Machine OEM

1. Hello guys! How is the weather been treating you in South Africa?

Travers: One of the joys of living in Africa is the great weather. We are also blessed to live in a coastal town with great beaches and killer surf. Summers are hot and winters are mild, just the way we like them!

Steve: HA! The infamous “how’s the weather” question… It changes hourly down here…

2. On your website there is an explanation of the name; Machine O.E.M. (p.noun): an instrument designed to transmit or modify the application of heart and soul in the form of rock and roll. So tell me the story how the machine came to be and what fuels it?

Travers: Lez and I started the band about three years ago. I had been writing songs on my own as had he and had a few recorded to a point where they only needed vocals. I had seen he perform live with a mate of mine at a pub and was not totally sold. He convinced me to let him take a crack at one of my songs so I gave him Lift Me Up. He added the vocals at home on his PC, to say I was blown away would be an understatement and we instantly decided to form a band. I later found out that he was three sheets in the wind drunk when he recorded that vocal!! Ha ha!
It took us a while to sort the lineup to its current form but for the last year the crew has been rock solid. Being mates and having the ability to perform the required material and still having a blast doing it is the key. (If you check out our profile on http://ilike.com/artist/Machine+Oem/
that original vocal take is still the one we used on our EP for Lift Me Up)

Clint: Well, it was a dark and stormy night…(laughs). The band just really came about as a bunch of guys who are passionate about making music that really means something. I think everyone wants to leave a mark on the world in some way or another before they pass on but for us it’s more than that; when all’s said and done (I think I speak for the rest of the guys as well), we do what we do out of love for music, everything else that comes along the way is just icing on the cake. That said, when you actually get out there and speak to fans and hear how certain songs have touched them, it’s seriously mindblowing and just adds this whole new brand of fuel to the fire…

Lez: oh well, it just happened. I heard about this long haired Gonubian dude who wanted to rock and I put on my cleanest dirty shirt and went down to the local pub (buccaneers) and standing at the bar was Trav. All serious and prim he offered me his music (which was on a cd) and I was like ‘hey I was expecting a cassette but this will do’.Anyhoo! I listened, I liked and I sang. Now we have a very tight band that lives it up and enjoys every second of it.

3. Your music has much diversity in thematic and sound (yet sounds as a whole in overall), who writes what and where does the inspiration come from?

Travers: Song writing wise Lez and Myself handle most of the material to date. I prefer to write songs to the point where they are almost complete entities whereas Lez prefers to bring a basic melody and chord structure to the band room and have us hammer it out until it develops into a complete song.

Clint: That said, we all add our individual mark to each song; I’ll usually end up writing my own guitar parts in a song that Trav brings, for instance, maybe Steve will come up with a better bassline once we’ve heard the song and we end up using that instead…I bring a lot less material to the table than Travers and Lez do, purely because I’m my own harshest critic. I’ll get about halfway with a song, listen to it and just scrap the whole thing because I’m not happy with the way the verse sounds or whatever. It’s a bad habit…

Lez: Trav, Clint and I bang out all the tunes. But its all up to each individual to create the idle of the Machine. Trav and I just rev it up every now and again!
Travers: Better bass line Clint?!?!
Steve: Better bass line…..

4. There comes a time in everyone life when you have to admit it to yourself “Maybe It’s Me” , so what is the story behind this?

Travers: Best leave this one to Clint, it was his first contribution to our song writing pool (we are so proud! Sob…)

Clint: Writing “Maybe It’s Me” was really a kind of therapy for me in a way, but I won’t get into particulars here. A big part of the magic behind most songs (I try to approach lyric writing this way) is that each listener is able to interpret the meaning or story behind it in their own way and mould it to their own emotions or place in life at that particular time, making it special to them. There are so many songs out there that have a profound meaning to me, that have moved me because of my personal interpretation of what the writer meant, and I would like to think that people who listen to something I write could have that same sort of experience.

5. You have a demo EP “Something to say” out which you produced yourselves. How would you rate the feedback that you got from people about it? What would your mothers say about it?

Travers: Something To Say was recorded back in 2007 and was my first effort at recording music. To be honest I had no idea what I was doing and very little equipment with which to do it. It was a great learning curve at the very least and I think we all learnt a lot about song writing, production and mixing in the process. The quality though in the end was not close to our high standards sonically so for our latest three demos we opted for a more professional recording with Drop And Roll Studios. There are a few clips of us in studio in the promo video for “Maybe It’s Me” that you can check out here on our STP profile. It’s a great little home studio that Brian Mclaglen has got going for himself and although still not where we want them to be, they turned our fairly well.

Clint: We haven’t really put too much effort into getting “Something To Say” out there, really, as Travers said, the recording quality really isn’t up to standard as far as we’re concerned and frankly doesn’t do the material the justice it deserves. Our mom’s are our biggest fans though (I think every band could say the same)!

6. You gig a lot in your area. Is there a strange story you could share related to any of that gigs (groupie problems maybe)?

