Album Notes

Jazz and punk rock are both unique and revolutionary musical genres. New Machines came about as guitarist Eric Bair's experiment to blend punk rock, pop, and jazz together into one distinct musical style. The story begins in Toledo, OH in 1998 when Eric experimented with 4-track recordings using guitar and borrowed instruments from friends. The idea was to make an ecclectic collection of songs and release them on a CD. The band was spawned around 1999 when Eric recruited Sam Krall, a fellow Toledo area musician who helped out by lending his saxophone skills, vocals, and production on several songs. Eric then met drummer Jayant Thomas at school and the three started rehearsing and writing. Since then the band has played throughout the Midwest U.S. in cities such as Chicago, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Newport, KY and others. The Orchard, well known for signing The Ravonettes, began distributing New Machines' self-titled CD in 1999. This event exposed the band to worldwide CD distribution and made tracks available for download on every major digital music website. New Machines has received radio air play from all over the U.S. and Eastern Europe throughout it's 8 year tenure. 2003 was a productive year for New Machines as the band played several festivals, including the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati. The band has played with a wide variety of artists from all over the U.S. including Steve Conte, the guitarist for the reformed punk / glam rockers The New York Dolls and Wussy featuring Chuck Cleaver of the Ass Ponies. In 2005, the band released their third CD 'Welcome To Metropolis'. The band gained additional exposure in 2007 as their single 'Metropolis' was featured on a CD soundtrack for the PBS television series Roadtrip Nation along with a track from the indie rock band Of Montreal. Currently the band resides in two different cities - Toledo and Cincinnati OH, forcing the band to travel long distances to rehearse and perform. Despite this obstacle, the band has managed this arrangement during the past 7 years and continues to perform as often as possible. New Machines looks forward to exploring jazz, punk, and pop roots with additional shows in 2008.

This new disk features new "studio" tracks and some recent live performances of previously released songs. For those of you who are already fans and have copies of the first two discs, you'll notice that two of the live tracks on "Welcome To Metropolis" are extended in length from the original tracks on the self-titled CD (1999). Check out these tracks and compare them to the original recordings on the "New Machines" CD. Let us know your opinion on the contrasts. Feel free to write a review on this website. Enjoy!