Soft Machine

Soft Machine
Group circa 1970: l-r: Elton Dean, Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper
Background information
Origin	Canterbury, England
Genres	Canterbury scene jazz rock psychedelic rock progressive rock instrumental rock
Discography	Soft Machine discography
Years active	1966–1978 1980–1981 1984 2015–present 1978–1988[1] (as Soft Heap / Soft Head), 1999–2002 (as Soft Ware), 2002–2004 (as Soft Works), 2003 (as Soft Mountain), 2004 (as Soft Bounds), 2004–2015 (as Soft Machine Legacy)
Labels	ABC Probe, Columbia, Harvest, EMI, Major League Productions (MLP)
Spinoffs	Planet Earth Soft Heap / Soft Head Soft Ware Rubba 2nd Vision Rollercoaster Soft Works Soft Mountain Soft Bounds Soft Machine Legacy
Spinoff of	The Wilde Flowers
Members	John Etheridge Theo Travis Fred Baker Asaf Sirkis
Past members	Mike Ratledge Robert Wyatt Kevin Ayers Daevid Allen Larry Nowlin Andy Summers Hugh Hopper Brian Hopper Elton Dean Lyn Dobson Mark Charig Nick Evans Phil Howard John Marshall Karl Jenkins Roy Babbington Allan Holdsworth Alan Wakeman Ray Warleigh Ric Sanders Percy Jones Steve Cook Jack Bruce Dick Morrissey Alan Parker John Taylor Paul Carmichael Dave MacRae
Website	softmachine.org

Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive and jazz rock, becoming a purely instrumental band in 1971.^[2] The band has undergone many line-up changes, with musicians such as Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean,^[3] John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth being members during the band's history. The current line-up consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker and Asaf Sirkis.

Though they achieved little commercial success, Soft Machine are considered by critics to have been influential in rock music.^[4][5][6] Dave Lynch at AllMusic called them "one of the most influential underground bands of their era".^[2] The group were named after the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs.