Sister Machine Gun is an American

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

band originally based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Sister Machine Gun was formed in New York City by Chris Randall and Guilherme Machado. After a short hiatus, the band signed with Wax Trax! Records and released their debut album, '' Sins of the Flesh'', in 1992. The band went through several lineup changes over the years, with their sound evolving throughout their career. After leaving Wax Trax! Records, they moved to Randall's own label, Positron! Records. In 2007, the band disbanded, and Randall pursued a solo career. However, Sister Machine Gun returned in 2015 with a new album ''The Future Unformed'', released on WTII Records.

History

The early years

Sister Machine Gun was formed by Chris Randall and Guilherme Machado in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They performed at

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

's Pipeline, and New York's Limelight. Their name comes from a lyric in the Skinny Puppy song " Tin Omen." The band went on a short hiatus after Chris Randall joined

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial rock band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art proje ...

's tour as a stage technician. After the tour, Randall left New York City and relocated to

. He then found work in the mailroom of

Wax Trax! Records Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that y ...

, and began recording a demo with Jim Marcus and Van Christie of Die Warzau. The rough demo was given to

Sascha Konietzko Sascha Kegel Konietzko (born 21 June 1961), also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and record producer. He is the founder, frontman and "anchor" of the industrial band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the fat ...

for mixing. Konietzko passed the demo along to Jim Nash, head of Wax Trax! Records, where Randall worked. The label then signed the band to a record deal.

The Wax Trax! years

Sister Machine Gun's debut album '' Sins of the Flesh'' was released on Wax Trax! in 1992. During this time, Chris Randall assembled a group of musicians to tour in support of the album. Tom Gaul and Steve Stoll joined the band, alongside Chris Kelly and Randall. Stoll left the band after this tour, and work on the next album began. '' The Torture Technique'' was released in 1994. Tom Gaul left midway through the recording process, after contributing to the album. New members were recruited for the upcoming tour. Guitarist Greg Lucas (later a member of Final Cut) joined, as well as drummer Scott Churilla (later a member of

The Reverend Horton Heat The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician James C. Heath (born 1959) as well as the name of his psychobilly trio from Dallas. Heath is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A reviewer for the magazine Prick (magazine), ''Pr ...

's band). Sister Machine Gun went on to join the Angstfest tour with KMFDM and

Chemlab Chemlab is an American industrial rock band formed in Washington D.C. in 1989 by Dylan Thomas More, Joe Frank, and Jared Louche (then known as Hendrickson). Influenced by the pioneers of the industrial genre, such as Throbbing Gristle, Chemlab ...

. After this tour, Kelly left the band. Prior to the recording of ''

Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ionizing radiation (such as sunburn, caused by ultraviolet radiation). Most burns are due to heat from hot fluids (called scalding), soli ...

'', Sister Machine Gun went on another tour. The lineup during this time consisted of Randall, bassist Bob Jones, drummer Tom DeSalvo (former member of Chemlab), and Chris Smits on guitar. The band then began work on the album ''Burn''. Guitarist Geno Lenardo (of Filter) joined in the studio. ''Burn'' was released in 1995. The album peaked at #9 on the CMJ Radio Top 200. The title track became one of the band's most recognizable songs, as it later appeared on the ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. The tour line-up at this time consisted of Randall, bassist Richard Deacon, and drummer Kevin Temple (formerly of Die Warzau and later Apartment 26). This line up remained mostly consistent throughout the touring for ''Burn'' and ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

'', with guitarists Pat Sprawl and Brian Sarche joining at various times. The final Sister Machine Gun album on Wax Trax!, ''Metropolis'', was released in 1997. The album spent more than 14 weeks on the CMJ Radio Top 200 chart, peaking at #7.

Reeves Gabrels Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. A member of The Cure since 2012, Gabrels is also known for his work with David Bowie and Tin Machine from 1988 to 1999. He also fronts the band Reeves Gabrels ...

did guitar work on the album.

The Positron! years

After 1997's ''Metropolis'' album, Sister Machine Gun left Wax Trax. The rest of the band's material was released on Randall's Positron! Records, the record label he founded and operates with his wife, Lisa. The band's sound changed considerably after their move to the new label. In 2007, Sister Machine Gun officially disbanded and Randall began a solo career.

New material (2015)

On November 5, 2014, a Facebook page for Sister Machine Gun was launched, along with a teaser image announcing the project's return in early 2015 on

WTII Records WTII Records is an independent record label created in 2001 by former Wax Trax! Records employee Bart Pfanenstiel, and David Schock. History WTII established The concept behind WTII began in 1999, while Bart Pfanenstiel was employed at Wax ...

. This image was also shared on Randall's personal Facebook account with the caption, "Remember that thing I said I'd never do again? Yeah. I'm doing it. Spring '15 on WTII Records." On March 13, 2015, the band released '' The Future Unformed''.

Primary member history

Guilherme Machado joined Randall in Chicago for the recording of the band's debut album, ''Sins of the Flesh''. After recording some guitar parts, Machado left the band. After the completion of the album, Chris Kelly joined the band. After Kelly's departure in 1995, Randall continued the band primarily as a solo project. Miguel Turanzas joined the band in 1999, and continued as a member until it was disbanded in 2007.

Partial discography

Studio albums

* '' Sins of the Flesh'' (1992; WaxTrax! Records) * '' The Torture Technique'' (1994; WaxTrax!/TVT Records) * ''

'' (1995; WaxTrax!/TVT Records) * ''

'' (1997; WaxTrax!/TVT Records) * '' volution'' (1999; Positron! Records) * ''6.0'' (2000; Positron! Records) * ''Influence'' (2003; Positron! Records) * ''The Future Unformed'' (2015; WTII Records)

References

External links

Official site

Chris Randall's new SMG site
* *

{{Authority control TVT Records artists Musical groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 American industrial rock musical groups American musical quartets Wax Trax! Records artists