Tin Machine
| Tin Machine | |
|---|---|
_1988_promo_photo.jpg)
Tin Machine in 1991
From L to R: Reeves Gabrels, Tony Fox Sales, Hunt Sales, David Bowie |
|
| Background information | |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1988–92 |
| Labels |
|
| Past members | |
Tin Machine were an English-American hard rock band formed in 1988, famous for being fronted by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. The band consisted of Bowie on lead vocals and guitar, Reeves Gabrels on guitar, Tony Sales on bass, and Hunt Sales on drums (both Tony and Hunt are the sons of comedian Soupy Sales). Guitarist Kevin Armstrong was an unofficial fifth member of the band, playing on both the first studio album and first tour. The group recorded two studio albums before dissolving in 1992, when Bowie returned to his solo career. Drummer Hunt Sales said that the group's name "reflects the sound of the band," and Bowie stated that he and his bandmates joined up "to make the kind of music that we enjoyed listening to" and to rejuvenate himself artistically. Over the course of their career, the band sold two million albums.
Bowie would later credit his time with Tin Machine as instrumental in revitalizing his career in the 1990s.
The Never Let Me Down album and subsequent Glass Spider Tour had left critics unimpressed, and Bowie was aware of his low standing. Eager to return to making music for himself rather than the mainstream audience he had acquired following the Let's Dance album, Bowie began collaborating with Reeves Gabrels (who pushed the singer to rediscover his experimental side) and multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kızılçay on new material in 1988 (although Erdal Kızılçay would ultimately not join the band). Bowie and Gabrels met through Gabrels' wife Sarah, who was part of the press staff for the North American leg of Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider world tour. She had given Bowie a tape of Reeves' guitar playing, and after listening to the tape, Bowie approached Gabrels so they could work together. Bowie told fellow band-member Gabrels that he felt he had "lost his vision" and wanted to be in the band to get it back.
"Their attitude was kind of, He's David Bowie, we're the Sales brothers, who the fuck are you?"
...
Wikipedia