Secret Machines are an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band, originally from

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States, before moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The original lineup consisted of two brothers,

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

(vocals, bass guitar and keyboards) and Benjamin Curtis (guitar and backing vocals), and

Josh Garza Josh Garza is an American musician and drummer for the New York City–based rock band The Secret Machines, as well as the Los Angeles–based rock band EFG. Originally from the Dallas, Texas area, Garza formed the Secret Machines with brothers ...

(drums). Benjamin left the band in March 2007 to focus on his work with

School of Seven Bells School of Seven Bells (often stylized as SVIIB) was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2007. It originally consisted of Alejandra Deheza (vocals, guitar), her sister Claudia Deheza (keyboards, vocals) and Benjamin Curtis ...

, and was replaced on guitar by Phil Karnats. The re-activated band is a two-piece, with the remaining members being Brandon Curtis and Josh Garza.

History

Early years

Before forming Secret Machines, the members played in various Dallas bands such as UFOFU, Captain Audio,

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

, When Babies Eat Pennies, and

Tripping Daisy Tripping Daisy is a Neo-psychedelia, neo-psychedelic pop rock band that was formed in Dallas, Texas, by lead singer/guitarist Tim DeLaughter in 1990 along with Jeff Bouck (drums), Wes Berggren (guitar) and Mark Pirro (bass). The group disband ...

. Captain Audio was formed by Garza and vocalist/guitarist/chief songwriter Regina Chellew in the late Nineties as a two-piece noise duo. Brandon—and occasionally Ben—Curtis joined soon after as the original duo began to develop a more standard rock sound. In a little over a year they had recorded and released the EP ''My Ears Are Ringing But My Heart's OK'' and the full-length ''Luxury Or Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared''. Shortly after the release of ''Luxury'' the band went on extended hiatus and eventually disbanded when Garza and the Curtis brothers moved to New York, leaving Chellew in Dallas to form the band Chao and later join indie pop outfit The Happy Bullets.

''September 000'' and ''Now Here Is Nowhere''

The band first recorded their EP ''September 000'' in Chicago, six weeks after forming. Upon moving to New York the band developed their sound and signed to Warner Brothers. In 2004, Secret Machines released their debut album, ''

Now Here Is Nowhere ''Now Here is Nowhere'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Secret Machines. It was released on May 18, 2004. The songs on the album are reminiscent of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, with krautrock and shoegazing influences. Track l ...

''. The song "Nowhere Again" was used in promotional spots during its launch and appeared in the 2006 video game '' Driver: Parallel Lines''. Contemporary reviews for the album were favourable. The band's second EP, ''The Road Leads Where It's Led'', was released on June 7, 2005. During this time, the band opened for

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

during their 2004 tour before supporting

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

in Europe in 2005 and co-headlined a US tour with

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...

Marfa Mystery Lights: A concert for the UFO's

French director Charles De Meaux teamed up with the band for a film set in the Texas town of Marfa and included footage of the band recording new material and included an outdoor "concert" at night. The new "Marfa Song" was exclusively available in the film.

''Ten Silver Drops'' and Ben's departure

In 2006, ''

Ten Silver Drops ''Ten Silver Drops'' is the second full-length album by the American rock band The Secret Machines. It was released exclusively through the iTunes Music Store on February 28, 2006, while the street date for the CD was April 25, 2006. The firs ...

'', their second album, leaked onto file-sharing websites following the release of their lead single "Alone, Jealous and Stoned" in the UK. The album was critically-acclaimed by many publications. The embarked on a series of tours in support of the album, including opening for U2 for three dates in Mexico. Following the album's release, the band were interviewed for radio by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

– a fan of the band. On March 3 2007, Benjamin Curtis announced his departure in order to focus full-time on his new band,

. On December 29, 2013, Benjamin died of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

in New York City at age 35.

Third album and later years

After Ben's departure from the band, Secret Machines played two shows in New York, one at the Annex, and the other at the newly opened Highline Ballroom. At these shows, the band played mostly new material to be put on their next album. They included two new members: Blasco (

's touring keyboardist) on guitar, keyboards, and bass, and ex-

member Phil E. Karnats on guitar. Since these shows, Karnats has become the official guitarist of the band, replacing Ben. The band finished recording quickly during May 2007 and released a new, self-titled album in the United States on October 14, 2008, on their newly formed TSM recording and distributed by Worlds Fair Records. Karnats announced on his MySpace blog that he recorded guitar parts for the album and would continue to play live with the band. In 2010, a new single "Like I Can" along with "A terrible light" was released digitally, and Brandon announced plans for a new Secret Machines album, to be titled ''The Moth, The Lizard and The Secret Machines''. This album remains un released. While no official announcement was made, the band was inactive since 2010. In 2016, Run Out Groove Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, announced that fans had voted ''Now Here is Nowhere'' as the new label's third project for vinyl re-issue. This marked the first release of the title in the U.S. on vinyl, limited to 1,625 copies. On September 10, 2018, the label announced that the band's album ''Ten Silver Drops'' had been voted by fans as the next ROG re-release and would include a six-song bonus disc containing B-sides and unreleased alternate versions of songs. Subsequently, Run Out Groove announced the release of a double live album culled from a show on January 18, 2006 at the London nightclub The Garage.

