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Happy New Year
for 2025 from
The AutistiX!

Happy New Year from The AutistiX for 2025! We hope that all our followers have had a good holiday season and that your New Year has got off to a good start. This week we celebrated the birthday of 2 of our band members, Jim Connelly and John Duggan, on the same day but a few years apart! We particularly wish them our very best as they have both lost a parent in the last few months, so wishing everyone good health, happiness, prosperity, success, caring, love and safety! Like most people, The AutistiX had a Winter break the last few weeks. We are now back together and energised to start back playing old favourites and our new songs. We met together for our first rehearsal of the year last Thursday 9th January, and were lucky to have our lead singer, Jim, in town again, after being able to rehearse with him shortly before the Xmas break in December. We are hoping he will be able to come to London to rehearse a bit more often this year, as well as playing in gigs! During the past year, highlights were playing in several gigs particularly during the Spring and Summer. We were glad that some festivals had started up again for the first time since the Covid pandemic while others, sadly, did not seem able to get going again after several years’ break due to the usual organisers moving onto other activities, the insurance cost of festivals and gigs having become prohibitively expensive, and less money being around due to the ‘cost of living’ crisis. We were happy to play in some great gigs and festivals, and also spending time to work on finishing our latest songs with a view to recording our 5th EP in the next few months. We can’t wait to get into the recording studio and for you to hear our newest songs. A further highlight of the year was deciding to contact Leo Long, the actor and musician who played the role of Stevie, the drummer with autism in the film ‘I Used To Be Famous’. This role, indeed the film itself, was inspired by our drummer Saul, about the impact of the Stevie character on Vince, the ex boyband musician, the other main protagonist in the film and how they transformed each other’s lives through the power of music, that also lies at the heart of The AutistiX. We asked Leo if he was interested in coming to meet the band and possibly sing and play with us. He was immediately enthusiastic about our offer and having the chance to make music with Saul (and the rest of the band). He is a fine singer and plays The Bazooki. He already knew one of our songs ‘I Am As I Am’ as it is in the film. We all hit it off immediately and really like playing with each other and he has become a regular part of our rehearsals. It is great to know Leo – a talented young actor, musician and singer on the autistic spectrum who is a great exemplar of the talent of performers with autism! He is lovely and warm and the band and he are enjoying the close relationship that we are developing with each other, along with his equally warm and supportive parents James and Yumi. We are all looking forward to Leo joining us performing in upcoming gigs with us. That brings me to our next news which is our plan to record our 5th EP soon, with 4-6 of our newest songs that are just about ready to record, so watch this space for further announcements. We have invited Leo to join The AutistiX in recording our newest EP! Another piece of news is that a few months ago, The AutistiX were approached by Emily Chambers, on the senior editorial team at a publication called UNREAL Rockstars. They cover startup news across the US and Europe with a practical focus on everyday business journeys in their publication. They were interested in The AutistiX as part of a spotlight piece focussing on a selection of eCommerce founders and businesses in UK, ie the story of how I initially set up The AutistiX in 2010 and how it grew from an after school music to a functioning band, known internationally, performing in many 100’s of gigs in the UK and abroad, creating and recording our own music, being in documentaries, performing on TV, (BBC1 The One Show, amongst others) our drummer Saul being the inspiration of the Netflix film ‘I Used To Be Famous’, Saul being in the film and including one of our original songs in the film, to workshops in school, colleges and unis, playing at countless festivals, and inspiring people globally on the talent of musicians who are on the autistic spectrum. The article is about founders who focus on ‘purpose not perfection’ and that is certainly true with respect to The AutistiX! It’s interesting to note that of the many profiles they have published over time, our unique band, The AutistiX, appears to be the only actual rockstars featured!!! A big thank you to Unreal Internet for featuring us in their UK Founder series. Click the link to read the article: https://www.unrealinternet.com/rockstars/founder-portraits/the-founders-series-uk-founders-this-december-focused-on-purpose-not-perfection Watch this space for further news, as well as our other social media sites on Facebook, ‘X’, Instagram, Spotify, Youtube, etc! We would love to hear from you! Especially telling people about The AutistiX and inviting us to perform at gigs, festivals and events in schools, colleges, universities, work places, etc. Every gig is unique and different and we can customise our performance to suit the event! Best wishes The AutistiX (and Susan) theautistix@gmail.com

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Happy New Year from The AutistiX!

