Unfortunatly a tragedy is what has brought us all together again.

As most of you already know by now. Our friend Travis Criscola passed away in his sleep on the morning of Saturday March 28th. He was 24 years young.
He was on tour with the Cute Lepers of Seattle with whom he had recently joined on Guitar. Travis was NOT a drug addict or habitual user. Despite what some people think. Travis was a social drinker at best. He simply made an innocent mistake and payed the ultimate price. He was definatly no dummy. It coulda happened to anyone who parties hard, or occasionally as he did. It is quite unfortunate and terribly eye opening.

Travis left behind an amazing girlfriend, a loving family, and countless friends, band members, fans and associates. We all love and miss Travis dearly. His loss is a total shock to us as friends, people and musicians.

A memorial service will be held Saturday April 18th in Olympia at Travis' friend Walker's house. A benefit concert for Travis' family will be held Sunday April 19th in Seattle at the Rendezvous. On the bill so far is: Greatest Hits, Spurts, Luxury Sweets, Pop Machine and alot more TBA.

Pop Machine was talking about doing a reunion show as this all unfolded and we decided to play for our fallen comrad. This show is not a total reunion. We only plan to do this one show. We have all moved on to other projects or on with our lives. With that said....

We wish to send our love and prayers to Nicci, Ed, Jason, Dillan and anyone else who was touched by Travis' life. Hopefully we all learn from this tragedy so that no one has to go through it again.

Derek/Pop Machine

Do you need an offical history bio of the Pop Machine? you facts are all ass backwards.
The Pop Machine started offically October 06. Really in began in the summer of 2006 in Spencers garage, where Spencer and Leif began to jam on the old songs that they shared in previous bands. Along comes the new material in these sessions, True Love (L.Larson, S.Heller), Future of Tomorrow (L.Larson), It's Just Me (L.Larson), Tough Love (S.Heller), All I Want (L.Larson), Neon Nights (S.Heller), Fun In The Summer Sun (With You) (S.Heller), Take Me Away (L.Larson, S.Heller), Tell Me (L.Larson, S.Heller) among other various untitled songs.
Now cue to october 2006 we decide to fully pursure this band (no name, except off kicks was a failing title), Nils sends us contact with Derek to play drums. There is a rotating cast of bass players coming through Bop Street Records(Colin, Aaron). Mostly we practiced as a 3 peice, Colin had no chops as Aaron was amazing but had no time. In comes Derek with the idea of adding 3 girl back up singers. Anhalisa, Jo and Gigi became the trio of the first wave of the Pop Machine. Now after being a band for 2 months we rushed down to LA with the luck of being able to cut a demo for free. Here we recorded versions of Tough Love, As I Look Back (D.Shepherd, A.Nighlander), Take Me Away and Jealousy (D.Shepherd), then exhausted and starving we hop back on the train to seattle where the writing talents can't be held down.

We come back to seattle in dec 06 and in comes Brandon for the part of drummer, Derek moves to bass. We start to include the songs we learned with Derek on drums and raise our catolage to 21 songs, including some of the previous mentioned and She's Gone (Shepherd), It's Been So Long (A.Nighlander), Partner in Crime (Shepherd), Sinkin Ship (D.Shepherd, Cry No More (D.Shepherd, S.Heller, J. Ridel), One More Chance (vips), Bigger Than Life (J.Lee), Turn On The Pop Machine (D.Shepherd, A.Nighlander), Crime In The Streets (F.Seich, A.Nighlander, Pop M!), Tough Love (dif version, S.Heller, D.Shepherd) and Looking At You (Shepherd, Jimmy).
We play our first show Dec 07 2006 @ The Funhouse with Clorox Girls, Pharmacy and Tv Cohran, i believe you were there. First show 2 an half months after being a band, 3 months before we toured. Soon come Feb and Jan were we recorded in Two sessions one with Stev E Nix and another in maple valley. The first session concludes a major portion of the tour fanzine cd along with a very few cuts from the rushed and sickness plague maple valley session. Tess comes in after being on our steve sessions to become a pop m! gal, to take over the spot left by GiGi to persure her love for tattoo works.

The Road to Radio Heartbeat Tour.
Derek spawned the idea of a tour to play the festival in new york city after thinking just to go to new york would seem like a waste. So we rushed together this makeshifted tour across the whole united states. The only problem we didn't have a van or enough money to get a decent van. Derek calls in Cynthia Lee and we learn her songs to become her backing band and bring her along on tour. Anhna drops out before tour for personal descions. Which we did about half way when problems at home brought her back. In a short we toured the us in a disaster but we had fun and ups and downs. Learned a new lingo that still hasn't hit the streets and some of us got lost.

