You might recall Spirit Machines briefly pole vaulting to the international spotlight when guitarist Adam Jones, of Tool, shared the band’s video Zober—a mashup of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir and Tool’s Sober. But that spotlight was a merely moment in time. Could the band deliver the goods and maintain the momentum they received after that one fateful click of a mouse?
Spirit Machines performing at The Royal, In Murray, Utah. © 2021 Canyon Media
After the attention they received, the band could have sat back and enjoyed the warm glow of the spotlight. But they didn’t relax. With a lot of lockdown practice, a couple live stream shows, and some creative digital marking by drummer Michael Collins, the band was able to not only keep the buzz going, but grow their fan base and sell a lot of CDs along the way.
But could the band deliver when it came to a live audience performance? The band’s loyal fans already believed this, but I was still observing from 20,000 feet…waiting and wondering.
I’d seen Spirit Machines perform two other times over the past 18 months—once at Urban Lounge, prior to the recording of their first album Feel Again, and once shortly after the release of the album at Ice Haus.
Spirit Machines performing at The Royal, In Murray, Utah. © 2021 Canyon Media
At the Ice Haus show, the band was still trying to figure out how to reproduce the rich instrumental textures and harmonies from the recently released album. Before that show, I remember asking guitarist Dave Crespo if the band was planning to play the song Piece—one of my personal favorites from Feel Again (find a link to the song here).
Crespo replied that they hadn’t planned on it. Indeed, the song posed a challenge to reproduce live with just the four members.
Fast forward to Saturday night. Spirit Machines had recently wrapped an expansive livestream event—filmed and recorded at Pale Horse Sound in Sugar House, UT—so I assumed they would be in game-day shape for this show.
Their Royal performance marked quite a contrast from the Ice Haus show—not that they hadn’t performed well back then, but their show at the Royal, on this night, was fantastic. It proved to me, and everyone there, that Spirit Machines is ready to take their live show to the international stage.
Spirit Machines is ready to take their live show to the international stage.”
Lead singer Pepper Rose seems to have found a sweet spot for the live performance of her chorus parts. Along with Crespo—stepping up his support on backing vocals—the band faithfully reproduced the great vocal tracks from the studio album.
The energy from Crespo and bassist Sergio Marticorena was infective and, with Collins in perfect sync with Marticorena, the grooves were tight as usual.
The band got a lot of help from the sound guy Nick, who also happens to be the touring sound engineer for Royal Bliss. He seemed to know just where everyone needed to be in the mix.
Nick Johnson performing at The Royal, In Murray, Utah. © 2021 Canyon Media
Ditto when Nick Johnson took the stage to open for Spirit Machines. If you’v ever heard “Red Shred” Johnson, you know the sound has to be spot on to hear all the struming, fingerstyle picking, rhythm and percussive sounds he gets as he plays every part of his guitar—from the nut to the end of the body. Listen now, to Party Goblin, featured in a recent post. And before I forget, here’s a shout out to RMZ who did an acoustic set to open the show.
In addition to delivering on the sound side, the staff at The Royal were very attentive. With a full restaurant menu, a full bar and an enforced masking protocol, I found the Royal to be one of the most enjoyable venues in the Greater Salt Lake region. Cudos all around.
All in all, Spirit Machines and The Royal put on a great show. It’s been so long since I have been mesmerized by a live performance and, like I said, it was almost like the lockdowns never happened.
As state and local governments realize restaurants and bars are not the super spreaders they were claimed to be, I suspect a rebound in live music has begun!
Check out Spirit Machines at spiritmachinesband.com. Check out Nick Johnson at nickjohnstonmusic.com, and plan a trip to the Royal by visiting, theroyalslc.com.
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