HERO
MACHINE
The boys recently returned from recording
Hero Machine hate genres, but they’ve been labelled as everything from hardcoreprog
to emo-reggae. They talk to Kate Abbott about refusing labels, busting their
band out of Birmingham and cracking physics conundrums.
been described
as emo-reggae”,
front man Joe
japes. “That really
“We’ve
annoyed me.”
“Yeah, and someone said we sound like
Fairport Convention!” Alex throws in for good
measure. “Shows how much people know
about music.”
Hero Machine don’t like being pigeonholed,
and they want to make it clear from
the off: “We can’t describe ourselves as a
certain genre and we make the music, so why
should other people?”
Their influences veer wildly from Radiohead,
The Mars Volta and Incubus to ambient
Icelandic tracks (the only music synth player
Dale will listen to, much to the amusement
of his bandmates). “Everyone likes totally
different music, but somehow it works,”
clarifies Joe. So how does the song writing
process happen? “Someone comes up with a
riff, then we all layer on top of it,” says Dale.
“The lyrics always come last. Joe never tells
us what the lyrics are.” “That’s because I
don’t know,” explains Joe. “I forget most of
Photography by Sam Burrows
my lyrics. I usually make them up on the spot
at gigs.”
Like their impromptu lyrics, their set list
varies from gig to gig too, and they explain
one memorable show dedicated to a poor
soul named Johnny: “We did our whole set
for someone called Johnny,” Dale extols. “We
explained his life story through our tracks,
starting with ‘Johnny’s first kiss’, ‘Johnny’s
second kiss’, ‘Johnny discovers the Higg’s
Boson’ and ‘Johnny dies’.” Hold on, what’s
the Higg’s Boson? “Well,” spouts Dale, “noone
really knows why things have mass,” to
a chorus of boos from the other boys. “It’s a
physics theory people have been trying to
prove since the 60s.”
It’s rather rare to meet a band with songs
about physics conundrums, but the humour,
intelligence and sensitivity that rests behind
their music comes through as clearly as
their synth sound. Their songs stand out
like a synth-led, slightly Americana younger
brother to Bloc Party. In fact, their favourite
comparison so far was when a fan described
them as “what Bloc Party should have
been.”
From left: Dale, Joe, Tom, Martin, Alex
their first double A-side single in Liverpool,
where sound engineer, Al, recommended
they tone down the experimental elements
of their tracks, making songs no more than
three minutes long. “Tom hated it,” explains
Joe. “He looked like the man had killed his
child or something … But I was all for it, ‘cause
people have been known to switch off during
our five minute progressive numbers!”
Hero Machine have been playing their
energetic, progressive back-catalogue across
Birmingham since they formed two years
ago. They started out playing shows at the
only venue in local town Redditch, which
subsequently got closed down for the amount
of underage drinking that went on behind its
sweaty doors. “We got the blame for that,”
drummer Patrick enthuses. “You had to have
a special hand stamp to prove you were over
18, and the owners thought we bought our
own stamp so we could let our friends drink!”
They’re all over 18 now and headed on a
more mainstream tack, pushed by a desire
to be heard all over the country: “It’s time
to share the wealth,” Joe explains. “We just
want to reach as many people as possible,
and touch people … in a nice way, not a
dodgy way!”
www.myspace.com/heromachine
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