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DEBUT ALBUM "DO OR DIE" AVAILABLE NOW - CLICK HERE TO BUY! Click here to visit the Myspace page 20/06/2009
Festival fever has hit the UK, and Eureka Machines are no exception. Here's some of the festies we've been confirmed for:
If you want us on any other festivals, spam forums, e-mail promoters, and generally hassle people to get us on bills. The only power we have left is people power, so any hassle you guys can give people is much appreciated. In other news... there is no other news. EMx 22/05/2009
We're delighted to tell you that our song Do Or Die has been selected for Track Of The Day on Classic Rock magazine's website. They seem to like us. You can see the page here: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/track-of-the-day-eureka-machines/ Where you can also download (for free) the song... but you've got it already, right? Right? 21/05/2009
We're playing at DOLLAR$ FOR DEADBEAT$ on Sunday night. It's a benefit for Roger from Sorry and The Sinatras, who is stuck in the UK after the Sorry and The Sinatras/Eureka Machines tour was postponed. So a few of us are getting together to try and raise some cash for him to get home. We're doing a set, then an all-star line-up are doing a covers set to close the evening. Including appearances from Dave and Roger from Sorry and The Sinatras, Ginger (The Wildhearts), Acey Slade (Murderdolls), Rich Jones (Amen/The Loyalties), Tom Spencer (Yo Yos/The Loyalties), Chris McCormack (3 Colours Red), Jorma Vik (The Bronx) and Eureka Machines' own Chris Catalyst. It's only three quid in and all proceeds go to a good cause - feeding one of our own. Doors at 9.30pm. Get there early. (Click here for Facebook group link) 18/05/2009
You can now download and print out a flyer (four, actually) for our London gig on 30th May with The Loyalties, Shush and The Scaramanga Six. It's on our Help page. Feel free to print a few out and chuck them about your local rock emporia. It gets you in for a quid cheaper, and crucially guarantees that we get a little bit of cash from the gig too, so we can get home and eat and stuff. 14/05/2009
Balls. The tour starting on Friday is off. Sorry and The Sinatras have had to pull out, and it wouldn't be feasible for us to do it alone from a promoter's point of view. We're sorry to anyone who bought tickets - return them to point of purchase for a refund - and anyone who'd planned travel (we know there were a few of you at least). In slightly better news, we've salvaged a couple of the dates. The Huddersfield show will go ahead with us headlining, and we've sorted another gig in Manchester for this coming Saturday night at an alternative venue. Up to date info can be found on the gigs page as ever. Here's a statement from Sorry and The Sinatras: It is with deep and sincerest regret that Sorry And The Sinatras must postpone their forthcoming UK tour at the 11th hour.Hopefully we can get involved on some of the rescheduled dates. Condolences to the S&TS lads, we know how much they were up for the tour. Some things just can't be helped, though. Fuck our luck. 04/05/2009
Our single Everyone Loves You (WRATHCD51) is OUT NOW! You can buy it on our Shop page, on iTunes and the usual download sites, and also from Crash, Jumbo, Norman's and Rhythm (if you're in Leeds). We're also selling it at the slew of upcoming gigs, and it's only three quid. Most importantly, we're releasing this to try and get some decent airplay for our band, to try and make more people come and see us (clever, eh?). So please bombard your local, national and international rock radio and music television stations with requests to hear it. We hope you like it. Thanks for all your support. We hope to see you at one of the many gigs coming up. Take care of yourselves. And May The Fourth Be With You. (Sorry.) EMx 28/04/2009
Okay, so it's that time... we've finally got our arses into gear and we're releasing a single. It's the track Everyone Loves You (Wrath Records, WRATHCD51) from our album, which you all should know about by now. See the video on NME TV here - and buy it for just THREE QUID on our shop page. Three quid! That's basically a pint! (Or a half in London.)
It's backed up with an all-new song called The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall, an acoustic version of The Story Of My Life and a raucous live version of our set-opener Scream Eureka. It's basically been done as an introduction to Eureka Machines, and we're doing it to try and get some press and airplay for our band.
Which is where YOU come in.
As an utterly independent, shockingly skint and frankly uncool bunch of Northern oiks, we are on our own here. So you could help us out by requesting your favourite radio stations around the country and asking them to play us out on their shows. We don't have the press and label backing of our major counterparts, and you showing a little support and solidarity will go a long way, because no-one got anywhere without a bit of People Power.
Here's some people you can get in contact with who I reckon might play us out if they get a few e-mails...
zane.lowe[at]bbc.co.uk
I know it looks like a lot, and frankly it is, but you don't have to mail all of them. You could even do that BCC thing with your e-mail... We're not suggesting you do or anything.
Meanwhile, if you're an internetty webhead type, then feel free to tell the 'net about us on forums and the like. Word of mouth is, after all, the best kind of publicity. The more people who get to hear about us, the more people will come to our gigs, which means we can all have more fun together. And the sooner we can retire to our country cottages on the south-west coast making ornamental figurines of political leaders from around the globe past and present.
