Maschine/Leprous/Haken Tour Diary

After a questionable breakfast at a Bristolian cafe (hygiene rating: class-4), we drove to Bilston to play at the self proclaimed ‘home of live music’, the Robin 2.

Then it happened. The proverbial Xenomorph in the room loomed its ugly acid-blood filled head. The 40-megaton thermonuclear bombshell was dropped. The face of Haken was well and truly hugged. The band’s chest was burst wide open. The game was over man - game over! One member of Haken found the film ‘boring’. We will keep his identity classified to save him any embarrassment, but we could not believe the Hispanic disdain spilling forth from Haken keyboardist Señor Diego Andres Tejeida Ledesma’s mouth! The mood in the Mercedes drop-ship suddenly got very frosty - as if aHyperdyne Systems 120-A2 android (we prefer the term ‘artificial person’) had malfunctioned and attempted to force a rolled up magazine (containing a scathing - yet baseless review of Aliens) down our collective throats.

Dejected, we arrived at the venue and commenced the laborious job of loading the gear into the venue. The pathos of having to use our bare hands rather than a Power Loader was not lost on us; we didn’t even have a class-2 rating to buoy our spirits. Bilston was a very nice, but quiet town and seemed uninhabited by any indigenous lifeforms. The ‘RnB club’ sign on the front of the venue only served to compound our fears that anybody would show up for the ensuing night of progressive metal. Happily by the time the doors opened, the venue filled up nicely and we were greeted by a great, appreciative crowd and we all had a great time; all three bands are sounding tighter every day. That’s the thing about prog fans; they mostly come out at night… mostly.

Jerry Ewing

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.