Following their high school graduation in San Diego, Robin Proper-Sheppard joined Jimmy Fernandez, Ron Austin, and Albert Amman to launch Society Line. The group captured a six-song demo and performed in the area, gradually sharpening their abrasive style into a forceful blend of metallic edges and atmospheric textures. Even as the music evolved, Proper-Sheppard grew increasingly unsettled in San Diego and chose to relocate to New York. The others carried on and weighed the possibility of finding a new singer and guitarist, yet Proper-Sheppard returned several months later to propose that his former bandmates relocate with him. Only Amman declined to make the move.
Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, the remaining trio reached London. At some point during this period they adopted the name God Machine and delivered their first official performance in early 1991. Following an initial EP on Eve, the band secured a deal with Fiction and issued two additional EPs during 1992. Their debut full-length, Scenes From the Second Storey, arrived in 1993 and included reworked versions of four songs drawn from the prior EPs. This expansive double album unleashed a colossal, unholy din whose scale and force aligned precisely with the group’s moniker. One year afterward, GM had finished recording and mixing a successor album when Fernandez succumbed to a brain tumor. Grieving and shattered, Proper-Sheppard and Austin decided to disband. The sessions that produced the strong follow-up, One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying, appeared in 1995. Proper-Sheppard subsequently founded the Flower Shop label, which released material by Elevate, Ligament, and Swervedriver, and he began recording under the name Sophia the following year.
