Soft Machine & Beledo

SOFT MACHINE

JOHN ETHERIDGE guitar
THEO TRAVIS sax, flute, Fender Rhodes piano
ROY BABBINGTON bass guitar
JOHN MARSHALL drums

Performing jazz-rock-fusion classic from mid 70’s, a few oldies from the early 70’s and several tunes from the Legacy years and some new material.
Recording the new studio album in London on December 19/20/21, to be produced by Leonardo Pavkovic of MoonJune Music. The new album to be released worldwide on Cherry records/MoonJune in June 2018.

SOFT MACHINE is a legend and an institution of British music, a band who included Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen, Mike Ratledge, Kevin Ayers, Andy Summers (later of The Police), Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Roy Babbington, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Allan Holdsworth, John Etheridge, Percy Jones, Rick Sanders, Dave McRae and Jack Bruce among others (Jimi Hendrix briefly jammed with the band in 1968!). Since its creation in 1966, this band pioneered Psychedelic and Progressive Rock, led the ‘Canterbury’ trend, pioneered jazz-rock, and then guitar-led fusion (launching the guitar god Allan Holdsworth in 1974), influenced generations of musicians. Disbanded in 1978, recreated in few occasions in 1981 and 1984, the band resurfaces in 1999 under the name of Soft Ware. Much was said about this band with a very complex intriguing history of constant personal changes during the 1966-1978 period. The band resurrected in 1999 under the name of Soft Ware, then as Soft Works 2002-2004, Soft Machine Legacy 2004-2015, returning to the original name from 2015, and performing numerous concerts all around Europe, South America and Japan. Soft Machine will make their first North American tour in October 2018 with dates in Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, Boston MA, Pawling NY, New York NY, Toronto ON, Buffalo NY, Cleveland OH, Indianapolis IN, Chicago IL, Milwaukee WI and St. Paul MN, after performing one off gig at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival in July 2018.

FREE DOWNLOAD OF SOFT MACHINE: MOONJUNE YEARS 2002-now
https://softmachine-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/moonjune-years-2002-sampler
(enter $0 at the check-out)

Soft Ware (1999–2002) and Soft Works (2002–2004)

The first such conception in September 1999 was Soft Ware which featured Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall and long-time friend Keith Tippett. This line-up would only remain together briefly. In 2002, Leonardo Pavkovic of MoonJune Music, an old friend of Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper, put together another former Soft Machine member, Allan Holdsworth, who joined the three members of Soft Ware, who would rename themselves Soft Works in June 2002. They had changed their name to avoid confusion with Peter Mergener’s band Software. As Soft Works, they made their world live debut on 17 August 2002 at the Progman Cometh Festival (at the Moore Theater in Seattle, Washington), released in 2003 their only (studio) album, Abracadabra, consisting of all new material recorded at the Eastcote Studios in London on 5–7 June 2002, and toured Japan in August 2003, Italy in January–February 2004 and Mexico in March 2004.

Soft Machine Legacy (2004–2015)

In October 2004, upon the persistence of Leonardo Pavkovic of MoonJune Music, a new variant of Soft Works, with John Etheridge permanently replacing Holdsworth, took the name of Soft Machine Legacy and performed their first two gigs (two Festival shows on 9 October in Turkey & 15 October in Czech Republic), Liam Genockey temporarily replacing John Marshall who had ligament problems (the first Soft Machine Legacy line-up being consequently: Elton Dean, John Etheridge, Hugh Hopper and Liam Genockey). Later on, Soft Machine Legacy released three albums: Live in Zaandam (2005), the studio album Soft Machine Legacy (2006) recorded in September 2005 and featuring fresh material and the double CD and DVD Live at the New Morning (2006). After Elton Dean died in February 2006, the band continued with British saxophonist and flautist Theo Travis, formerly of Gong and The Tangent (temporarily replaced by saxophonist Paul Dunmall at the jazz festival in Udine in the Spring of 2006). In December 2006, the new Legacy line-up recorded the album Steam in Jon Hiseman’s studio, in Surrey, UK. Steam was eventually released by Moonjune Records in August 2007, before a European tour in autumn. In 2008, Hopper was sidelined by leukemia and the band continued live performances with Fred Baker. Following Hopper’s death in 2009, the band announced that they would continue with Babbington once again stepping into the role formerly held by Hopper. On 4 October 2010, Soft Machine Legacy released their fifth album, a 58-minute new live album entitled Live Adventures recorded live on 22 October 2009 in Austria and Germany during a European tour. On 18 March 2013, the Legacy band released a new studio album, titled Burden of Proof, recorded in Italy in the late Summer of 2012 in a small village of San Sebastiano da Pó, in North-Western Italy. In an early 2013 interview, Travis stated that, "legally we could actually be called Soft Machine but for various reasons it was decided to be one step removed." In May 2014, veteran sax player Art Themen subbed for Theo Travis at the short Brazilian tour. In February 2014, Soft Machine Legacy performed at the Cruise To The Edge, in the Caribbean. In March 2015, Gary Husband stepped in for drummer John Stanley Marshall performing with the Legacy for a short tour of Japan, along with guest artist and long-time friend Keith Tippett.

A return to the name "Soft Machine" (2015–present)

In September and October 2015, it was announced that the band Soft Machine Legacy (John Etheridge, John Marshall, Roy Babbington and Theo Travis) would be performing under the name Soft Machine. In December 2015, it was confirmed that the band had dropped the "Legacy" tag from their name, as the band featured three of the group’s 1970s era members – John Etheridge, John Marshall and Roy Babbington (from the seminal 1976’s album "Softs"). Due to John Marshall’s health issue, several drummers subbed for the veteran British drum legend in recent years: Mark Fletcher, Asaf Sirkis, Nic France, Martin France. In November of 2017, MoonJune Music announced that Soft Machine will perform for the first time in the USA since 19785, at the Progtober Fest, a festival of progressive music to be held in Chicago on October 19/20/21, 2018. Another tours in Japan and South America will follow with the second USA tour (West Coast) with Mexico in Caribbean being planned for January/February 2019.

Advance tickets 32.50$ + fees at ticketfly & rotate this