Maschina returns to Pig for monthly Ann Arbor gig

Maschina is a rock band. One of the first things you will notice about them when you see them live, however, is that they lack that one thing that people associate highly with rock bands: a guitar player.

"One of the things we as a group decided on was that there was just way too many guitar players out there as it is and we might as well not add to that epidemic in society," jovially explained Maschina's singer Seth "Queen Maschine" Hitsky. "Furthermore, we've kind of developed a self-righteousness about playing rock without a guitar!"

Instead, a saxophone is used and the results more than cover for the missing instrument in their rock sound. Handling the electric trumpet duties is Mark "Bubbles" Kirschenmann who, " plugs his sax through different guitar effects, not unlike what Miles Davis experimented with," Hitsky said. The group is rounded up by bassist, Alana Rocklin and drummer John Maloney.

A listen to the group's "Purple Finger Syndrom" solidifies the success the group has had with instrument line-up as the band still manages to produce a full rocking sound. "We've decided to rise to the challenge of creating a sound with what we have. So far I think we've been pretty successful. We even do covers, such as Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs,' that have gone down really well, which we haven't been able to shake off our set since people really like it," Hitsky explained.

Another terrific aspect of the group is the amazingly varied vocal styles utilized in the group's music. "Well, I went to the University for musical theater, and I am sure that the experience from that program has been an enormous influence in how I approach performing and how I approach, sort of like, the theatrical nature of how we have been performing as a group."

Hitsky tries to go up on stage as a character and not just going up on stage to do a set. "I've been in rock bands for a long time now. I've been in bands throughout high school, so it's a funny mix of styles from pop music that I was growing up with to voice professors in college.

Maschina also boasts of an odd recurring theme around fingers. The group's album is called "Purple Finger Syndrom," they have a song called "Feel My Finger" and the group's production company is called "Fingrrr Records."

"Well, the finger is a very useful human appendage. It's got many uses, ranging from the musical things it can do, to beyond," Hitsky said.

Maschina started out under a different name, and in the process of jamming and coming up with songs Hitsky had said, "feel my finger," and Alana it should be the title of the song.

"'Finger' was actually a candidate for a band name for a while, before we settled on Maschina," Hitsky said.

The group was originally an Ann Arbor-based band, but has since relocated to Chicago to expand its opportunities. Despite residing in Chicago now, the group never fails to make an almost monthly appearance in Ann Arbor. "We have a good crowd in Ann Abor. We were all originally students from the School of Music at U of M, " Hitsky said. Not disappointing this routine, the group will be making an appearance tonight at the Blind Pig.

The only unexplained question remaining is, with its bold '80s Metal font outlining it, what does Maschina mean? "Well, Alana picked it. It used to be the name of this Israeli band in the '80s called 'Maschina,' in Hebrew of course, they were sort of a Nirvana-esque band. They no longer exists! So that's how we've managed to get away with it. Supposedly, in Hebrew, 'Maschina' means 'monster of rock,'" Hitsky explained.

02-19-99