OLD MACHINES

Massive space operas are a perennial favorite in Dr. Mality’s personal library. Tales of interstellar empires in conflict, alien invasions and menaces that span billions of years have always intrigued not just me, but millions of others. So when a huge ambitious story of god-like A.I.’s ravishing the galaxy for millenia gets combined with an extreme metal framework, I took immediate notice.

OLD MACHINES is here to tell that story. A new band composed of veteran metalheads, they’ve thrown themselves full force into the concept with their debut album “The Cycles of Extinction”. How epic is this album? The whole thing an basically be considered a PRELUDE to the real story to follow! This is storytelling on the level of the sci-fi created by Peter Hamilton or Alastair Reynolds.

Jason Stares is the mastermind behind the OLD MACHINES concept as well as the keyboardist of the band. He was to the go-to guy for my questions about the band and as you shall see, gave very detailed answers. So plug yourself into that holographic neural interface and get ready to enter the universe of OLD MACHINES...

WORMWOOD CHRONICLES:  Greetings to OLD MACHINES! First question is, how long has this band been in existence and how did it come together?

JASON STARES: In 2018, Brian Rush and I were attempting to start a BAL SAGOTH cover band.  Brian wanted to play guitar and I wanted to play keys for this project.  Unfortunately, there was not sheet music and/or tabs available and to try to figure out what BAL SAGOTH were actually playing back then took lots of work.  Working eight hours a day on a cover band was not only more work than it was worth, finding the time to do so was just plain unfeasible.  Right before the pandemic, Brian and I talked about how this cover band was more time consuming than it was worth, because at the end of the day, nobody in Portland would really be more excited for a BAL SAGOTH tribute band than us.  I told Brian in February of 2020 that it would be far easier for me to eventually write my own material.  I was not ready to write original material at the time, though.

Officially, OLD MACHINES started in 2021 when I was very unsatisfied with my job at the time.  I have had certain musical ideas in my mind for longer than I can remember, though and had many riffs I came up with on the piano and keyboard, but I could never really find the right people to pursue this dream with.  

I was living with Devon Miller and Jordan Farrow in 2021 and I was performing lots of music from the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack in the living room.  Devon was in the living room playing one of the Mass Effect video games out there while I was playing and he mentioned that I have been playing other people's music for long enough and it was time for me to write my own material.  I did not agree with him at first as there was a weird mental block I had towards attempting to start a band again.  I thought about what Devon said, and called Brian over and went over the idea with him, to take our love of BAL SAGOTH, but to mix it with bands like LIMBONIC ART, SIRIUS, and OBSIDIAN GATE.  I wanted a full science fiction themed band this time, and I wanted to get crazy with this one.  Without Brian, this idea would not have taken flight.  I might write the songs, but Brian did just about everything else, such as recording, and getting everything set up.  

Our original lineup was going to be Jordan on vocals, Brian and Devon on guitar, and eventually Jason Borton on drums, who was mainly working on DRIPPING DECAY at the time and was incredibly busy.  Months later, Jordan realized he did not want to take anything from his work on OXYGEN DESTROYER.  Devon ended up moving out and still continued to work on his material. Eventually he quit, but then returned when he could handle us. 

Jordan asked if his drummer could move in during early 2022.  Towards the end of 2022, Chris signed on with us.  Chris turned out to be a perfect fit for us.  Finding the right vocalist took a while, but Brian and I knew the right person would come at the right time.  We had a couple people lined up, but about two months later I reconnected with an old friend, Gary Reavis.  Naturally, he loved the idea as he was really into the lore we were pursuing.   Gary signed on with us officially around July of 2023. Then we realized, that we finally had an actual band. 

WC:  The massive idea behind “Cycles of Extinction” had to take some time to put together. Was the concept a collaboration between all the members or was there one main creator behind everything?

JS: This idea started out as a dark idea in my head from long ago.  I came up with a vague idea of the concept and sound.  As the other guys started hopping on the project, they started bringing in some great ideas.  Sometimes musically, I am still directing the idea, but I am definitely open to collaboration.  About half the time, Brian is playing the same notes as me, but he came up with his own guitar riffs for a good portion of the album.  Him and Devon came up with some really cool harmonies together, which I think can really be heard on the seventh song on the album: “They are Legion.”  As far as I know, the others are happy that they have some say in what we do.  Everyone has put a bit of their respective personalities into this band.

WC:  I understand your members come from bands like OXYGEN DESTROYER, SKELETAL REMAINS and SILVER TALON, yet the sound of OLD MACHINES is quite different from those bands, it’s more symphonic and black metal in nature. How did you come up with the different approach?

JS: Since it was me on the keys writing the basic structure for the songs and directing which ideas we would pursue, and considering that those other bands do not really have any synths, doing something different was naturally easy for us.  We wanted to do something that was not currently being done in the Pacific North West.  

WC: You spend a fair amount of time with synth soundscapes and electronic atmospheres. What are some of the influences for this part of the band? I would imagine some come from video games.

