Soft Machine

Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, backing vocals, bass 1966–1967). As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive rock and jazz fusion. Their varying line-ups have included former members such as Andy Summers (guitar, 1968), Hugh Hopper (bass, 1968–1973), Elton Dean (saxophone 1969–1972), John Marshall (drums, 1972–1978, 1980–1981, 1984, 2015–2023), Karl Jenkins (keyboards, saxophone, 1972–1978, 1980–1981, 1984), Roy Babbington (bass, 1973–1976, 2015–2020) and Allan Holdsworth (guitar, 1973–1975), and currently consists of John Etheridge (guitar, 1975–1978, 1984 and since 2015), Theo Travis (saxophone, flutes, keyboards since 2015), Fred Thelonious Baker (bass since 2020), and Asaf Sirkis (drums since 2023). Though they achieved little commercial success, the Soft Machine are considered by critics to have been influential in rock music. Dave Lynch at AllMusic called them "one of the more influential bands of their era, and certainly one of the most influential underground ones". The group were named after the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs.

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