going to Rob's house and getting access to Rob's tape equipment, leading to them both creating mixes. Both already had background experience in making tapes: Rob having made multiple mixtapes (Rob Brown's Ultra Rare Mixtapes) and Sean having done tapes since being 11-12 at his granddad's.

Trivia

Autechre Gear List

• Autechre's record deal with Warp Records supposedly states that both Sean and Rob are forbidden to release material under any name other than Autechre (or Gescom in select circumstances).
• The name "Autechre" was created by first typing "au" and then keysmashing the rest until the Atari's 8-character limit was hit. It initially came about as a track title (Autechre / Saw You) before being adopted as their stage name six months later.
  • Rob explained that the initial "au" came from a sample on the FZ10, which itself was part of a list of samples Autechre labelled as "au[insert descriptive]" for "vocal choir voices sustaining a single note" like oou.
  • The current accepted pronounciation of Autechre, as the band itself uses, is "awe-teh-ker" (/ɔːˈtɛkər/).
• Autechre used "MYSLB" multiple times, including an old MySpace page and a website. The name comes from one of their first tracks "Myslb" which is an acronym of its sample going "Make Your Self Look Bad".
• Autechre mentioned two major arguments they've had in a Clash Magazine interview. The first was in 1989 where Ged's tape deck got ruined due to one of their tapes, leading them to blame each other before settling the damages between each other. The other was during some live show in Japan, miscommunication by Rob caused Sean to abruptly lash out at him.
• In an interview with Rolling Stone, Autechre admitted to breaking into a drinks caravan and stealing alcohol alongside Boards of Canada after the German festival they would have performed at got canceled due to bad weather. Rob mentions, however Sean notes suspicion of his reaccounting, that after the theft there was a wrestling fight in the mud.
• During a show, Sean's vodka-covered hands caught on fire from his R8 going alight. His attempt to clap it out caused the audience to start clapping, and also making some set their hands on fire "as some kind of tribute".
• Sean notes one of his greatest fears is "nothing."
• During the early 90s "at a show by warp/mushroom records in AU", Rob became sick from the smart drinks given to him, leading to a situation where at the start of the performance he tried to vomit discretely into a nearby water bottle that he emptied. Unfortunately, due to it being a tiny 25cl bottle, it flew back out, hitting both the roof and his face - although the speed of it meant none stuck to his face.
• In the credits for Metroid Prime, both Sean Booth and Rob Brown are listed under Special Thanks. In the Sean Twitch AMA, July 2022, he explained that they initially had contacts at Retro Studio branch that were keen on letting them compose the soundtrack for the game, but it fell through after Nintendo got their own music person to compose it. Sean later confirmed on Mastodon that it was only talks and that no demos were made.