We're supporting the single release with a tour around the UK, with our mates Sorry And The Sinatras. Go and see the dates and think about booking the morning after off work. It will be very cool indeed.
Thank you, as always, for your support. 07/04/2009
In advance of its release on May 4th, Rock Radio in Manchester are using our single Everyone Loves You in their Future Classics thing, basically you have to go to their website and click on us in the box thingy on the right there to vote for our track to be playlisted for a week. Which would be pretty cool. Get yourselves over there: We're up against El Condorez, who are also dead good, go and have a look at them on their Myspace (in the interests of fairness). We're not all that keen on music competitions - it shouldn't be competitive, that's against the spirit of being in music, I think - however, this is a nice bit of fun and not too serious. But if you don't vote for us, we'll break your legs. EMx 20/03/2009
There isn't a right lot of news to be honest... we're in rehearsals, writing, and off on our jollies. However; we will come back a lean, mean fighting machine(s)... with the exception of Chris who is currently eating and drinking his way through many of Europe's more salubrious cities with that other band what he does play with. We're gearing up for the single release of Everyone Loves You and its resultant tour. The release date has been set as May 4th, and may the single be with you on that date (and other risible Star Wars gags). So we're looking for press at the moment... it goes without saying that we need all the help we can get (again)... we'll bang on about this more nearer the time, but if you know any press/review/journo types who you think will be interested, and might cover our stuff, gis a shout. We're also working on Album Two, which has a name and songs and everything. It's part of a trilogy that Chris occasionally talks about when he's drunk. Once that and Album Three are done, there'll be something altogether different. We may look like a stupid pop and roll band, but we're not entirely thick, it's all thought out... apart from the current title/concept for Album Four, which we haven't quite worked out whether is stupid or genius yet. Anyway, we're keeping it to ourselves for now, in case anyone nicks it. Album Two is extremely tentatively pencilled for release in maybe January 2010. That seems like a long way off, but it's really not. Better get writing some words, then. Arigato, 27/02/2009
Hello everyone, Thanks to all our new friends who we've met over the past couple of months - we've had some very very cool gigs and a lot of fun. Look out for more dates in April and May... hopefully we'll be coming somewhere near you. If not, and you want us to, get in touch and let us know where's good to play in your town! Bit of sad news now - as many of you will know, Steven Morricone (he of the big bass guitar and fine facial topiary) has left the band in order to concentrate on his other projects - The Scaramanga Six, Amoeba To Zebra and growing a massive beard. We really couldn't have done the band half as well as we have so far without Steve, and we'll miss him. Cheers Steve. He leaves big shoes to fill... ... And filling them more than ably we have a new bass player. His name is Pete, you may or may not know him from his band The Gushers, and he's very cool indeed. We've done a couple of gigs with him now and he fits like an old sock. So hello to Pete. We're a bit stuck for a stupid pseudonym for him at the moment, so if you have any suggestions, e-mail us. Something alliterative or rhyming or generally amusing would be good. We're having a little break from playing live for a month or two, while Chris goes off on his jollies, but we'll be back leaner, meaner and stronger (and with new songs) in April. In the meantime, the Shop is back open for t-shirts - the delivery arrived last week. So those of you who ordered in the past and only received a pleading email from Chris saying we'd send them soon, expect them... soon. Give us a shout if you don't and we'll sort it. Sorry for the delay, we were let down by someone. Anyway that's it. So give us a shout if you wanna offer us a gig, buy a shirt, or come up with a name for Pete. Pete Pseudonym? EMx 15/01/2009
Bad news - our Everyone Loves You single won't be coming out this month after all. A collision of factors has meant that the production run had to be stopped before it even started, if that makes sense, and our distributor's distributor went bust, so it all went a bit pear-shaped. However, we will have a limited number of them to sell at our gigs this month, and any that are left we'll bang on PayPal on February 22nd, but I don't expect we'll have many, if any. So if you want it then you have to come see us at one of the gigs. It's corking, as well as the album version of Everyone Loves You, it has a completely new b-side called The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall, which is one of our best songs. Plus a live version of Scream Eureka, and a very strange acoustic version of The Story Of My Life. The cover is a Dan Mofo original, too. In other news, we're gigging all over England at the moment. People keep getting in touch asking why we aren't playing their town... it is not through lack of trying! We will play anywhere, if we can get there and back and it makes sense, but not everywhere will have us. If you want to see us in Bristol, Brighton, Plymouth, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newquay, London, Hull, Newcastle, Inverness and (most bizarrely) Whitehaven, then please tell your friends about us, and local venues/promoters. We've had e-mails and Myspace messages from people in all of the above places asking us to go and play, but without your help, we can't. If you want to help us out, tell your mates about us, copy them a track or two off the album, show them a video (whether it be a live one, the one for Everyone Loves You or the Cribs thing), put us in your Myspace top friends (if you're that way inclined, why not send out a bulletin about us as well, telling your mates to add us and have a