Water Machine

Flooding out of Glasgow, Scotland in 2022, Water Machine quickly gained a reputation for their weird and wonky art-punk, winning hearts with sing-along songs about dogs, struggling artists and the housing crisis. Their ascendency over the past year and a half has seen them release music with GoldMold Records and Upset the Rhythm, and play shows across the UK with acts including Shannon and the Clams and The Orielles, stopping off in Salford for a BBC Radio 6 Music live session.

The world of Water Machine is a swirling eddy of melodic bass lines and volatile guitar sliding between jazz chords and punk riffs, all the while narrated by sardonic social commentary and silly stories. Driving rhythms thumped out on a sparse kit with cowbell flourishes are reminiscent of Beat Happening and The Jesus and Mary Chain, while cherubic vocal and violin harmonies hint at country and folk influences. A band with pop sensibilities and indignant punk urgency, these oddballs dart from sweet C86 to spiky post-punk, often within a single song.

Debut album God Park takes a collection of disparate influences and distils the disjointed into something new. Taking influence from everywhere - from LiLiPUT to The Pastels - the tunes are always on the verge of falling apart or breaking down. Whether it’s the bubblegum pop of lead single Tiffany or the country-punk bait and switch that is Hando, their frantic genre-hopping is always underpinned with anarchic joy.

God Park is out this year on FatCat Records.

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“Water Machine is a very cool band” - Henry Rollins

“There’s a presumed effortlessness to Water Machine’s post-punk, but don’t be fooled: they know what they’re doing” - Maximum Rocknroll

“Water Machine don’t sound anything like The Smiths” - Marc Riley

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WATER MACHINE IS

Hando Morice (they/them) - Vocals, Violin, Synth

Jimmy Gage (he/him) - Guitar

Flore de Hoog (she/her) - Bass, Vocals

Nicky Duncan (he/him) - Drums