The God Machine (band)


The God Machine was an English alternative rock band, active in 1990s. Its members were all from San Diego, California, but they all lived and performed mainly in the United Kingdom and across Europe.
The band consisted of three members from San Diego, Robin Proper-Sheppard, Jimmy Fernandez and Ronald Austin aka Austin Lynn Austin, and they first performed officially under the name The God Machine in 1991. They released an EP, Purity with the Eve record label, and were later given a recording contract with Fiction Records. They released two albums in their career, both with their trademark dark and industrial-sounding alternative rock, before Fernandez suddenly died from brain hemorrhage. Their single release of "Home", peaked at No. 65 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1993. Proper-Sheppard went on to form The Flower Shop Recordings label, and bands Sophia and The May Queens. In 2020, after nearly three decades, Austin formed and launched his own music project, Mercylane.
Their second album, One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying, was recognized by Alternative Press as one of the "90 greatest albums of the 90s" in their December 1998 issue. Welsh rock band Liberty 37 named their second and final album after the band.
Their earlier San Diego incarnation was called Society Line, and also featured guitarist Albert Amman, who left the band before its move to London.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs/singles

  • Purity EP
  • *12", featuring "Home", "The Blind Man" and "Purity". These were the original versions and were subsequently re-recorded for the scenes from the second storey album
  • The Desert Song EP
  • *CD and 12", featuring "The Desert Song", "Prostitute", "Commitment" and "Pictures Of A Bleeding Boy". The title track was the original version of the song and was subsequently re-recorded for the scenes from the second storey album, sounding significantly different from the version here. The three B-sides were not available on any album
  • Ego
  • *CD and 12", featuring "Ego", "Temptation" and "The Piano Song". The two B-sides were extended versions of the tracks available in shorter form on scenes from the second storey
  • Home
  • *7" silver vinyl, featuring "Home" and "What Time Is Love?". The B-side was not available on any album
  • *CD, featuring "Home", "Double Dare", "All My Colours" and "Fever". The three B-sides were not available on any album
  • *12", featuring "Home", "All My Colours", "Train" and "Fever". The three B-sides were not available on any album
  • *Promo-CD, featuring "Home", "Home", and "What Time Is Love?". The latter B-side was not available on any album
  • *Promo-CD, featuring "Home", "Pictures Of A Bleeding Boy", "Commitment" and "Fever". None of these tracks were available on any album

Compilation appearances

  • Independent 20 featuring "Home"
  • Maximum Bliss featuring "She Said"
  • Hybrid featuring "The Desert Song"
  • Bilag Til Rock Furore 22 featuring "Commitment"
  • In A Field Of Their Own Volume 2 – Glastonbury 93 featuring "She Said"
  • The Lost Weekend featuring "Pictures Of A Bleeding Boy"
  • Love Bites featuring "The Devil Song"

B-sides / rare tracks

Home The Blind Man Purity The Desert Song ProstituteCommitmentPictures of a Bleeding BoyTemptation The Piano Song What Time Is Love? Double Dare All My Colours Fever Train Home She Said Commitment She Said
  • ''The Devil Song''