Soft Machine are an English rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became one of the first British psychedelic acts, and later helped pioneer progressive and jazz rock and are widely regarded as the first progressive rock band. Soft Machine's lineup has undergone many changes, and has included Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth. As of 2025, the current lineup consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker and Asaf Sirkis. The band's name originates from William S. Burroughs's novel The Soft Machine.
Originating from the band The Wilde Flowers, Soft Machine began as a psychedelic rock band, releasing their self-titled debut album in 1968. Their second album, Volume Two (1969), marked their move towards progressive rock and jazz rock, which was fully realised with the subsequent two albums, Third (1970) and Fourth (1971). By 1971, Soft Machine became a purely instrumental jazz rock band, continuing this direction across their subsequent albums, Fifth (1972), Six, Seven (both 1973), Bundles (1975), Softs (1976), and Alive & Well (1978).
The band split in 1978, though two brief reunions occurred during the 1980s, first for the recording of the album Land of Cockayne (1981), and then for a few live shows in 1984. The group Soft Machine Legacy was formed in 2004, and released three studio albums, including their self-titled debut (2006), Steam (2007), and Burden of Proof (2013). The "Legacy" suffix was dropped in 2015, and they have since released three studio albums, Hidden Details (2018), Other Doors (2023) and Thirteen (2026). Though the band has achieved little commercial success, critics consider Soft Machine to have been influential in rock music. Dave Lynch at AllMusic called them "one of the most influential underground bands of their era".
Contents
History
Original run (1966–78)
In mid-1966, Mike Ratledge (keyboards), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Larry Nowlin (guitar) formed Soft Machine, who were billed as The Soft Machine up to 1969 or 1970. Allen and Wyatt first played together in 1963 as part of the Daevid Allen Trio, and were occasionally accompanied by Ratledge. In 1964, Wyatt and Ayers were founder members of The Wilde Flowers; by 1966, they had both left that band and rejoined Allen to form the short-lived band Mister Head, which also included Nowlin. The four members soon joined with Ratledge to form the Soft Machine. Ayers suggested the band's name, which comes from William S. Burroughs's novel The Soft Machine (1961), after the group performed under several other names including the Four Skins. The band became a quartet when Nowlin departed in September 1966.
During late 1966 and early 1967, the Soft Machine became involved in the early UK underground scene. Along with Pink Floyd, they became one of the major resident bands at the UFO Club, and played other London clubs like the Speakeasy and Middle Earth. According to Wyatt, the Soft Machine received negative reactions when playing at venues other than these underground clubs; this led to their penchant for long tracks and segued tunes because continuously playing deprived their audiences chances to boo them. In February 1967, the band released their first single "Love Makes Sweet Music" on Polydor Records.
In April 1967, the Soft Machine recorded nine demo songs with producer Giorgio Gomelsky in De Lane Lea Studios; due to a dispute over studio costs, these tracks were unreleased for several years. Polydor later released these demos in 1972 as Jet Propelled Photographs. Later in 1967, the band began touring in mainland Europe, becoming especially popular in France. When returning from a tour of France in August, Allen, an Australian, was denied re-entry to the UK, so the group continued as a trio while Allen returned to Paris to form Gong.
The Soft Machine, who shared the same management as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, supported them on two North American tours during 1968. The band signed to Probe Records and recorded their eponymous first album in New York City in April at the end of the first tour, though it was not released until December. In London, guitarist Andy Summers, later of the Police, joined the Soft Machine. The band's new line-up began a US tour with some headlining shows before supporting Hendrix in August and September 1968. By the time the Hendrix tour began, Summers had been fired at Ayers' insistence. Ayers himself departed amicably after the final tour date at the Hollywood Bowl in September, and the Soft Machine disbanded. Wyatt stayed in the US to record solo demos while Ratledge returned to London and began composing.
Occasional reunions (1980–81; 1984)
The name Soft Machine was resurrected for the 1981 album Land of Cockayne. Soft Machine also briefly reformed for a series of concerts at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in mid 1984 that featured John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Ray Warleigh, John Etheridge, bassist Paul Carmichael and pianist Dave MacRae.
Alternative bands (1978–2015)
Soft Heap was formed in January 1978 by Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean from Soft Machine, and Alan Gowen and Pip Pyle from National Health. Heap is an acronym that is composed of the initials of the members' first names. The band toured in the early-to-mid 1978 as Soft Head because Dave Sheen replaced Pip Pyle due to Pyle's commitments to National Health. The live album Rogue Element was recorded on that tour and was released in 1978.
The original Soft Heap line-up reformed in October 1978 to record their eponymous studio album, which was released in 1979. After two line-up changes from 1979 to 1981, the new line-up intermittently toured throughout the 1980s; they performed four tours during the decade in 25 European concerts, culminating on 11 May 1988 at the festival "Jazz sous les pommiers" in Coutances, France.
Soft Ware (sometimes SoftWhere), which was formed in September 1999, was composed of Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall on drums and Marshall's long-time friend Keith Tippett. This short-lived line-up played one performance at (Augustusburg Hunting Lodge, Germany, on 4 September 1999. In 2002, with Tippett unavailable, another former Soft Machine member Allan Holdsworth (on guitar) joined the other three members of Soft Ware, who in June 2002 renamed themselves Soft Works to avoid confusion with Peter Mergener's band Software. Soft Works made their live debut on 17 August 2002 at the Progman Cometh Festival at Moore Theater in Seattle, Washington; and a live album of the performance was released on 29 July 2003. Their only studio album Abracadabra, consisting of new material and recorded at Eastcote Studios, London, on 5–7 June 2002. The album was toured in Japan in August 2003, Italy in January and February 2004, and Mexico in March 2004.
