Z Machine were formed in Swansea just before the pandemic hit in 2020, after a chance encounter brought together Gareth Piper and Owen Rosser, both excellent guitar players and ex-members of death metal band Extinction, and Rob, ex-member of psychedelic prog three-piece Attercopus. Gareth and Owen had been talking about forming a jazz fusion/prog band, and asked Rob to form one with them after seeing him playing flute in Attercopus a few years previously. After Rob mentioned he was learning the saxophone, the flute was quickly dropped in favour of some reed-based sonic destruction. Kristian Rees, bass-playing school friend of Owen, was next to join - being a perfect fit for what we were trying to achieve and possessing the chops needed to pull it off. Finally, after a long search, our drummer Lester Greenhalgh answered an advert based on our shared interests of a variety of jazz fusion and prog bands, and with much experience playing in various jazz bands, slotted in perfectly.
Our music is free and without bounds; heavily influenced by the prog giants of the 70s, the jazz fusion pioneers, and all the music weirdos in between. We try and create fresh and exciting music limited only by our instrumentation, pushing the boundaries of our imaginations to bring audiences something that they perhaps have never heard before…We spent our first couple of years writing material and learning it ready for rehearsal, and played our first gig on Christmas Eve 2021. Since then we have been writing more and more material, and gigging as much as we can. As a result we have been invited to play at numerous festivals and shows, including Kozfest, Tannerfest, Dr Sardonicus’ Psychedelic Dream Festival, and Glastonbury Psychefest. We released our debut album in 2023 which has received great reviews from the underground prog press!
Z Machine were formed in Swansea just before the pandemic hit in 2020, after a chance encounter brought together Gareth Piper and Owen Rosser, both excellent guitar players and ex-members of death metal band Extinction, and Rob, ex-member of psychedelic prog three-piece Attercopus. Gareth and Owen had been talking about forming a jazz fusion/prog band, and asked Rob to form one with them after seeing him playing flute in Attercopus a few years previously. After Rob mentioned he was learning the saxophone, the flute was quickly dropped in favour of some reed-based sonic destruction. Kristian Rees, bass-playing school friend of Owen, was next to join - being a perfect fit for what we were trying to achieve and possessing the chops needed to pull it off. Finally, after a long search, our drummer Lester Greenhalgh answered an advert based on our shared interests of a variety of jazz fusion and prog bands, and with much experience playing in various jazz bands, slotted in perfectly.
Our music is free and without bounds; heavily influenced by the prog giants of the 70s, the jazz fusion pioneers, and all the music weirdos in between. We try and create fresh and exciting music limited only by our instrumentation, pushing the boundaries of our imaginations to bring audiences something that they perhaps have never heard before…We spent our first couple of years writing material and learning it ready for rehearsal, and played our first gig on Christmas Eve 2021. Since then we have been writing more and more material, and gigging as much as we can. As a result we have been invited to play at numerous festivals and shows, including Kozfest, Tannerfest, Dr Sardonicus’ Psychedelic Dream Festival, and Glastonbury Psychefest. We released our debut album in 2023 which has received great reviews from the underground prog press!
