Friday, March 21, 2008

Another Big Machine Interview?

ANOTHER BIG MACHINE’s concoction of rock instrumentation, pop vocals, tightly constructed anthems and youthful exuberance has produced a gem of a self-titled debut album.

The seed of ANOTHER BIG MACHINE, a band called Addavoy that featured White and Carmouche, was formed in 2003 when several of the members were just out of high-school. Their sound was mature beyond their years - not deliberately crafted pop, what it became was a natural progression for the members - “We would just jam and jam, so our sound came off of what we did in rehearsals,” says Carmouche.

Learning by getting out there and DOING IT was the only way to break out of their local music scene – a small, insular one at that. Their hometown, Gonzales, Louisiana, is about 20 miles from Baton Rouge. “Where we are from,” White explains, “you had to play cover music in order to play, period.” Soon they were peppering their covers of Tonic, Better Than Ezra and the like with songs of their own, and within a year they had self-released a CD and established themselves along the so-called Redneck Riviera, from Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas to Florida.

In time, Addavoy popped up on the radar at a couple of major West Coast record labels and it was off to Los Angeles to showcase. The guys then headed back to Louisiana just in time for the mother of all storms to knock the wind out of their sails. Addavoy sadly became another of Hurricane Katrina’s casualties. In it's place came something new, invigorated by Carmouche's switch to bass, and the addition of Plaquemine and LA native / former GoodNight City drummer Josh Lee, the band truly became ANOTHER BIG MACHINE.

Buoyed by a new name, a reconfigured lineup and renewed enthusiasm, ANOTHER BIG MACHINE retooled their sound. Near the end of 2005 the band began writing, and in May of 2006 recording began. McCoy, White, Carmouche and Lee crafted a sound that ranges from songs of ardent love like “Sedated” to the defiant stomp of “Do Me Like This.” The lyrical story of each track is perfectly punctuated by the instrumentation, which is why the album merges genres and styles with such ease.

ANOTHER BIG MACHINE had to, literally and figuratively, have things shaken up to get the right equation for their self titled debut. This equation adds up to some soul-stirring music that could serve as the soundtrack to many young lives.

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