listen?). I know we bang on about it, but we are on our own here. Most bands have a label, an agent, PR people who get them press, street teams, etc etc. We have none of that. We do everything ourselves, from the posters that you see in your local venues to booking the gigs to getting the records out. So we rely on word of mouth (the best press possible) to get people down to our gigs. No-one's complained yet, so we must be doing something right. And while I'm on about this, support your local rock and roll bands and venues, because without an audience, they will wither and die. Especially if they are not taking the piss, like so many do... it would be easy for us to charge people through the nose for gigs on the back of various stuff, but we don't because we know our place, and we want rebooking! We will never take the piss out of you or promoters with stupid ticket prices, stupid album re-releases with two (shit) extra live tracks and a different picture on the front, crap live sets, etc etc. We work harder than any other band you know... we do it because we love it, and we want you to too. But we are not alone, there are tons of bands all over that do just the same thing, and they need, deserve and cherish your support too. Sorry, I went off on one a bit there. Anyway, support your local live music, because without it, we will all suffer. There are great bands and venues all over going by the wayside, don't let any more go the same way. EMx 01/12/2008
Happy Christmas! As of right now you can go to the following places... ...amongst others and download our Christmas 'single'... it's a Eureka Machined-up version of Silent Night, and it's probably not at all what you're expecting. We're not going to release it physically - it's just available for download. It's December 1st and so it's slightly more respectable timing than most supermarkets. We could have put it up there in August or something.So go download it, and while you're in the Christmas spirit(s), download our mates International Trust's Yuletide effort Let's Have A Dance - we were going to do it as a split single, but it was logistically difficult and frankly we couldn't be arsed. Enjoy the festive season! PS. You can now also buy the Live Acoustic Session mini-album on iTunes by clicking here. 16/11/2008
Okay, so we didn't get picked for The Guardian Debut Album of the year thing. Which is understandable when you see the size of some of the other bands on the shortlist. But you can still stick your sizeable oar in for us in any other End Of Year polls... best new band, best live act, best rock band, drummer who looks most like Robin Askwith, etc. So keep voting. In other news, we've got a few more gigs lined up for December, January and February, so keep checking the gigs page. Hooray. PS. Finally, thanks to most of the USA for electing Barack Obama to presidency last week. I've been in the US for the past few weeks and it's been a very, very interesting time. I don't profess to know everything about politics, but what I do know is that the alternative was utterly hateful, and for that, we salute you. PPS. Did you know that it was in the news over in the US last week that Al-Qaeda's codename for Sarah Palin is 'that retard'? 02/11/2008
A certain national newspaper who I shan't mention (but their name rhymes with, err, Flardian) have been in touch asking us for more information and a review copy of our album for their 'Top Debut Album of 2008' thing. If you look at the news item below, you'll see that one of our favourite fans and Martin Fry lookalikes Steve spotted the piece they were doing on it and mailed them to say how great he thinks we are. Now that some of you have - thank you sooo much for that! - we need more of you to do the same. So if you have a spare two minutes, please mail 'em on and tell them that you think we're great, and our songs changed your life, and that we have magnificent plumage, or whatever you want to write. We'd appreciate it more than you'd know. This kind of press is only achievable through people power - and with you lot on our side, we might just be able to swing something. Likewise, in the end of year polls and such that will be popping up over the next couple of months, please feel free to vote for us in any category you see fit - best new band/best album/best live band/sweatiest etc. I know we always bang on about being utterly independent, but we are, and without you lot, we really would struggle (even more than we already do). These are dark days for independent and live music, so keep us on our feet by voting with yours. In other news, there's some new gigs on the gigs page, and some new videos on the videos page (from our recent live session). Plus, we've been featured on the new King Of Air Guitar game alongside The Wildhearts and Electric Six. Go play at being us, it's class. CURRENT EUREKA MACHINES 'KING OF AIR GUITAR' LEAGUE TABLE
All the best, EMx PS We've changed all the songs on our MySpace this week, so if you haven't bought our album (why not? Sad face) then you can go listen there. 09/10/2008
Hello again, We're in Rock Sound magazine this month, it hit the shelves today. There's a little feature on us in the 'new bands' section on Page 35 - it has four exclamation marks in it, so they must like us. Having said that, they also review our album, which they didn't like so much. Oh well. Why not write in and tell them to write more (preferably nice) stuff about us? Their letters page is rsvp@rock-sound.net. Or their Myspace is here. Buy the magazine though, it's a really good read with tons of new music to get through. Speaking of press, we get a mention in Kerrang! this week too, saying we did a 'solid set' at Shepherd's Bush Empire when supporting The Wildhearts. While you're writing into Rock Sound telling them how great we are and asking other readers who they think is the fittest, give Kerrang! a shout as well - feedback@kerrang.com - and let them know of our wonderment. (By the way, Chris is the fittest, and not just because he's writing this now - he is definitely the fittest.) Don't let the NME be the only magazine to have featured us in their letters page... Lots