Return to activity in 2020

In January 2018 Brandon published on his twitter account a video of himself and drummer Josh Garza in the studio recording drums, leading to speculation of a return to activity for the band. On June 26 the band announced the availability of "Awake in the Brain Chamber", to be released digitally and in a limited 500 copy vinyl release of August 21, 2020 via TSM Recordings. The band addressed the long period of inactivity and the rebirth of the band in press coverage of the release. A single, "Talos' Corpse", was released simultaneously. "Awake in the Brain Chamber" is performed by Brandon Curtis and Josh Garza, featuring musicians Benjamin Curtis, Chris Kyle, Brian Bisordi and

Sarah Pedinotti Sarah Pedinotti is an American songwriter and musician originally from Saratoga Springs, NY. She is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Railbird. In March 2011 Railbird toured to and from SXSW supporting their debut, self-released album ...

(of

Okkervil River Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They bega ...

and LipTalk). Songs were mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer and mastered by Joe Lambert. Original album artwork was by Danny Scales. In promotional interviews the band indicated the shelved album from 2010, "the Moth, The Lizard and the Secret Machines" would be released. The Secret Machines released two companion EP's digitally and on cassette tape, Day 21 and dreaming of dreaming, in July 2022. Day 21 consisted of previously un-released material. Dreaming of Dreaming contains a re-mixed version of the 2008 EP as well as an alternate version recorded with Peter Mavrogeorgis on guitar and Jim Sclavunos contributing percussions. In September it was announced that The Secret Machines would accompany

Metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...

on the US leg of their Doomscroller tour with Phil Karnats re joining on guitar for the tour.

Style

Secret Machines has been described as

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

with some

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

influences. They describe themselves as

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

. Many have also cited Secret Machines as a style of

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

. The band described ''Ten Silver Drops'' as "being influenced by our love for

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

and all things experimental, on the other hand was our love for

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

." They have toured with U2,

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierc ...

, M83,

, among others. Secret Machines supported the British rock trio

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

at London's

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

in December 2004. They appeared at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

2006 in Chicago and the Carling

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

in England in the same year, as well as the

Austin City Limits Music Festival The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-based ...

in Texas. On September 7, 2022,

Emily Haines Emily Savitri Haines (born 25 January 1974) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer, keyboardist and songwriter of the rock band Metric and a member of the musical collective Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she has pe ...

announced that Secret Machines will be supporting Metric on the U.S. leg of their Doomscroller tour.

Members

*Brandon Curtis:

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, bass,

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Josh Garza:

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Former members

*Phil Karnats:

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(2007–2010) *Benjamin Curtis:

, backing vocals (2000–2007; died 2013)

Discography

Albums

*''

'' (May 18, 2004)

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repea ...

*''

'' (April 25, 2006)

No. 43 UK, No. 159 US *''

Secret Machines Secret Machines are an American alternative rock band, originally from Dallas, Texas, United States, before moving to New York City. The original lineup consisted of two brothers, Brandon (vocals, bass guitar and keyboards) and Benjamin Curtis ( ...

'' (October 14, 2008) World's Fair Label Group &

TSM Recordings TSM may refer to: *Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a semiconductor foundry *IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, a backup software product *Texas Student Media, a student media operation of The University of Texas at Austin *Toulouse School of M ...

U.S. No. 12 Heatseekers *''Live at the Garage'' (limited edition vinyl only) (July 12, 2019)

*''Awake in the Brain Chamber'' (August 21, 2020)

EPs

*''

September 000 ''September 000'' is the first Extended play, EP by the United States, American rock band The Secret Machines. Critical reception ''The Quietus'' wrote that the EP is "a great reminder of just how great long-winded, bong-addled, stoner rock can b ...

'' (2002) *''

The Road Leads Where It's Led ''The Road Leads Where It's Led'' is The Secret Machines' second EP, released in 2005. In addition to the title-track, a single from their first album, ''Now Here Is Nowhere'', the EP includes several cover versions, including Van Morrison's "Ast ...

'' (2005) *''Live At Austin City Limits Music Festival 2006'' (iTunes Exclusive EP) (2006) *'' Morning Becomes Eclectic (Live At KCRW)'' (2006) *''Dreaming of Dreaming'' (2008) *''Allaire Sessions'' (2019) *''Day 21'' (2022) *''Dreaming of Dreaming'' (2022)

Singles

*"What Used To Be French (Revisit)" (7" vinyl only) (2003) UK *"Nowhere Again" (2004) UK No. 49 *"Sad And Lonely" (2004) UK No. 38 *"The Road Leads Where It's Led" (2005) UK No. 56 *"Alone, Jealous & Stoned" (12" vinyl only) (2006) No. 93 *"Lightning Blue Eyes" (2006) UK No. 57 *"All At Once (It's Not Important)" (2006) UK No. 76 *"Dreaming of Dreaming" (2008) *"Like I Can B/W Terrible Light" (2010) *"Quisiera Ser Alcohol (Nos Vamos Juntos: Un Tributo a Caifanes y Jaguares)" (2010) Mexico

DVD

*''Marfa Mystery Lights – The Secret Machines – A Concert for the UFO's'' (a performance conceived and filmed by Charles de Meaux) (2007), Les presses du réel

Soundtracks

The band contributed three tracks to the soundtrack for the 2007 film ''

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our W ...

'': a duet of "

I Am the Walrus "I Am the Walrus" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film ''Magical Mystery Tour''. Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to the single "Hello, Goodbye" a ...

" with

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

on lead vocals, and the instrumentals " Flying", and " Blue Jay Way".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Machines Indie rock musical groups from Texas Musical groups from Dallas Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Musical groups reestablished in 2020 American space rock musical groups 679 Artists artists Reprise Records artists