THIS MACHINE KILLS

HISTORY

This Machine Kills (TMK) formed in December of 1998 when Brett Hall (Guitar) and Ryan Gratzer (original drummer) were brought together by Lisa Oglesby of HeartAttaCk and Ebullition fame. Steve Aoki (vocals) signed on soon thereafter to play bass. The search for a singer followed, though a workable situation with a dedicated singer couldn't be reached with the result being that Steve and Brett would both sing as well as playing their respective instruments. In early 1999 they played their first show at the Pickle Patch (RIP), with Bury Me Standing (BMS). The plans for the TMK/BMS split 7" were laid that night, with TMK recording their two songs (as well as a four song demo) not long after. Of course, as has come to be common with TMK releases, the split 7" took quite some time to see the light of day. The original line-up played many shows around the Southern California area and in the summer of 1999 did a five day road trip through Southern California and Arizona with Kill Sadie. After this road trip two lineup changes resulted: Ryan left the band due to lack of time and it was decided that Steve would discontinue his bass duties and concentrate on vocals. At this point Brian Rottinger of Hand Held Heart records joined the band on bass and Graham Clise took over on drums. Graham only lasted one show before time commitments to other bands forced his departure. Luckily (for us at least) Stratego, a Goleta mainstay, was reaching the end of its life. Jeremy Fransen, their drummer, expressed interest in being TMK's drummer and joined not long after Graham's departure. With this lineup the TMK/Envy split 7" was recorded (a product of Steve's Japanese travels) as well as a song for the Sound Virus comp. A few more road trips to Arizona and the San Francisco Bay Area as well as numerous shows in Southern California were done leading up to the recording of the TMK 7" "On the Move" in March of 2000. This record was not to surface until April of the following year. In the time between the recording and release of the 7" TMK had the opportunity to travel to Japan for a 12 day tour with Envy, 9 Days Wonder and the Exploder. The only problem was that Jeremy would not be able to make the trip due to a friend's wedding. The search for a fill-in drummer for the tour resulted in Scott Batiste from Yaphet Kotto taking up the drum reigns temporarily. The period following the Japan tour was somewhat quiet with very few shows being played, mostly due to school commitments on Brian's part. The "On the Move" 7" finally surfaced in April of 2001, but not before another song was recorded for El Grito's "America" comp.

Brett Hall
May 24, 2001

Since then we've recorded our record on Ebullition "Death in the Audubon Ballroom", our tribute and remembrance of the fierce freedom fighter and black liberation and black nationalist and internationist, Malcolm X. After the LP came out we left on a US summer tour in 2001. This time Steve Roche from Brooklyn NY joined forces and played drums on this one. Look out for Golden Brown! We came back and took a long break. Just recently we recorded two songs for a split record with JR Ewing from Norway and did another 5 day California tour. The split 7" and CD is to come out on Dim Mak in the US and Sonzai (Tetsu from Envy's label) in Japan. In Europe, Wakusei, Plastik Culture, Bachelor, and Carmen Diablo are split releasing the 7". We are planning on recording a split 12" with Yaphet Kotto in April and go back out to Japan in July 2002 with them to tour with Envy. The tour dates for the Japan tour should be up soon.