of love, Update - 11/10/2008 And tea-bag purchasing superfan Steve got in touch to tell us about this thing The Guardian are doing, where they're working out who's done the best debut album this year. The blurb talks about The Courteeners and Duffy, but Steve reckons that our album Do Or Die (which you can still buy in the shops, and in the webshop) is better than both of theirs put together then timesed by 10, which we tend to agree with. If you enjoyed it, get in touch with them on first.album@guardian.co.uk and fire them an e-mail to let them know that a bunch of underground underdogs on a budget of £0 but with a wealth of ideas are at least as good as the latest fodder for next week's chip shop wrapping. Remember, we are utterly independent and totally skint, so we don't have the time/money/sway of the big guys to buy ourselves into the national press - all we have are you ourselves and you guys. The more help that you give us, the more people will hear about us. Word of mouth is worth a heck of a lot more than a half page advert in a magazine and a few plays on the radio... so keep telling your friends and passing around our tunes on mixtapes and so on and so forth. You will be rewarded in Heaven. (Which, I am led to believe by our marvellous webguru Damian, is not real - the existence of Limp Bizkit being proof enough.) 30/09/2008
Hello everyone, Couple of things to tell you... we're in session this Sunday on BBC Radio across the North. You can tune in on your wirelesses on Sunday night between 2000-2200 in the UK on 95.9fm BBC Radio Humberside and on BBC Radio Leeds DAB, or listen online here - so we expect you to be texting/e-mailing in some amusing questions for us. Dunno what the number is yet, but listen in. We'll be doing two or three tracks from our album Do Or Die, which is selling like hotcakes in the real shops and on our website shop. If you haven't already got it, buy it... now. We're releasing a single in January - the track Everyone Loves You. See the video on YouTube. So we're looking for gigs in the UK in January and February to support it. The release will be heavily promoted by us, and you can help by making it your song on Myspace, putting it on a mixtape for your mates, playing it at your clubnight, pestering your favourite radio stations to play it, and so on and so forth. If you think you can help in any way, get in touch on e-mail or on our Myspace. We're wanting gigs all over the place in Jan and Feb, so do get in touch if you can put us on with your band or at your venue. We're cheap, and we're nice. Finally, big thanks to lots of people who helped us out with our recent spate of gigs to try and sell some albums. We did pretty well out of it, and had several tons of fun. Big cheers to Sorry And The Sinatras, Pete Mason, Dunc, all at BBC Introducing, Wally for the help at the festival, everyone who helped us flyer at the festivals, Sham and Iqi at The Bengal Brasserie, Sally for baking the cake, Little Elvis, Mikey, Karl and Chris at The Parish, AshTV for everything, ever, Max at The Gasworks, Terri and Becky in Oxford for putting us on and putting us up, Simon, Laura and Gav in Croydon for putting us on, putting us up and making us pasta, Dobbo in Leicester, Milli in Doncaster, The Wildhearts, Gav and Rob for having us along to their party, Steve Kind for driving us there, Phil at the Dry Bar in Manchester and the guy who wanted to be our manager but could barely string a sentence together, Ian Wright (not that one) in Selby, Nath at The Brudenell, Trev Baines for doing the best job I've ever heard on the sound in there and for generally being fit, Shush for coming (wehay), DJ Trev at the Viper Rooms in Harrogate and Oz for a sterling job once again, and Rob and Gav (again) for helping us out with the dates with Laika Dog. We love you all. We're taking a bit of a break in November while Chris goes swanning off round the US like he fucking owns the place. But we'll be back in December, writing songs for album number two and playing as many gigs as we possibly can in some far-flung and frankly weird places. Anyone for Poland? EM x 09/09/2008
You can now buy advance tickets for our gig on Saturday 27th September at the Brudenell Social Club on Queen's Road, Leeds - one of the best venues in the world and our favourite local. They're only £4, and for that you get an amazing line up... EUREKA MACHINES - that's us, on the Leeds leg of our album launch tour - Myspace link How good is that for a line up? I mean, how good? Better than good. Very good. And it's all for £4. Four. Pounds. Count 'em. This night is set to go down in history as being the bestest gig the world has ever seen, by anyone, ever (apart from Little Elvis at the Bengal Brasserie the other night). Doors are at 7pm, Fran will be on at 7.30pm, and we'll be on around 10.15pm (hopefully). Bar open until 11.30pm. Hope to see you there! 01/09/2008
Hello, Our album is OUT NOW! September 1st 2008. Like properly out, in all the shops and such. Well, not all the shops - you probably won't find it in Homebase, Mr Minit or your local butchers - but in your normal record shops and such. And on iTunes, eMusic and Napster and the like. So get buying or downloading or whatever it is you do. It's great, as the following reviews will attest: 'power-pop perfection - a dazzling debut - 4/5' - The Sun The launch party at the Bengal Brasserie is sold out now I'm afraid, but we may do it again if more people get in touch. Maybe a Christmas party, or something. But you can come see us at a bunch of gigs around and about the country all through September and October. Go see the gigs page. Please note the Hull gig has been cancelled, unfortunately - this was out of our hands, I'm afraid. On a happier note, here's the video to the first (possible) single - Everyone Loves You, made by the wonderful people at AshTV who also did our Cribs thingy. In case you were wondering, Leeds and Reading went really well - hello to all of our new friends, and thanks x 1000 to those who helped us flyer the event. Much appreciated, even if we didn't get to actually meet you all. Thank you. Here's a picture anyway.
