A hard-to-hear phone call while huddled in a green room led to a whirlwind recording session for psychedelic garage punk band Hot Face at Abbey Road Studios. Here is the incredible story and the results.

Hot Face at Abbey Road: Amplify initiative

Automated Response by Hot Face was recorded live as part of Abbey Road Studios’ annual Amplify initiative. It exists to empower the next generation of artists, producers, composers and creatives through a free festival of invaluable insights, engagement and practical skill development.

It’s an exciting and dramatic opportunity by design. The fifth edition in 2025, the ballot took place on October 27 (the day after the ballot closed) and the free festival began just a week later!

The six selected emerging artists were each paired with a mentor with the opportunity to take part in a writing and recording session at Abbey Road Studios.

The festival also includes masterclasses and workshops in production and songwriting, composing and arranging, and soft and hard skills for producers.

Hot Face at Abbey Road: the story

When Hot Face (vocalist and guitarist James Bates, drummer Sam Catchpole, bassist George Cannell) and producer Dan Carey agreed to work together again – having previous collaborated on the single dura dura) – they agreed on a simple premise. They would record Hot Face’s debut album in one day, straight to tape. To make things even more exciting, they would only record three takes, with the last being in front of a live audience.

When Carey called the band in the early hours of the morning, the trio crammed themselves into the green room of the show they had just played in order to hear an incredible offer: they could record their debut at legendary Abbey Road Studios if they agreed to do it the very next week.

So, that is how recording Hot Face at Abbey Road Studios (Studio Three to be exact) came about. The frenetic, frantic nature of the session shows in the recording – raucous energy captured in a 25 minute artefact, with all the blemishes intentionally and proudly left in.

Automated Response is released on January 23, 2026, via Speedy Wunderground.

Pink Liquor single

The new Hot Face single, Pink Liquor, was captured live in one take at the Abbey Road Studios session.

Pink Liquor is an explosive and raw anti-ode to chaotic hedonism and the madness that follows. A rapid-fire slice of garage-punk that wastes no time. Lyrically, Pink Liquor is a Dadaist-collection of vignettes that highlight the unhinged nature of addiction, its chaotic rush and, ultimately, it’s consequences.

The characters within the song are based upon people whose paths I’ve crossed along the way whose stories reflect those themes – Ugly Joe, for example, was a middle-aged alcoholic satirical cartoonist from the Czech Republic whom I befriended only to find three months later that they had died from an overdose. The track is neither a glorification nor a condemnation. It just is.”

– James Bates, guitarist and vocalist

Automatic Response track listing

1. Defenstration
2. Sinnes
3. Liar
4. Bumble
5. Cruel Tutelage
6. Red Fuzz
7. Pink Liquor
8. Automated Response
9. Cavern Killer
10. I Love You

Hot Face tour dates

6 December, 2025: The Windmill, Brixton
27 January, 2026: The Lab, Northampton
28 January, 2026: Boiler Room, Guilford
29 January, 2026: Burdall’s Yard, Bath
30 January, 2026: Shacklewell Arms, London
31 January, 2026: Heartbreakers, Southampton

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