- Source: Luke Machin
Luke Machin (born 22 November 1988) is an English guitarist, composer and record producer known as a member of The Tangent, Francis Dunnery's It Bites and Karnataka, as well as founding member of Maschine and Soulshine. He has been named in Prog' Magazine's top ten guitarists of the year for 4 years, alongside Steve Hackett, Guthrie Govan, Steve Howe, David Gilmour and Steve Rothery.
Biography
Machin started playing guitar at age 2 or 3. He studied at Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) between 2007 and 2010, playing under Guthrie Govan and with the likes of Jeff Beck, Francis Dunnery, Pain of Salvation and Robert Plant, by the age of 22.
Machin formed Maschine in 2008 while studying at BIMM. The band consists of Machin (guitar, vocals), Dan Mash (bass, vocals), Marie-Eve De Gaultier (keyboards, vocals), Andy Morgan (guitar, vocals), James Stewart (drums). Maschine have released two albums Rubidium (2013) and Naturalis (2016). The band are influenced by Pain of Salvation, It Bites and many other prog and non related prog artists.In late 2011, Machin and Mash joined The Tangent, with band leader Andy Tillison describing Machin as an "unbelievable musician". Mash and Machin parted ways with Tillison in 2012 due to Tillison's financial struggles. However, Tillison referred Machin to Thomas Waber to get the band signed to prog label InsideOut Music.
Around this time Machin auditioned for Pain of Salvation but didn't take the role due to his commitment to Maschine and geographical issues, though he did guest with the band in 2012.
Machin re-joined The Tangent for their 2015 album A Spark in the Aether, and has remained a member ever since. Contributing to later albums including The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery (2017), Proxy (2018), Auto Reconnaissance (2020), Songs From the Hard Shoulder (2022).
In January 2018, Machin joined Francis Dunnery's IT BITES playing guitar, sampling, triggering, vocals and keyboards alongside Francis Dunnery, Paul Brown, Peter Jones, Bjorn Fryklund and Quint Starkie up to 2023. The band released 1DVD/CD, Live from the black country.
In November 2018, Machin joined Welsh progressive rock band, Karnataka, as a guest guitarist, however he has stayed with the band to the present, contributing to their 2023 album, Requiem for a Dream.In March 2021, Machin announced his debut solo album, Soulshine. Which will include guest appearances from Marco Minnemann, Guthrie Govan, Francis Dunnery (It Bites), Jonas Reingold (Steve Hackett, The Tangent) and Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation).
In August 2021, Machin joined a revived Cyan. A project by Magenta keyboardist Rob Reed and Camel multi-instrumentalist Peter Jones. He appears on their albums, For King And Country (2021) and Pictures from the Other Side (2023).