We eventually were all back in town the day of our June 17th 07 show @ the Funhouse with Soda Pop Kids and Fishnet Stalkers both bands are rad but disliked us, oh well.
We didn't do that bad for being apart for 2 months without a single note being played together. Coming months 2 july shows brandon drops out with tension among the band. We played the capitol hill block party with the help of Josh on drums and the help of newest pop m! gal Robin. We left feeling great and reborn, but it wasn't.
We were drummer less for months until Josh (different) moved back here from cali. We began to play shows and practice in viewing that our debut album was going to be recorded soon.
It just fell apart.

Now were all off doing other things, Leif, Tess and Spencer are in The Shy Ones. We just recorded our first tracks and playing our first show Feb 21. Jo, Robin, Josh and Derek are currently looking for different projects to pursure.
I'm sure we will all be around.
The Pop Machine (Oct 06-Jan-08)

Here is a review of our most recent live show from the Capitol Hill Block Party this past weekend.

It was our first show with our new singer Robin, and our first show with temporary drummer Josh (Spits/Cute Lepers). We only had time to rehearse with Josh one time prior to the show because of the stupid little games our previous drummer Brandon decided to play with us. He basically made each member of the band beg him via Email to play the show before he finally just said "no" days before the show.

Well we'd like to thank Brandon. Because of him quitting. We played our best set so far. In front of a big crowd, at a fun show.. We played with a real drummer for once. AWESOME!

My favorite punk band is the Ramones, because they are just as much (maybe even more so) a pop band as they are a punk band. Sure, they've got songs about sniffing glue ("Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue") and beating up people with baseball bats ("Beat on the Brat"), but there is also a softer side. You may need to slow down the driving guitar riffs, but there is a side to the band that appreciates pop, as well. Joey Ramone often referred to the Ronnettes as one of his favorite bands and said that he wanted "Blitzkrieg Bop" to be a catchy anthem like the Bay City Rollers' hit "Saturday Night." A lot of bands that label themselves punk adopt three chords and the nihilism of the Sex Pistols or the righteous politics of the Clash, yet it's very refreshing when a band adopts the pop sensibilities of the Ramones -- and then adds even more sugar.

Which brings us to the Pop Machine, a relatively young punk pop band from Seattle.

I had just heard of the band when I saw the final schedule for the Capitol Hill Block Party and briefly checked them out on MySpace before offering to review this show. I'm glad I did because they have been the most pleasant surprise of the Block Party thus far. They began their set with a theme song of sorts, with three ladies as backup singers and a chorus that goes, "turn on the Pop Machine" (though the backup singers sang probably sang at least 50% of the harmonies, so I'm not sure if they can appropriately be called backup singers). They were more like Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of the B-52s, integral parts of the band. The band featured lots of surfy guitar chords and the ladies provided their share of "wahh ohh oh"s and "nah na na na na"s, with the final song adopting that part of the Beatles' "Hey Jude."

This set, which lasted a very quick 30 minutes, was the first (and maybe last) with a new drummer. One of the members of the band, I think the bassist (who looks a lot like Captain Sensible of the Damned), shouted "fuck you, Brandon!" out between songs. It turns out that Brandon was the drummer who had recently quit the band and left them with only time for one practice with a new drummer. He did a fine job keeping up and fit in to the band well, but one of the guitarists told me afterward that he was in another band that is getting ready to tour so they are in need of a new drummer before they can book any more shows.

I hope they find one soon.

Here is a link
http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/07/block_party_bands_of_the_day_the_pop_mac
if the link doesn't work.. here is what it says along with a picture of us.. cool!

The Pop Machine Number of Myspace Friends: 1,323

One time I saw this band practicing. I was wandering around in Ballard (don't ask me why, I have no idea why I went there either), and of course, when in Ballard, you better get into Bop Street Records. That place is awesome. It's like the record stores I used to go into in Boston—it's dirty, they have a whole Nina Hagen section, the counter clerk might be secretly getting drunk. I love it. It's the best thing about Ballard.

Anywhoo, I was wandering through Bop Street when I heard a band playing in the basement. The basement is a cavern full of duplicates of what they have upstairs that they use to restock and to sell wholesale, and down there, in all the huge stacks, I found the Pop Machine. I watched them sing some songs and they were a sweaty, poppy mess. That was about three quarters of a year ago, I think, and they sure have cleaned up their act. Now, they are a sweaty, poppy, ball of fun. Go listen to their songs on Myspace. It's fun as hell.