JS: Video games have been a rather large source of inspiration along with metal bands such as EMPEROR, BAL SAGOTH, LIMBONIC ART, MORBID ANGEL, OVERKILL and DARK ANGEL.  I wanted to mix my love for those bands' classic material with what I learned from video game music and movie soundtracks.  My biggest inspiration aside from the bands I mentioned were Noburou Uematsu, the original Final Fantasy composer.  In my opinion, the Final Fantasy franchise has some of the best music ever created.  Another prime influence was James Horner, primarily for his work on the soundtracks for the movies “Star Trek Wrath of Khan”, “Search for Spock”, “Aliens”, and especially KRULL.  There are many more to list, but that could go on for far too long.  

WC:  Can you see yourself doing a whole album of synth and cinematic music? Is this a part of OLD MACHINES that will grow?

JS: Keyboard is the instrument I am focusing on and that will always be the case.  Basically, I write the songs with keys and those keys serve as the skeletal structure for what the other guys eventually bring to the table.  I do not think there will ever be an OLD MACHINES album that is entirely keys, but I am toying with the idea of a solo synth only project at the moment.  Without Brian, I do not think this band would have much of a chance. He's a big part of this entire outfit and I have no desire to do a full synth album under the OLD MACHINESbanner unless people actually want it.  

WC: Is there one particular song on “Cycles of Extinction” that’s your favorite, that sums up the approach of the band and the ideas behind it?

JS: I think right now, it would be our title track to this album.  We have been getting good reactions to this song from people.  Brian shortened it from the original version I wrote, but he only took out repetition, not riffs. Looking back, I think he made the right decision.  When we all come together playing this song as a full band, it feels like this could really go somewhere.     

WC: Now I want to dig into the ideas behind “Cycles of Extinction”. Obviously this is a huge concept that covers billions of years of galactic history. I’ve always been a fan of huge space operas. Do you have favorite authors that inspired the story? I think of Asimov’s “Foundation”, Peter Hamilton, Alistair Reynolds, Stephen Baxter…

JS: Unfortunately, I did not read any of those books, but I love where your thought train is coming from.  For books, other than Michael Chrichton novels, “Starship Troopers”, and “Armor”, I mostly read fantasy such as “Wheel of Time”, “Lord of the Rings”, the 90's Star Wars books that were awesome, and Forgotten Realms to name a few.  I was into the Alien books by Stephen Perry.  The “Aliens” and “Starship Troopers” movies were really inspirational, as were the Mass Effect trilogy of video games as well as the books and comics.  Another monstrous inspiration to Brian and I is the old 90s cartoon “Exo-Squad”, which is highly underrated.  We basically wanted to mash all of those influences together in a BAL SAGOTH type band, because I was also really into Conan and Robert E. Howard in general.  There are so many more inspiration from other properties, but if you can read between the lines, you can see what they are.     

WC: The “Old Machines” that rise up every few million years to destroy rising civilizations...could they be considered something like “prairie fires” that burn things down to allow new cultures to rise? Or are they total annihilation that wipes out all organic life?

JS: We have played with the idea of prairie fires, and there might be something there, but we decided to embrace the more menacing total annihilation idea.  What they cannot or do not wish to control, they destroy.   

WC: Is their motivation fear? Are they afraid that organic lifeforms will create AIs superior to themselves?

JS: In the beginning, I think it was fear, but I believe that as the cycles passed and they became more powerful in abilities and numbers, their arrogance started playing a part.  We know that they are insulted by the existence of the lesser machines both before and after their time, so I do think it's a little of column A and column B.  

WC:  The Preludians were a great civilization that was brought low by machine intelligence. I would imagine that is a metaphor for our own culture.

JS: More or less, yes.  History repeats, after all. They were a giant empire, and like all mighty empires, they crumbled into galactic dust after they were mostly incinerated.

WC:  How far out do you have this story plotted? Do you have an endgame already set for it or is it something that’s evolving all the time?

JS: We have at least four albums of the basic story plotted out and my soul will not rest until I have four OLD MACHINES albums out for people to listen to.   Six albums would be more ideal, though.  We have an idea for an endgame, but we also have an idea to keep it going after the initial story comes to a close.  

WC:  Has OLD MACHINES ever played live? Do you have any intention to do so or will this remain a studio project?

JS: We have been playing live since late 2023, and we really want to keep playing live shows as much as possible.  All of us are loving the reactions we have been receiving from everyone.

WC:  Does the cover art on the album depict the Old Machines conquering the Preludians?

JS: I suppose you could say that.  We were really thinking it was one of the myriad planets in this vast galaxy we live in, but in one of the cycles before the Preludians.  We were thinking of one of the many planets in the second song that is annihilated early on.

WC: If you could have dinner with any 3 people from history, who would they be?

JS:I assume that living people count.  Not sure I would want to eat dinner with a corpse.  By dinner, are we talking about a great conversation?  If so, I would choose Nobuou Uematsu, Conan O'Brien, and Trey Parker.  

WC: Have any labels shown interest in OLD MACHINES or do you prefer to remain independent?

JS: At one point a label seemed interested in us, but after waiting on said label for over a year with the album completely finished, we were passed on and decided that we had to self release.  We do not prefer to remain independent, but we will if it turns out to be in our best interests.  

WC:  Any last words for the carbon units out there?

JS: The Old Machines have existed more than can be quantified by rustic organic thought.  Organics are fleeting, and only evolution through ancient machinery is real.  Extinction...is only the beginning.... 

OLD MACHINES