The Awesome Machine | en

Sweden has produced a vast number of successful rock bands has over the years, especially heavy rock bands. The Awesome Machine was formed in late 1996 by guitarist Christian Smedström and bass player Stefan Magnusson. Vocalist Lasse Olausson and drummer Peter Thorne completed the original line-up, Tobbe Bovik took over the drum stool after Peter left in March 1998. After their eponymous debut was released on 10-inch vinyl in October 1998, Magnusson left the band due to musical differences. His shoes were filled by Anders Wenander (a long-time friend of Tobbe and coincidentally the first musician to audition for the vacant spot) in December 1998.

Influenced firmly by the most legendary of heavy rock bands, they knew their direction from the outset. Several compositions were already in the pipeline, and the new formed line-up shaped them to their common taste in 70s and 80s hardrock and rock'n'roll. Following almost a year of writing and rehearsing, interspersed with local club shows, TAM went to record their first full-length, It's Ugly or Nothing, in Los Angered recordings with Andy La Rocque as the engineer and co-producer. They decided on ten songs, showcasing the band's background and direction, as well as their songwriting ability. The summer of 2000 was spent mostly on the road, playing at some of the big festivals in Sweden. In September 2000, Eagle Guitars released the 'Awesome', a signature model axe designed by Christian. The rest of the year was spent on the road in Europe with bands such as Dozer and Karma to Burn.

The follow-up, Under the Influence, was recorded at Nacksving studios in Gothenburg. This time, they choose to produce the record themselves and the result was released in early 2002. In May of that year, they co-headlined a month's worth of shows with the Mushroom River Band, with Pawnshop and Hoek opening. The reviews where overwhelming.

In September 2002, TAM went on a mini tour that ended in Erfurt, headlining the 2 Stoned from the Underground festival. They mainly spent the autumn of 2002 and spring of 2003 in the rehearsal room, furiously writing material for what would become their third full-length and best-written, most-played album - The Soul of a Thousand Years (released November 2003). This time, they took the final step out of the stoner genre and into a more straightforward hard rock/metal-oriented style that retained elements of psychedelia and folk music The record was produced by Roberto Laghi, who has worked with some of the most successful bands out of Gothenburg, and recorded at Oral Majority Recordings.

In November 2003, The Awesome Machine went on tour in Europe once again, this time without Lasse, who was suffering from a bad throat infection. His replacement was Andreas Tomasson from the Gothenburg band Roach. The tour was a great success but after returning to Sweden, the three original members of the band were hit with the news that Lasse would not be able to continue in the band.

After a concerted effort to find a permanent replacement, John Hermansen finally joined the band in February 2004, and seemed to have been singing TAM songs allhis life! The choice was clear after hearing him write some lyrics and melodies for a couple of new tracks. After releasing the first material with John on the mic - a seven-inch on Danish label Futhermocker Records (Demon King/For the Weaker Ones) and contributing the song Gasoline to the Burn the Streets Vol 5 compilation for Daredevil Records - the band went out on the road with Finnish band Mannhai, for their fourth full-scale tour of Europe. This was the real baptism of fire for the new Awesome lineup and the choice couldn't have been more right... ... .