Machines Dream

Origins

Machines Dream were formed in 2008 when Craig West (lead vocals, bass guitar), Brian Holmes (keyboards), Ken Coulter (drums), and Shayne Wigglesworth (guitar) began jamming regularly following a one-off performance to fulfil a contractual obligation of West's. In 2009, the group added Marco Pierucci on bass guitar, allowing West to play second guitar, and recorded demos that would be the basis of their first album. In 2010 Pierucci left the band so prompting West to return to the role of bassist/vocalist.

Self Titled Album

Their first album, self-titled Machines Dream, was recorded by Craig West at his home studio, Bear Dog Digital, beginning in late 2010 and was released on March 15, 2012. During the recording process, Wigglesworth left the band and was replaced by guitarist Keith Conway. The quartet of West, Holmes, Coulter and Conway played regularly in their hometown throughout 2012 and 2013.

Many of the lyrics on the first album deal with mental illness and alienation in one form or another. For example, London By Night was written after West suffering a panic attack while visiting London, England; Unarmed At Sea is about vulnerability and features image-heavy lyrics written by singer/songwriter and associate of the band Chris Belsito; and Toronto Skyline is about feelings of loneliness being amplified by living in or visiting a large city. Of the album’s two longer tracks, the lyrics for the song Mad For All Seasons were written about conspiracy theorists, while The Session was partly written by Belsito after hearing the rest of the songs on the album and offering a set of lyrics that he felt reflected the entire album.

Musically the album reflects the band’s influences as well as the sound of the group jamming. Guitarist Keith Conway’s melodic blues lead style worked well with the Pink Floyd influenced Toronto Skyline and Colder Rain. Brian Holmes, who had previously played with metal band Gates Of Winter brought symphonic elements to the sound of the album. West and Coulter practiced extensively together to develop a rhythm section that would blend modern and classic prog elements. The band chose to release their first album through Aurovine, an artist-centric distribution service that allowed the band to release the album using a "pay what you want" model. Machines Dream was consistently among the most downloaded artists on Aurovine including holding the Number One spot in the Aurovine download chart for over one year. To capitalize on this online breakthrough, the band began investing time in social media, using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to communicate directly with their growing fan base, largely located in the United Kingdom and United States.

Immunity / 100 Afternoons

Shortly after the band's appearance at their community's Rotaryfest Second Stage music festival on July 20, 2013, Keith Conway left the band. Unsure of the group’s future, West, Holmes, and Coulter spent a weekend retreat jamming at Coulter’s cabin, located north of Sault Ste. Marie, and decided that Machines Dream had a distinct identity greater than the sum of its parts and that they would carry on. The trio began working on the band's second album throughout the remainder of 2013, writing and recording new material. West played guitar, bass and provided lead vocals, Holmes played keyboards and bass, and Coulter played the drums. As recording progressed, the band added two session players, Rob Coleman on lead guitar and Jake Rendell on backing vocals (who had also recorded the backing vocals on the first album) to help complete the album. The album was once again recorded and mixed at West’s Bear Dog Digital studio, with additional recording at Case’s Music.

According to West, the 26-minute title track about is about mediatization, using immunization as a metaphor. In the same way a person can be immunized against a disease, he suggests that most people have bombarded themselves with so much information on a daily basis between news, entertainment and advertising that they have become numb to situations or information that should be shocking or upsetting. The three shorter songs, Battersea Transcendental, My Ocean Is Electric and Broken Door were written for the first album, but were not recorded at the time. Musically the album has a colder feel than its predecessor, most noticeable in the lack of acoustic guitar and tense arrangements. Immunity features saxophone performed by guest musician Josh Norling and, as with the first album, some lyrics were contributed by songwriter Chris Belsito. Machines Dream completed recording Immunity by summer 2014, with mixing and mastering continuing throughout the autumn. The album's mastering and duplication process were crowd-funded using the Fundervine platform. Immunity was released on December 2, 2014 through Sonic Vista, a record label owned by Aurovine.

Immediately following the sessions for Immunity, the band recorded a digital-only five song EP, 100 Afternoons, which was offered as a bonus incentive to those who pre-ordered Immunity. The EP consisted of tracks that were written between 2009 and 2012, partly recorded, but unfinished. The band felt these songs did not fit either album and they had been left off for that reason, however the EP has generated some fan favourites including the upbeat Jupiter and the ballad Trading Stars For Solitude.

Following the release of Immunity, the band were featured several times on Stafford Radio's The Prog Mill, a weekly radio show that showcases progressive rock, hosted by Shaun Geraghty. Machines Dream played Indie Week in Toronto, on October 16 and 17, 2014 becoming semi-finalists. Also in October, Coleman and Rendell were offered, and accepted, full-time membership in the band, officially making the group a quintet for the first time since 2009. The now five piece began rehearsing heavily following the release of Immunity, and the chemistry between the members led to the group’s most stable line-up as well as its most characteristic voice to date. Writing songs organically and collectively had always been a goal for Machines Dream and, with the current line-up this method of song writing has been realized.

Progressive Gears

In early 2014, the band became acquainted with Eugene Rogers and Progressive Gears Management. Rogers discovered Machines Dream while he was looking for music by the progressive band IT, which he discovered on the Aurovine website. While there, he saw a free download of the first Machines Dream album and decided to listen to it on speculation. He enjoyed the album and began recommending the group to several progressive rock radio shows, including the Prog Mill hosted by Shaun Geraghty. The band and Rogers connected via Twitter and discovered that they had a common philosophical outlook on music and the business of music. In July, 2014 the band asked Rogers if he was interested in taking on managing Machines Dream to which he agreed. Rogers began promoting the music to as many people as possible using both traditional marketing methods as well as working with new social media tools and reaching out to established progressive artists and musicians. The results have been an increase in plays on specialist Internet radio stations that meet the demand for new Progressive Rock. This led to the growth of a global audience for Machines Dream.

