Head Machine

British hard rock quartet Head Machine formed when members of the Gods adopted pseudonyms—Ken Leslie on keyboards, vocals, and guitars; John Leadhen on bass; Brian Poole on drums; and Lee Poole on percussion—to cut an album of material written by producer and songwriter David Paramor, with the musicians committing to a stripped-down, pounding style that echoed Atomic Rooster. Heavy emphasis fell on crushing rhythms, the Poole brothers furnishing a distinctive multi-layered foundation for Leslie’s lyrics, which shifted between mythological imagery and humor. Their lone album, Orgasm, appeared in 1969 yet never established a commercial foothold. The project later evolved first into Toe Fat and then Uriah Heep once the players resumed their better-known names: Leslie as Ken Hensley, Leadhen as John Glascock, and the Poole brothers as Brian Glascock and Lee Kerslake.