During a Japanese Soft Works tour in August 2003, Elton Dean on saxophone and Hugh Hopper on bass formed the band Soft Mountain along with Japanese musicians Hoppy Kamiyama on keyboards, whom Hopper had met two years earlier, and Yoshida Tatsuya from the band Ruins on drums. Soft Mountain named themselves after Hoppy Kamiyama, whose name translates as "God Mountain". Looking for a break from relatively fixed set lists and song forms, Hugh Hopper had contacted Kamiyama with the idea of using a studio for one day to see what might happen. Kamiyama brought in Tatsuya, and, with no discussion, the quartet played two 45-minute improvisations. In 2007, a year after Elton Dean died aged 60, Soft Mountain released the eponymous album they had recorded on 10 August 2003 in Tokyo, Japan. The two-part "Soft Mountain Suite" extracts the best thirty minutes from each improvisation.
A return to the name "Soft Machine" (2015–present)
In September and October 2015, it was announced Soft Machine Legacy, which was composed of drummer John Marshall, guitarist John Etheridge, bassist Roy Babbington, and sax, flute and keyboard player Theo Travis, would be performing under the name Soft Machine in late 2015 and early 2016: they would perform two shows in the Netherlands and Belgium in early December 2015, and seven UK shows in March and April 2016. In December 2015, it was confirmed the band were dropping the word "Legacy" from their name, becoming known as Soft Machine for the first time since 1984.
The former Soft Machine member Allan Holdsworth, aged 70, died from heart failure on 15 April 2017 at his home in Vista, California. On 7 September 2018, Soft Machine released Hidden Details on Dyad Records in the UK and Tonefloat Records in the US, their first new studio album since Land of Cockayne (1981). In late 2018 and until February 2019, they toured the world to mark their 50th anniversary and to support the new album.
On 20 March 2020, Soft Machine released Live at The Baked Potato, their first original live album since Alive & Well (1978). It was recorded live on 1 February 2019 at The Baked Potato, Los Angeles, and was initially only available as a twelve-track limited-edition double vinyl LP of 200 copies but it has since been released on Compact Disc (CD). The album documents their extensive 2018–2019 world tour. On 7 December 2021, Soft Machine announced Babbington was retiring from the band and would be replaced by Fred Thelonious Baker.
In June 2023, Soft Machine released the new studio album Other Doors, which was recorded with John Marshall before he retired from music. Marshall died on 16 September 2023. As of January 2023, the line-up of Soft Machine was Etheridge, Travis, Baker and drummer Asaf Sirkis. They embarked on a seven-date UK tour beginning on 3 February 2023 at the New Cross Inn in London and ending on 26 May 2023 at City Varieties in Leeds. The band began touring again in November 2023 with dates booked until November 2024.
Co-founding member Mike Ratledge died on 5 February 2025. On 4 March 2025 in Manchester (at Band On The Wall), the band embarked on an 8-date UK Spring tour which concluded on 4 April in London (at The Vortex Jazz Club), celebrating on that occasion John Etheridge's 50 years with the band (since 12 April 1975). Soft Machine toured Europe from 9 May in London (at Signature Brew) to 25 May 2025 in Zoetermeer, The Netherlands (at De Boerderij): the 10-date Spring tour also included Sweden (four dates), Norway (one date), Finland (two dates) and Germany (one date). After a special show dedicated to Mike Ratledge on 1 September 2025 in London (at the Pizza Express jazz club), Soft Machine embarked on 2 November 2025 in Cardiff (at Acapela Studio) on an 8-date UK Fall tour which concluded on 30 November 2025 in Southampton (at 1865) (with Colosseum), also visiting Market Harborough, Barnard Castle, Hull, Bristol and London again (2 dates at Sound Lounge and at Cadogan Hall, again with Colosseum).
Musical style
Soft Machine's music encompasses progressive rock, experimental rock, jazz rock, jazz, proto-prog, psychedelic rock and art rock. The band are part of the Canterbury scene of progressive rock. According to Hugh Hopper: "We weren't consciously playing jazz rock, it was more a case of not wanting to sound like other bands; we certainly didn't want a guitarist".
Members
Current
John Etheridge – guitar (1975–1978, 1984, 2015–present)
Theo Travis – saxophones, flutes, keyboards, piano (2015–present)
Fred Thelonious Baker – bass (2020–present)
Asaf Sirkis – drums (2022–present)
Discography
Studio albums
The Soft Machine (1968)
Volume Two (1969)
Third (1970)
Fourth (1971)
Fifth (1972)
Six (1973)
Seven (1973)
Bundles (1975)
Softs (1976)
Land of Cockayne (1981)
Hidden Details (2018)
Other Doors (2023)
Thirteen (2026)
Soft Machine Legacy studio albums
Soft Machine Legacy (2006)
Steam (2007)
Burden of Proof (2013)
Soft Works studio albums
Abracadabra (2003)
Filmography
Soft Machine Legacy: New Morning – The Paris Concert, available in DVD format (2006)
Alive in Paris 1970, available in DVD format (2008)
Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales, available in DVD format (2015)
Stamping Ground(1971)