There's a couple of new shots from the fests in the gallery now, go see. Anyway, go buy our album, please don't download the version from the nefarious torrent sites, if you do that, you are taking money directly out of our independent pockets. And you'll catch scabies. Finally, and sadly, we were incredibly gutted to learn of the death of our long-time friend Rik Clay (1982-2008) last week in Ilkley, Leeds. Rik was a guitar player of some repute in the Yorkshire bands FULC and Ten Seconds Of Chaos. I actually asked him to join Eureka Machines last year when we started doing stuff, but we never really got round to it. He was a fine man, funny and with a warm smile that lit up any room. I don't actually ever recall him frowning, which says a lot about a person. We'll miss him. Huge condolences to his parents John and Jill, the FULC and TSOC lads, and all of his other friends. RIP fella. EM x 14/08/2008
So Reading/Leeds is nearly upon us and we're all ready to rock your faces off with our, err, rock. We're on Friday at Leeds and Sunday at Reading at the rather early time of 12.20pm, but by my reckoning that means you'll only be missing the end of Mindless Self Indulgence (bastard, I really like them), the start of Yeasayer (who Steve and I saw in Norway the other week and were alright but a bit boring and way overrated), the start of Natty (who I don't know) and the start of The Death Set (who are alright I suppose). All of them pale into insignificance when you compare them to our might, and all of their impressive tour buses together are no match for Steve's new motorhome, in which we will be travelling in REAL pimp style. We REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to be playing to no-one, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get in touch if you can help us flyer the site - we can post you some pre-cut up ones which have been touched by The Fair Hand of the Real Davros - or you can go to the Help page and download some and print and cut some out yourself, thus saving the environment (and saving us 66p in second-class stamps). Contact me on the usual e-mail address - send us your name and address and roughly how many you want. It's very easy to do, and passing out our flyers will almost definitely result in sweaty festival sex with a complete stranger. In other news, we play Unity Day in Hyde Park in Leeds on Saturday 16th at 8pm - come down and be in our video. And in other other news, you can see the edition of Cribs that the wonderful AshTV filmed round my gaff the other week. It's already had a fair few hits and most people seem to have taken it in the spirit in which it's intended. Finally, in advance of the 1st September release date of our album, a few nefarious and skanky sites are offering free download torrent thingies of our album. While we want to spread our own peculiar brand of pop and roll to as many people as possible, this is a DIY, non-corporate labour of love by our little band and the label. We'd appreciate it if you do download it and enjoy it, that you buy it and support the music that you love. Without that support, we will not be able to release more. If you want it early, and you want to make sure the band sees as much cash from your purchase as possible, buy it from the webstore. We are not in this for the money, but we are also not in this to be ripped off, so please bear that in mind when you download an album that cost money to put together and put out. This goes for any other band you like. You are stealing directly from our pockets, and you wouldn't expect us to turn up to your work and demand free Big Macs, would you? All the best, and see you at the fests, 'cos we're the best, and birds sit in nests, and something about breasts Chris x (I've made this one obviously by me because it contains some personal stuff.) 31/07/2008
Hello everyone. You can now buy our debut album Do Or Die on the shop bit of our website. In line with it becoming available, we've put up a new section called Lyrics, because the words aren't in the CD case like what dem other bands done. So if you are at all interested, go have a look and learn them so you can sing along and look cool at our gigs. There's also some explanations of what the tunes are about if that interests you even further, and if you want any more info from the inside of my head, please e-mail us a photograph so I can run away from you quickly should you ever approach me. Anyway yeah, the first 50 people to order the album directly from us get a free Live Acoustic Session CD, so get your orders in fast. If you've already got that, then give it to a loved one or perhaps a passing stranger. We're playing the BBC Introducing Stage at the Leeds Festival on Friday 22nd August, and the Reading Festival on Sunday 24th. God we're so skill. If anyone wants to help us flyer, get in touch on the usual e-mail address. Thanks to those who've already offered - and there were loads of you - we'll be in touch soon, once we know exactly which times we're playing. The BBC seem to be really pushing the Introducing stage this year, which can't be bad for any of the bands playing it. If you ever hear anyone mention it on air, do us a little favour and text in or whatever it is you kidz (with a z) do and try and get them excited about us playing it. All the other bands have seventeen billion MySpace friends and tour managers and tour buses and coke habits and stuff so we need all the help we can get. You know Marilyn Manson has a carpenter in his touring crew? His nickname, somewhat unbelievably, is 'Carp'. Nice bloke actually. We've also just been confirmed to