Man As Machine is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

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founded in 2008. Their debut album ''Nothing But A Thing'' was released in 2011 and their follow-up album ''Patterns'' was released in 2015. The band currently consists of bassist Xavier Knox, drummer KJ Forde, guitarist Norden Hartman, and singer Rob Visser.

History

Early history (2008-2010)

The band was founded in 2008 as a result of Telkom's failed ''Do Band Up'' competition, which had a format similar to that of Big Brother's except that all the contestants were musicians that were required to perform together. During the two year period thereafter, they released an EP called ''What Makes A Man''.

''Nothing But A Thing'' (2011)

In 2011, Man As Machine released their debut album ''Nothing But A Thing'', which received generally positive reviews. On 22 October 2012, the music video for ''Burnout'' was released. On 14 July 2013, the music video for ''Control'' was released. The band performed at RAMFest's 2013 and 2014 legs as well as Oppikoppi Odyssey in 2014.

''Patterns'' (2015)

On 5 August 2014, Man As Machine released a new music video for the song ''Force'', which alludes to ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' with lyrics mentioning Midichlorians as well as

the Force The Force is a Metaphysics, metaphysical, mysterious, and Energy (esotericism), ubiquitous power in the ''Star Wars'' Universe of Star Wars, fictional universe. Characters refer to the Force as an energy that interconnects all things in the univer ...

. On 14 September 2014, the band announced via their

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page that they were working on their second album. It was confirmed in an interview that the new album would be slated for a 2015 release. The album was released on 3 March 2015 with the title ''Patterns''. In a separate interview, the band hinted at heavy touring for the new album as well as possible dates in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It was announced that Man As Machine would perform as a support act for one of

Dead Letter Circus Dead Letter Circus were an Australian alternative rock band from Brisbane, Queensland. Their 2010 debut album '' This Is the Warning'' debuted at No. 2 on the Australian album charts and spawned a number of singles that were played heavily ...

' South African dates in November 2014. Dave Grevler of Anti Motion Studios produced the album and Dead Letter Circus' guitarist Clint Vincent mastered it.

Members

Rob Visser - Vocals and rhythm

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Xavier Knox -

Bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

KJ Forde -

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Norden Hartman - Lead guitar

Musical style

Man As Machine's music is often referred to as

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

, or

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

. Rob Visser's vocal technique and style is often compared to that of Chris Cornell's from

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

and

Audioslave Audioslave was an American Rock music, rock supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Glendale, California, in 2001. The four-piece band consisted of Soundgarden's lead singer and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell with Rage Against the Machine memb ...

fame. Xavier Knox' bass playing has been likened to that of

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

's Tim Commerford. Musically, the band has also been compared to Wolfmother and

Alter Bridge Alter Bridge is an American Rock music, rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips (musician), Scott Phill ...

References

{{Reflist Musical groups established in 2008 South African alternative rock groups