Right now I'm about to start putting together a recap/journal/photo book of our recent US tour. If you or anyone you know was at any of our shows, and have a story or a comment you'd like to be added to the journal. Or you have a photo(s) you might have taken. Please send us a message and let us know! Stay tuned!

Thanks!
Derek/PM

We finally made it to civilization. After a week of small cities and long fucking drives.
We are in Minneapolis, Mn. Last night we played the Hexagon with thee Makeout Party, and Travis Ramin and Georgia Peach's new band. Bluebird. Tonight we are still again in Minneapolis. We're playing a house party at a place called the Pocketknife. 2613 Lyndale Ave.
Onward East to the Radio Heartbeat fest in NYC and back again. It's not even half over yet.

Yesterday we paid our respects to Buddy Holly in Clear Lake, Iowa. I fell waist deep into the snow on the way out to the cornfield. We had to turn back. Pictures of that and the Surf Ballroom soon.

Analisa  has decided to leave the Pop Machine for her own personal reasons. We fully support her decision to leave and wish her luck, love, and happiness. We will miss her very much!

But with that comes a new rose to the garden. We have a new lady joining the band by the name of Tess. She is very beautiful and talented. We are very excited to work with her! Tess sat in with us on a recent recording before officially joining the band and we just had to have her. Super great chemistry with the rest of the band! Welcome Tess! <3

Fri March 9th - Spokane, Wa @ Mootsy's w/Artificial Limbs
Sat March 10th - Twin Falls, Id @ TBA. We still need help with this show.. But we WILL play Twin Falls.
Sun March 11th - Garden City, Id @ the Shed
Mon March 12th - Logan, Ut @ the Driftwood Venue
Tue March 13th - Lincoln, Ne @ Duggan's Pub
Wed March 14th - Minneapolis, Mn @ the Hexagon
Thur March 15th - Minneapolis, Mn @ the Pocketknife
Fri March 16th - Milwaukee, Wi @ Linnemans
Sat March 17th - Chicago, Il @ JT Music
Sun March 18th - Chicago, Il @ TBA
Mon March 19th - TBA
Tue March 20th - Cleveland, Oh @ Hot Trash Radio
Wed March 21st - Columbus, Oh @ the High five
Thur March 22nd - Detroit, Mi @ the Painted Lady
Fri March 23rd - Cleveland, Oh @ Beachland Tavern
Sat March 24th - Boston, Ma @ Mass Art College
Sun March 25th - Burlington, Vt @ the Metranome
Mon March 26th - TBA
Tue March 27th - TBA
Wed March 28th - New York, Ny @ the Cake Shop
Thur March 29th - Jersey City, Nj @ Live on WFMU Radio
Fri March 30th - OFF
Sat March 31st - OFF
Sun April 1st - New York, Ny @ the Magnetic Field
Mon April 2nd - Philadelphia, Pa @ the Tri-tone
Tue April 3rd - Harrisburg, Pa @ Smalls
Wed April 4th - Baltimore, Md @ Sidebar
Thur April 5th - Atlanta, Ga @ Lenny's
Fri April 6th - TBA
Sat April 7th - Huntsville, Al @ Judge Craters Tavern
Sun April 8th - TBA
Mon April 9th - TBA
Tue April 10th - TBA
Wed April 11th - Oklahoma City, Ok @ the Conservatory
Thur April 12th - Dallas, Tx @ the Darkside Lounge
Fri April 13th - Austin, Tx @ the Parlor
Sat April 14th - McAllen, Tx @ the VFW Hall
Sun April 15th - Corpus Christi, Tx @ the House of Rock
Mon April 16th - San Antonio, Tx @ TBA

The rest of the tour is TBA at this point except
Sat April 21st - Hollywood, Ca @ the Knitting Factory
and
Fri April 27th - Portland, Or @ Ground Kontrol Video Arcade. 2 Shows! All Ages Matinee, and 21+ Late show.
Sat April 28th - Seattle, Wa @ Funhouse Welcome HOME!

Incase anyone REALLY cares that much... Soon we're going to record alittle 3 song demo or so to get this train-a-rollin. Then soon we will be playing highschool dances and record hops all over the great state of Worshington! Take your best gal out to the Pop Machine show.. 

We came to LA and recorded some songs with Jack Lee from the Nerves. Some tunes should be up... Someday. It turned out GRRRRREAT!