Biography
In 2014 the Los Angeles alternative-rock quartet the Beta Machine assembled around bassist-vocalist Matt McJunkins and drummer Jeff Friedl, two veteran session players already celebrated for their shared work as the rhythm section of a Perfect Circle and its affiliated projects Puscifer and Ashes Divide. The pair had separately logged time in Filter, Devo, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and Eagles of Death Metal, yet their ongoing partnership sparked both a close friendship and the decision to launch a new band built from songs each had stockpiled over the years. They brought in vocalist Claire Acey from Nightmare & the Cat, guitarist Nicholas Perez, and guitarist-keyboardist Tommy Dill, then introduced themselves with the track “Pictures,” whose faintly gothic electro-rock tone set the early direction. Their self-released, crowd-funded debut EP All This Time appeared in 2017; that same year they supported a Perfect Circle on the road, with McJunkins and Friedl performing in both bands’ sets each night. By then Dill had exited and Perez had shifted to full keyboard duties. Signed to the Universal-distributed T-Boy Records, the group delivered its first full-length album, Intruder, in 2019—an expansive, retro-futuristic statement whose fusion of new-wave and synth-pop textures with modern alternative and progressive-rock impulses produced a singular synth-heavy sound recalling Sparta, the Mars Volta, and Black Box Recorder.
Albums