support The Wildhearts at their Earth Vs. gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire on 20th September. It's sold out, but those of you who have tickets - get down early! We'll be on just after doors, I'm guessing. This will be too much fun for one evening - The God Damn Whores are on the bill as well. And finally, to add to our peel of Good News ringing out, we're now Officially Sponsored by the kind people at Jägermeister - so look out for a bunch of free Jäger goodies at our gigs from now on. The last time any free Jager was available at any of our gigs, I ended up having to carry one of my best mates out of the pub who then nearly got himself arrested by falling into the road outside the Parish in Huddersfield, mentioning no names Neil Hanson the singer out of International Trust. So, to sum up: Speak soon! Oh we just sent out about 7,000 press packs and CDs to various mags and stations, so keep your fingers crossed for us, won't you? As Steve put it, it was like releasing a load of homing pigeons into the wild. Let's hope that some come back, eh? (Not literally.) In more sombre news, one of our finest friends is ill at the moment - the legendary Tim Smith out of them Cardiacs - and we ask you to all please pray, hope, send positive vibes, or whatever it is that you do, for his full recovery. We're all thinking of him and his family and raising a metaphorical glass in his general direction. Get well soon, Tim. We love you. All the best, 21/07/2008
Eureka Machines' debut album Do Or Die is finished and at the printers getting, erm, printed, as we e-speak. It sounds like every dream you ever thought you might have and is better than Ramones, Motorhead, The Wurzels and Demis Roussos all put together. (It's even up there with Keith Harris and Orville.) It will be in the shops and on all the usual internet shop things from September 1st, so put it in your diary and tattoo it behind your eyelids if needs be. Seriously, it sounds great and we're all immensely proud of it. It also looks fantastic, courtesy of the amazing photography of Tom Martin and Jake Seal, and the wonderful design of Matt Reid. We're chuffed to many tiny pieces and so will you be. It'll cost you a crisp tenner from record shops across the land, and it's WRATHCD48 on the Seal Of Quality Guarantee Wrath Records. There's some sneaky preview tracks up on our Myspace site at the moment - go have a looksee/listenhear. We've also just been confirmed to play the Reading and Leeds festivals on the BBC Introducing stage. Come along and see us so we're not just playing to the soundperson, crew and hot dog stall stealing the stage power. Times and dates will follow. We guarantee you it will be as much fun as bathing in Swarfega with the Cheeky Girls. Likewise, for all the Leeds-heads, we've just confirmed for Unity Day in Hyde Park on Saturday August 16th. We're on at 7.30pm, just after the Sewersuckers. Get down early for them, and for the dog show. There's tons of great bands on all day long - The Old Romantic Killer Band and Micky P Kerr for two - and it's always a great do. The tour for September is now stretching into October, when we're supporting Laika Dog (which is Tony Wright out of Terrorvision's new band for all you Britrock fans). Dates are being finalised at the moment and will be up here and on our Myspace forthwith. It will rock with a capital R, O, C and K. We're also doing a bunch of filming at the moment too, for some tracks on our album, some live footage and for MTV Cribs, who are coming round my gaff this evening to check out my jacuzzi and various rides, as well as some bitchez, probably. Okay, so it's not MTV, it's AshTV our mates from Huddersfield, but it will give you a hearty insight into how we roll etc. So it's all go in Eurekaland at the moment, and long may it stay that way. Hooray! Stay utterly tuned for more updates as and when. 19/05/2008
We actually have some news for a change. We've signed our first record deal, with Wrath Records. Well, I say 'signed', but what I mean is 'they're going to put out our album, but we're mates, so we don't have to sign stuff'. Wrath have put out stuff by Stuffy + The Fuses, Sarandon, The Scaramanga Six and loads of other great bands that may or may not begin with S, and the more eagle-eyed among you will know that the label is actually run by our bass player Steve, so it made sense to keep it in the family and do it that way. We could send out the message that it's massive and we've been scouted all over the shop, but it'd be a lie and we don't like bullshitters. Anyway this all means that we're putting out a mini-album in September, which will be supported by a UK tour around some of our favourite toilet venues. Dates are going fast - well, fairly fast - so please get in touch if you want to put us on. We're cheap, but can't generally do stuff for free. We're most definitely not into ripping people off, though. So give us a shout if you want to put us on, or if you think you can help us in any way. I hate the term 'street team' - but even if you think you can't help at all, you probably can... by putting up posters or flyers in your town, promoting us on Myspace or forums (fora?) that you visit, or just by telling your mates about us and playing them the CDs or tracks on the 'net. Even though we've signed this massive fuck-off record deal for an undisclosed but undoubtedly huge sum and are probably out doing cocaine with Ms Moss as we speak, we're still utterly DIY and need all the help we can get. It sounds wanky (and it is wanky), but this is your band as much as it is ours and we are all in this together. The more people that know about us, the more fun we can all have. Plus you get to be very smug when we rule the hit parade and say 'I knew them when they were writing fatuous news articles that no-one reads and recording all their vocals in a makeshift teepee constructed from a stepladder, a broken office chair and three duvets'. Even if it's just firing off an e-mail to your local venue saying 'when are you going to get your arses into gear and book the second-best new live band in the country?', that'd be good. (Bestest are Monotonix, and we've not even seen them, just this picture ... and we can't really rival crowdsurfing on the kick drum while still playing the kit. Mint.) Ok, so we're hoping to hear from you soon, on the usual address. Spread the word! 06/05/2008