Black Science

On April 22, 2016 Machines Dream announced the title of their upcoming third album, Black Science. The global release of their first single from this album, Heavy Water, was on Meridian FM, aired by host Guy Bellamy. The song has met with critical success in the underground U.K. Progressive Rock scene.

Black Science is slated for release in fall 2016 as a full length album. Although Black Science is not a concept album, it does have some recurring themes. The subject matter focuses on instances in the twentieth century that have led to/or are parallels for contemporary political, social and economic problems. The lyrics on the album are mostly written by West, with the exception of three tracks; one written by songwriter and lyricist Chris Belsito, one West/Belsito collaboration, and one set of lyrics written by the band’s manager, Eugene Rogers. The subject matter includes terrorism (UXB was written from Rogers’ own personal experience during The Troubles in Northern Ireland), the creation of the atomic bomb (Heavy Water), the rise of fascism from economic depression (Weimar), the growth of the military–industrial complex following WWII(The Cannons Cry), and media-overload (Noise To Signal). The songs attempt to draw lines between the past and the present.

Musically, the album marks the first time that the band’s material has been written collaboratively with all the songs stemming from jam sessions. In the past, West and Holmes were the primary writers with some of the songs originating in jam sessions. For Black Science, all the band members were involved in the composition process from the start. According to West, the production of the album intends to reflect this. “When you listen to the album, you can hear what each member is contributing. For example, if you hear an acoustic guitar, that’s Jake, and if you hear an electric that’s Rob. I tried to ensure that each member’s identity was clear in the mix.”

The Deluxe edition of Black Science will feature expanded artwork as well as a “bootleg” bonus disk, entitled ‘Reverse Engineering’, a collection of jams that did not become songs. Machines Dream chose to release some of their jam recordings both to offer fans a chance to take a closer look at the group’s process for composition and demonstrate the group’s improvisational side.

Black Science was recorded at Bear Dog Digital, Cases Music, and Village Electric recording studios, and as with the group’s previous albums, was produced and mixed by Craig West.

Influences

As a whole, Machines Dream sees the band as influenced by classic, neo-progressive and third wave prog. Individually, the members of Machines Dream each have specific influences. When the band began jamming they had no set mandate to create progressive music, but when they listened back to their jams, they discovered their natural sound would best be categorized as prog rock.

Individually, Craig West cites Pink Floyd, Marillion, Porcupine Tree and Rush as key influences on his work with Machines Dream, along with The Who’s Quadrophenia album, and the DIY ethos of Hüsker Dü; Rob Coleman's cites Yngwie Malmsteen, Greg Howe, and Pat Metheny; Jake Rendell has a Bachelor's Degree in Music, specifically voice and his influences include the classical and vocal music he studied in school as well as 90's alternative rock, Motown and traditional blues; Ken cites Big Big Train and Porcupine Tree as contemporary influences along with Pearl Jam, Electric Light Orchestra, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Radiohead; Brian started as a classical musician before working in heavy metal and progressive rock and cites Devin Townsend, Anathema, Bach and Behemoth amongst his many influences.

Characteristics

Machines Dream’s sound has been described as neo-progressive, cinematic, and radio host Guy Bellamy recently dubbed their sound as “widescreen”. They fall into the more accessible and song-oriented stream of progressive rock such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, Marillion, Spock’s Beard, Porcupine Tree and Riverside as opposed to more experimental or technical groups including King Crimson, Van Der Graff Generator, Dream Theater and Yes. Technique is subservient to songwriting, and even during more adventurous instrumental passages, the groups’ two primary soloists, Holmes and Coleman, favour melody over virtuosity. West has stated on several occasions that he is critical of the lyrics in much of the genre as being too fanciful and claimed that the band’s goal is to balance the atmosphere that progressive rock creates with lyrics that have a harder subject matter such as mental illness, politics, and media.

Discography

Machines Dream (2012)

1. Boundaries (West)
2. Toronto Skyline (West)
3. London By Night (West)
4. Unarmed at Sea (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth, lyrics: Chris Belsito)
5. Mad For All Seasons (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth)
6. Stop Waiting for Miracles (West)
7. Locusts (West)
8. Colder Rain (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth, lyrics: West, Belsito)
9. Everyone Says Goodbye (West, Conway)
10. The Session (West, Wigglesworth, Conway, lyrics: West, Belsito)

Additional Musicians:

Immunity (2014)

1. Immunity Part 1 (Holmes, West, lyrics: West, Belsito)
2. Battersea Transcendental (West)
3. Broken Door (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth)
4. My Ocean is Electric (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth)
5. Immunity Part 2 (Holmes, West, Coulter, Pierucci, Wigglesworth, lyrics: West, Belsito)

Additional Musicians:

100 Afternoons Bonus EP (2014)

1. A Poor Turn for the Soul (West)
2. A Stone's Throw (West)
3. Jupiter (West)
4. Keep Your Head Down (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth)
5. Trading Stars for Solitude (Coulter, Holmes, Pierucci, West, Wigglesworth)

Black Science (2016)

1. Weimar (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell, lyrics: West/Belsito )
2. The Cannons Cry (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell)
3. Heavy Water (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell)
4. UXB (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell, lyrics: Rogers)
5. Noise to Signal (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell)
6. Airfield on Sunwick (for Wotjek) (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell, lyrics: Belsito)
7. Black Science (Coulter, Holmes, Coleman, West, Rendell)