Long Read // Glaswegian art-punk wizards Water Machine talk us through the process that led to their record 'Dog Park'
Having just released their debut album God Park, Glaswegian art-punk wizards Water Machine talk us through the process that led to this record, Glasgow’s inclusive music scene, and the surprise endorsement by Henry Rollins.
Founded in Glasgow in 2022, Water Machine quickly gained a reputation for their unique blend of ideas, which translated so quickly into an incredibly raw and refreshing sound.
Over the last few years the group has released songs with GoldMold Records and Upset The Rhythm, along with playing shows with the likes of Shannon and the Clams and The Orielles, as well as a BBC Radio 6 Music live session.
Speaking on the inception of Water Machine and what the first days looked like, vocalist, violinist and keys player Hando Morice tells of the first sessions with fellow vocalist and bass player Flore De Hoog and the moment they first realised the potential of their collaboration: “We basically just started writing some songs together and I remember for me personally having a moment where I was like ‘These are pretty good’”.
“I remember thinking ‘me and Flore singing together’, I was really inspired by it because I’ve never sung with anyone else who was super into doing harmonies and stuff and Flore does it amazingly well with her other band Brenda”.
Flore admits initially feeling intimidated by Hando’s differing backgrounds and influences: “It was quite intimidating at first because we came from very different musical backgrounds and I just thought Hando has that edgier scary side and maybe I wasn’t punk enough”.
It didn’t take long for them to realise how well the two meshed creatively: “It turned out that Hando was pretty flexible and so am I so we kind of met in the middle. I think once we realised that, that was the moment where we thought ‘Okay, this is interesting!’”.
The two have always been incredibly vocal about their admiration and gratitude for the Glasgow music scene: “Everyone is creative in a similar way and there’s always this kind of looseness to it”, admits Hando.
Flore adds on the inclusivity of the city’s scene and how it affects local musicians: “I think in Glasgow, to a fault actually, you’re not allowed to have an ego and you’re not allowed to rise above the rest”.
“In a few years I was making music with the people that were my heroes before. I would find people I looked up to playing at open mic nights”.
Hando even recalls accidentally joining iconic 90’s riot grrl group Lun Leg: “That’s what Glasgow is like, you’re hanging out with these people and you don’t even realise that they’re this person that did a thing that you really care about”.
God Park is Water Machine’s first full-length album, a twelve-track deep dive into their eccentric and intuitive sound. Hando and Flore recall going into their first recording sessions with half the album still to be written: “You should have seen the fear in the sound engineer’s eyes when we were like ‘yeah half the album is written’ and he was like ‘oh great, so we have like what, four days?!’”.
“We were quite fast with it. We’d literally just come back from a tour, so we were all in each other’s skin at this point and the songs just kind of flowed out of us really naturally”.
“It’s extremely collaborative, no one has any ownership. We’re all very open to suggestions and it’s a very open minded process and that’s interesting. It’s not always like that and I think all our differences really show on the record. It’s all just us having a bit of a laugh to be honest”.
The group has especially caught the eye of some with their superb and unadulterated lyricism, with songs touching on important issues such as housing and the struggles of artists in the modern world, as well as a few personal experiences of which emotion was translated into song.
Flore recalls the experience which led to writing the song “Dog Park”: “I had a street dog for like three days and then turned out all of a sudden I had to get it put down on the third day as they suspected it had rabies and me and all my friends had to go to hospital to get the antidote. This was on Valentine’s Day and this was gonna be my big new single life”.
“I think it’s just about trying to make light out of heavy situations. I think what we have in common is we tend to go into things that are too heavy to deal with, and you’re gonna have to process it in some way”.
Hando also recalls her own share of obscene events which were translated into lyrics: “The song ‘I Quit’, the first line is ‘my best friend got deported on my birthday’. That’s just true, my best friend did get deported on my birthday!”.
The simplicity and forthrightness of the group’s lyricism is another feature which really distinguishes them as a band like no other, being able to sound like something incredibly thought out yet simultaneously effortless.
Among the many surprises the two have witnessed since the formation of Water Machine three years ago, the most shocking to both remains receiving an email from an unusual source: former Black Flag frontman and music legend Henry Rollins.
“I was freaking out”, laughs Hando on first reading Rollins’ email expressing his appreciation for their work, “this is one of these people who you grow up thinking ‘Wow this is it, this is the real deal’, and then to get a random email from this guy being like “I like what you’re doing”, it’s very validating”.
A fitting endorsement for a band which so early into its existence already shows an overwhelming amount of composure, chemistry and expertise unlike many others in the scene.
God Park is out now via FatCat Records on all platforms, a diverse palette of the group’s diverse set of colours translated impeccably into recorded format.
Words by Jay Cohen