Clint: *ahem* no comment! (laughs)

Travers: There are some really interesting people in our town to say the least! Groupies, he he, we are actually starting to get those!! They seem to be a big distraction for Steve as they always inspire him to strange onstage antics and bizarre posing! Drinking the local groupies pretty in Queenstown though almost became our biggest mistake!

Jay: When we get on stage we are there to put on a professional performance and have fun at doing it…And yeah, stealing trolley’s, chasing away crazed groupies and stopping bar brawls just comes naturally….

Lez: RA!!!

Steve: Queenstown… Hmmm… Funny story actually… (If Clint doesn’t edit this out) Two girls decided at 4am to follow us very indiscreetly to our Bed and Breakfast and attempt to climb the fence to get to well… mostly Clint actually… I like to think that I was a close second…

Travers: Note: Jay has never stopped a bar brawl, he likes to watch the chick fights.

7.I have not been able to see you live (due to being half the globe away ha ha) but thanks to modern technology I was able to watch a video footage of you performing an acoustic set, and I must say you guys give out lots of “energy”. About that gig, how come it was acoustic? Plus can’t help myself not to notice – your drummer is quite a pounder, changing the sticks weekly?

Travers: Ahh the infamous ‘Unplugged gig’. We were opening for Prime Circle that night; they are a pretty big deal down here and traditionally are very picky about having opening acts as a general rule. We were well chuffed when asked to open for them for what was billed as ‘The Acoustic Sessions’. Unfortunately when they kicked off their set after ours they came out all guns blazing with not a piece of natural wood in sight! The guys were well pissed as it was the first time we attempted an acoustic gig and although we handled it pretty well and won over a bucket load of new fans (the venue had well over 1000 people in it that night) we are far more impressive with Electrics in hand.

Clint: Not to mention more comfortable…although it was a learning curve, being our first unplugged show, we will probably do something similar in the near future. We’ve talked a lot about permanently incorporating an acoustic segment into our live show as a sort of “wind-down” before bringing out the Les Pauls again to finish the job.

Jay: I was using brushes that evening, not something i’m accustomed to, so yeah I pounded quite hard that evening…Not to mention, accoustic gigs onstage sound is a lot different to our usual electric set…

Lez: It was awesome. The crowd singing along to the lyrics was the highlight of the night. The sound was fantastic and we will be back to rock with wood in hand!

8. This is yet another chance to call upon the investors and say why are you the one they should invest in and why (and what) can you deliver?

Travers: Well firstly, check out the music, if you’re still interested, consider the pro’s and con’s of investing in us. We are all highly motivated and accomplished musicians with a strong drive to succeed. We have all played in other bands prior to Machine OEM and have been around the block enough times to know what is required of us as a working band. Most importantly though, if you think the tracks we have up on STP are any good then hold on to your seats folks because you aint heard doo doo yet!

Clint: What Trav said; the best is yet to come!!!

9. Loosening it up a bit. If you would have to associate each band member to a character from comics who would be who and why?

Clint: Kraytos The God Of War (they are both follicly challenged.)
Travers: Wolverine (I get to be Wolverine ok, that’s just how it is!)
Jay: Beavis!!
Steve: Shaggy from Scooby Doo (They both have dorky tendencies but remain oddly cool!)
Lez: HE-MAN Ra! By the power of Greyskull!

10. What’s the one band that you have to or have the greatest desire to tour with in this life time?

Travers: For me it would be Aerosmith, hands down!
Clint: Ah, there are SO many! AC/DC would be right up there though…
Jay: Muse for sure…
Lez: Pink Floyd

11. What’s the weirdest thing someone has ever asked you? And if you would be ever so kind to share the answer to that question too.

Travers: Hey, can I take a picture with you guys?
Clint: Hey, can you guys play any Creedance? (WHAAAT?)
Steve: Will you have my babies? – (A: For breakfast?)
Lez: Your bass guitarist is cute what’s her name? Mwah ha ha ha! Sorry Steve, it’s true.

12. What is the craziest thing that a fan has ever done on your concert?

Travers: There was this lovely young lady at one of out gigs recently that demolished the door to the ladies room after one of out gigs. If you check out our facebook fan page the lovely Red Fox can be seen posing amongst the debris.

13. Do any of you have any “celebrity crushes”?

Travers: Jessica Alba
Clint: Elisha Cuthbert…*nom nom nom*
Jay: Anna Paquinn from True Blood….NOM NOM NOM
Lez: No comment!

14. If Machine OEM would have to make an appearance in one Reality show or Talent show which one would it be and why?

Travers: Is there a reality show about strippers? If so, that one!
Steve: Yeah, actually I’ve seen it once (for Teasers I think). As long as I’m a judge… I’m keen!
Lez: we support all hard working strippers out there Woop Woop!

15. That would be all guys! If you have anything more to say this is the perfect place to say it!

Jay: Thanks to our awesome fans, and parents for putting up with us!!!
Clint: Thanks so much to all who’ve supported us so far and continue to do so…we hope to see you all soon on tour!!
Lez: Don’t forget drink lots of water and love everybody, it’s your right! Peace and respect.
Travers: A huge thanks to those folks who have invested in us to date. We have every intention of producing an album that we are proud of. The rest will is academic.

*Alnilam*