There's been some good news and some good news this week. We've been all over the papers. (That was a crap joke using a rubbish and obvious twist on a modern saying along with the fact that the word 'news' is usually in the 'papers'. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't have bothered.) Errr.... we're on the front cover of Sandman this month, which is an honour and a privilege. The immensely talented Mr Tom Martin took the pictures. Thank you Tom. And there's a little interview that Chris and Davros did during the acoustic Ginger tour, when Wayne was away enjoying his honeymoon and Steve was on tour doing his Derren Brown tribute act. If you want to get hold of a copy, go to any live music venue/music shop/etc in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Hull, York, Bradford or Goole. It's always a good read. Or just check it out on the magical internet here. We're also interviewed for Leeds mag Vibrations, and there was a nice piece in the Yorkshire Evening Post in advance of our appearance on the bill for Live At Leeds alongside The Rascals, The Pigeon Detectives, Metronomy and so on. Thanks to Andy, Si and Phil at Futuresound for all their hard work on an amazingly cool day for all of Leeds to get involved in. Anyway go check the bits out on the press page. Hooray. Other news on the horizon includes the re-scheduling of the tour with AntiProduct, some gigs around and about the country, an actual proper release on a real record label that'll be in shops and everything (around October, hopefully), new tunes a-plenty and the usual self-congratulatory bullshit. Keep smiling. 06/04/2008
As much as it pains us to say it, our UK tour has been postponed due to A. Product, the singer from the headline band AntiProduct, contracting the weirdest immune system/skin disorder/wrongness that anyone’s ever really seen before. Go to their Myspace page for pictures... so long as you’re not eating and have a strong constitution. Specialists in the field have told A. to stop rocking before his fingers fall off, and I’m not even answering the phone to him in case I contract something down cellular networkage, so sadly the AntiProduct/Eureka Machines/Shush tour has been put back to another time later in the year. If any of you are doctors, dermatologists, hypnomotherfuckers or voodoo quackbusters, get over here and tell him what it is that’s making his sore skin seep. The other support band Shush and ourselves were hoping to salvage something from the wreckage, but most of the venues (pretty understandably) didn’t want to take a risk on us. Massive thanks and laudation to Steve Kind for helping us out on that, but sadly it wasn’t to be. That said, we’re doing one or two different dates now, one (at present) with Shush, so check our gig dates out for the latest. These may or may not change, so please check with venues before travelling. I wish we could be less vague about it, but so long as you check with us or the venue a day or three before the gig, you should be okay. One thing that is for sure - we’ve got our first full-band London gig on Sunday 27th April, at the 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street, supporting Shush. If you are a label or press person, do get in touch - we’ll still make you pay in, though. Maybe. We’re gutted about the tour falling through, but it pales in significance to one of our Brothers In Rock being sick, so please bear with us while we sort it out between us. In other news, Seabrooks Wasabi crisps are the best thing ever invented (fuck the wheel), we are in Vibrations Magazine this month (go here for scans), we are in Sandman Magazine this month (live review), Davros bought a computer game, Steve broke his van, Wayne Insane has dyed his fulsome hair blue and I am absolutely arseholed. There’s a couple of festivals in the offing too that we can’t confirm yet. If you have a gig you’d like us to play, get in touch. All the best, and keep checking back, 26/03/2008
Hooray. We've just got our first bit of national press, and it’s not all bad. Kerrang (Rob Bealey) said: ’The younger members of the audience shuffle forward to catch sight of acoustic duo Eureka Machines, who look like punk rock sales reps, but their effortless twin harmonies quickly make up for their dubiously contrived sharp-shirted appearance’ Rock Sound (Paul Raggity) said: ’a fine stripped-down set’ That’s it. Much like our Davros - short, but sweet. Love 18/03/2008