  • Writer: theautistixband
    theautistixband
  • Feb 8, 2024
  • 4 min read

The AutistiX Bio Update February 2024


Happy New Year for 2024 to all our followers!

 

The AutistiX took a couple of weeks off over the holiday season but now we are back again, playing some of our own songs and favourite covers.

 

We are continuing to work on at least 10 new songs that are in the pipeline that we hope to finish and record in 2024. Just to entice our readers, some titles include” Straight and Narrow’, ‘Personal To People, ‘Enjoy Your Life’, etc

 

 

It seems like yesterday that our drummer, Saul, inspired a wonderful Netflix movie, I Used to Be Famous https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81426667.  It was released in September 2022 and even though over a year has passed we keep hearing from people who have seen the film, loved seeing Saul in the film hearing that he inspired the film and discovering The AutistiX by hearing our original son “I Am As I Am’ by checking out the film’s Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/album/67DaMPDypH8K0hTi8q7SZF and follow us on our social media sites! The film is about a drummer with autism meeting a washed-up boy band faded star, and they transform each other’s lives. The film reached Netflix’ No. 2 in the UK and No. 4 globally. Saul has cameos in the story’s drum circle, and the soundtrack features one his band’s newest songs  I Am As I Am (here on YouTube). Our new EP of the same name was launched on a boisterous night at the Dublin Castle, Camden. The film was included in the 43 best films to watch over the Xmas holidays (and it’s never too late to watch the film, or see it again!) Furthermore, Netflix inhouse statistics showed that between Jan and June 2023 there were still on average 1 million views per month!

 

Here's some background on The AutistiX if you're a new follower: The AutistiX is the name of our unique rock band, because the young men who started the band (and named it) are autistic. It gives us a novel creative angle, while acknowledging the challenges of autism. We write and perform our own evocative songs, written from the heart. Our stage act is high-energy, as we love to bring our music to all audiences, and to inspire them with our belief in the talent and passion of all musicians; neurodiverse and neurotypical.

 

The AutistiX are: Jack Beaven-Duggan (acoustic and electric guitar plus backing vocals); Saul Zur-Szpiro (drums and backing vocals); Jim Connelly (lead singer); John Duggan (electric guitar/bass/vocals); and Michael Zur-Szpiro, (harmonica). We aim for the inclusion of musicians with disabilities, but we are not a disability band. We seek to lead and learn creative song writing and performing talent. Since our last bass player moved out of London we’ve played with a few guest bass players however we would really like to find a new bass player to join The AutistiX regularly and ideally become a full band member. We would also be pleased to welcome talented singers who would enjoy singing with our band on an occasional or regular basis so if you’re talented and interested, please get in touch with us through our social media channels!

 

The band has performed at other legendary UK venues (The Cavern Club, O2 Academy, The Barfly, Brighton Dome, Star & Garter, The Monarch, The White Rock, etc.). We appear at open air, community, and charity festivals: at one performance we brought Sir Tom Jones on stage and helped break their fundraising record! We can always bring in a sizeable crowd to our gigs.

 

Just before the pandemic, Rick Jupp (ex Elbow) presented a BBC Documentary about our band on the BBC The One Show, where we also played live. Rick has a son (also a drummer) who is autistic. Also, before Covid stopped normal lives, we played a couple of incredible gigs for Worldwide Autism Awareness Week, in Liverpool, at the ‘Cavern Club’; and at the Doors Club, in Constanta, Romania.

 

There are several more documentaries and articles about our outstanding band, and we have a global reach! Ask us for links. We have nearly reached 4,500 followers on Facebook and nearly 1,300 followers on ‘X’ (Twitter). Thanks to all who follow us! Please tell others about us and encourage them to follow us to reach more people so they can also enjoy our music and be inspired by The AutistiX!



Photo of our last gig of 2023 at J-Fest festival at Willowbrook Farm in Abingdon. From l to r: Rob Ellis (guest on bass), Jack Beaven-Duggan (electric guitar, backing vocals), John Duggan (electric guitar, vocals), Saul Zur-Szpiro (drums), Jim Connelly (lead vocals), Michael Zur-Szpiro (harmonica)

Contact:

Susan Zur-Szpiro,

+44 7973835102

                                                                       

Other links:

Facebook   SoundCloud   Spotify   YouTube  vimeo etc etc

 
 
 

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