MACHINATE

Rip It Up, 15 December 1983, Page 12

MACHINATE

Russell Brown

PLOT, INTRIQUE; CONTRIVE

At the beginning of this year Henri Downes was weathering one of ~•' Wellington's dubious summers and growing . increasingly dissatisfied with playing drums in bands (Beat Rhythm Fashion and the Spines). Two months later he was sweltering in 38 deg heat and \on stage d percussing with the

Sydney's up and coming Machinations. "I just went along, saw them, spoke to them after the gig and they said 'Okay mate, come along, show us what you can do' and away I went." For Downes the new band fulfilled twin ambitions of getting out from behind a drum kit and working with a drum machine and writing.

"I went along and saw them and the guitarist had been writing all the drum machine rhythms and it sounded like a bad rock'n'roll drummer. We've slowly got that better. I've been writing a lot of the bass drum.

"Live, I'm standing up too. In the studio I'm actually drumming but live I refuse to sit down and go back to conventional drumming. Over there you get all these rock'n'roll stars saying 'You

wanker - standing up!' but it just doesn't worry me because the whole idea of the Machinations is that we thrive off our live performances because we're such an active band on stage. Freddy (Loneragan, the band's singer) for a start, he's lunatic, he's hyperactive. I play but I perform as well. We're everywhere. We know our cues, we don't have to stop and look at each other so we can perform at the same time." The Machinations are really only known here for the 'Pressure Sway' single but they have a new single 'Jumping the Gap' which, like 'Pressure Sway' was mixed by New York whizz Steve Thompson. 'Pressure Sway' was well received in the USA and Thompson, an influential DJ in his own right, is helping push the new single in New York.

Despite the band's successful Eartnership with Thompson they ave yet to meet him. For each single they recorded a bundle of tracks and despatched them to Thompson to do with as he saw fit. Thompson likes the music so much that he is coming to Australia next year, effects rack in tow, to produce the Machinations' second album. Keyboardist Tony Starr is in the USA arranging things with Thompson at the moment.

After the album the band may tour here, possibly as supports on the projected Police tour. But they are also likely to be in demand in America, where they are climbing various dance charts and are on

twice-a-day rotate on the cable video channel MTV.

"I'd like to tour here first," says Downes, naturally enough. 'Then we'll head for the USA. I think it's Better to attack Europe via the States."

Downes brought songwriting skills to the band but all the members write often on the road, bring songs together in soundchecks. All the songs for the new album have been worked out and there will be no writing done in the studio but the experimenting done will be with sounds.

"If you listen to us on record and then go and see us live we're completely different. We totally believe in the whole aspect of going into a studio and saying, We've got all this equipment, why not use it?'.

"Fair enough, you can't use it live but I don't really want to sound identical to the records when we play live anyway. I find that really boring." When he's not playing, Downes likes to go out to one of Syndey's clubs and dance. It's a passion. He sees the Machinations as a dance band and doesn't consider that anything but a positive term. "I get pissed off with people relating to dance bands in a You're just a dance band' way. There's a lot of good things happening in this band. And what's dance music anyway? The Beatles? Do you dance to the Beatles? Do you move to the Fall? What's dance music?"