I keep wanting to do fewer blogs, but then there keeps being stuff I feel I should tell you lot about. Go to the eBay auction to see an auction of a load of rock n’ roll funnery. There’s various rare-as-rocking-horse-shit items up there, from a signed Wildhearts/Wolfsbane drum skin (currently at £50), a signed Jackdaw4 album, original artwork for Pandora from Kerrang by Ray Zell... and a Eureka Machines girlie size shirt and promo CD. Which currently has 0 bids. So get yourself over there and get bidding on it, otherwise I’m going to have to buy it so we look more popular than we are. The charity is Rock-n-Emily - and all the money that you pay for stuff goes directly to not one, not two, but (count ’em) THREE charities - SPRING (Supporting Parents And Relatives In Neo-Natal Grief), The Samaritans and the MS Society. So dig deep, whether it’s for our stuff or for the other items (rare, signed and downright weird stuff from Fightstar, Motorhead, Nizlopi, John Lee Hooker, Obsessive Compulsive, John Berry, Iron Maiden, Fats Waller and others) and let us know if you win it. Good luck! 10/03/2008
Last night's Raw Talent Session is now up on their website to listen to again to your heart's content. We did two songs - The Story Of My Life and The One Who Wouldn't Change You - and did a short interview before and after the tracks, which were around 48 minutes into the show. We said we'd be on a little later, but the schedule had changed beyond our control when we got there, so sorry if you tuned in too late. Anyway, you can listen here: (link) - then click on the 'Listen Again' link, then look for Raw Talent. We're on after about 48 minutes, but listen to the rest for live sessions from I Concur and Ben out of Racine. Hooray. Thanks to Alan and Katy at Raw Talent, and to Chris's mum and dad for the cup of tea on the way. 06/03/2008Bit of bad news... our Polish mini-tour has been postponed by our agent over there, due to problems with some of the dates. We are looking at re-booking around the end of May, if all our schedules collide in the right way. More news to follow as soon as we can. But in good news... the tour supporting Ginger has been an unmitigated success, with almost 500 CDs sold, nearly 1000 new names on the mailing list, a bunch of t-shirts flogged and, last night in Winchester, the Exclusive Official Eureka Machines Tea Bag (As Dunked By Chris Catalyst) was sold to superfan Steve. Here he is with his proud purchase.
Check our blog for the latest in what's been going on on the road. For an utterly new band on their first tour, selling that many CDs is unbelievable and a testament to the public's unerring faith in new rock and pop. As well as how bloody great we are. So thank you to you all - we have been astounded nightly. Really, and seriously, huge thanks. And thanks to those who've helped on the tour - Ginger and Scott Motherfucking Metzger, obviously, but also all the venues, sound guys, promoters and venue staff for being flipping marvellous. Plus big thanks and love to Gav and Lex for Remote Tour Management Services. Some interesting stuff has come out of these gigs - look out for a couple of festival announcements fairly soon, hopefully. All the best. And seriously, and sincerely, thanks again. 04/03/2008
The tour with Ginger is going ridiculously well. Thanks to everyone so far. We're blogging it over on the blog page, so go have a look. It's not that rock and roll but we're having a bloody marvellous time. Anyway the news is that we're in session for Raw Talent THIS SUNDAY. It's broadcast on Radio Humberside (95.9 FM for all you Hullites, of which 1/4 of Eureka Machines are) but tune in to any BBC local station across the North between 2000 and 2200 UK time on digital and you can hear us playing a live acoustic set in stereo sound. And we'll be doing an interview with lovely Alan Raw (hence Raw Talent... do you see what he did there?) and lovely Katy Noone. Should be fun. So tune in and text in your questions. We will be on air from around 2130 to perform two songs and having a little chat. But tune in from 2000 to hear the brilliant I Concur in session too. You can listen online here. No other news. We'll fill you in on the tour when it's done. EM x 08/02/2008
Welcome to the all-new singing and dancing whooping and hollering Eureka Machines website. Someone once told me that with the advent of Myspace, bands don't need websites any more. On the contrary, with the proliferation of the media everywhere and the incredible accessibility people have to stuff now ("I'm a photographer... here's my camera phone"), I think now more than ever bands need their own websites. Bands that mean it, anyway. Don't expect flashing and dancing elephants and waterslides. We leave that up to people who are amazing HTML web guru geniuses. We're only good at pop music. And there's only so much time in the day. But, with the aid of our friend Damian (thank you x 10,000 for all your webby help) we aim to use this as a platform for information about the band and so on, because there's only so much that you can do on Myspace. Plus it only works 3/5ths of the time. You can still get in touch on Myspace here. Anyway, check the gig dates for what we've got coming up - there's a bunch of acoustic dates with that Ginger of The Wildhearts across the whole of the UK, then a brief stint in Poland, then a full debut UK tour supporting that AntiProduct. It'd be nice to see you at some of the gigs. Please remember, we are unsigned, managed by ourselves and our PR company is... well... us. We are for the moment totally DIY, and any help YOU can give us - whether that be flyering, talking about us in your blogs, podcasting us, putting a track or two of ours on compilations for your mates, or simply telling some like-minded pals about us - would be much appreciated. There's a million and one bands in the same boat as us in the UK, and we rely on YOU, the avid supporter of the underground and underpaid, to help spread the word. Thank you. Chris (08/02/08) |
