List of Soft Machine and spin-off band members

Soft Machine were formed in mid-1966 by drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, guitarist Daevid Allen and keyboardist Mike Ratledge, who had previously worked together in the Daevid Allen Trio.[1] Originally known as Mister Head, but soon renamed the Soft Machine, the band's inaugural lineup also featured guitarist Larry Nowlin and bassist and vocalist Kevin Ayers, although Nowlin left after four shows.[2] The group were reduced to a trio in October 1967, when Allen was denied re-entry to the UK following a tour of France, after overstaying his visa.[3] Wyatt, Ayers and Ratledge recorded Soft Machine's self-titled debut album in April 1968, which was issued at the end of the year.[4] Between May and July, Andy Summers joined on guitar.[5] After a final American tour, Ayers left Soft Machine in September 1968.[6]

Wyatt and Ratledge rebuilt Soft Machine in December 1968 with the addition of Hugh Hopper on bass, another former member of the Daevid Allen Trio, and released Volume Two the following September.[7] The next month, as the band's style moved more towards jazz, they expanded to a seven-piece with the addition of saxophonists Elton Dean and Lyn Dobson, cornet player Mark Charig and trombonist Nick Evans.[8] Both Charig and Evans had left by January 1970 due to "financial and logistical challenges", while Dobson also departed a couple of months later.[8] After the release and promotion of Third and Fourth, frontman Wyatt was fired from Soft Machine in August 1971 and replaced with Australian jazz drummer Phil Howard.[9] After recording half of Fifth, Howard himself was replaced by John Marshall.[8]

After Elton Dean's departure, Karl Jenkins took over and became band leader. When Mike Ratledge left in 1976, he switched to keyboards.

After Fifth was completed, Dean also left in mid-1972 and was replaced by Karl Jenkins, a former bandmate of Marshall's in Nucleus.[10] The group issued Six the next year, which was Hopper's last album before departing in May 1973.[11] He was replaced by Roy Babbington, another former Nucleus member who also performed double bass on Fourth and Fifth.[10] In November, the group became a five-piece again with the addition of Allan Holdsworth (another Nucleus alumnus) as their first guitarist in five years.[12] He remained until April 1975, when he recommended John Etheridge as his replacement.[13] By early 1976, the band were left with no original members when Ratledge chose to leave,[14] with Jenkins focusing on keyboards and Alan Wakeman joining on saxophone.[15]

After the release of Softs in 1976 (on which Ratledge had performed two tracks before leaving), Soft Machine's lineup continued to change regularly. Wakeman left in July, just after the album's release,[16] and was replaced briefly by Ray Warleigh.[17] For a European tour later in the year, Ric Sanders joined on violin and Percy Jones took over from Babbington, who had suddenly quit.[18] Jones declined to join on a full-time basis and was replaced by Steve Cook, with the resulting 1977 tour spawning the band's first completely live release, Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris.[19] After a final show in December 1978, Soft Machine effectively disbanded and members went their separate ways.

In 1978, former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper and saxophonist Elton Dean formed the spin-off band Soft Heap, with former National Health keyboardist Alan Gowen and drummer Pip Pyle.[20] For their first tour, Pyle was temporarily replaced by Dave Sheen due to other commitments, and the group (renamed Soft Head) issued the live album Rogue Element by the end of the year.[21] With Pyle back on drums, the band recorded a self-titled debut album in late 1978, which was issued early the following year.[22] National Health's John Greaves later replaced Hopper and guitarist Mark Hewins joined after Gowen's death in 1981, with this second incarnation recording the live album A Veritable Centaur released in 1995.[23] A live album recorded by the original Soft Heap lineup of Hopper, Dean, Gowen and Pyle in 1978 was released as Al Dente in 2008.[24]

Jenkins briefly revived the Soft Machine moniker in 1980 for Land of Cockayne. The album featured the band's previous drummer John Marshall and a range of guest musicians, including former Soft Machine guitarist Allan Holdsworth and saxophonist Ray Warleigh, former Cream bassist Jack Bruce, keyboardist John Taylor and more.[25] In the summer of 1984, Jenkins and Marshall reformed Soft Machine once again for a short run of shows at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, joined by Warleigh, guitarist John Etheridge, bassist Paul Carmichael and second keyboardist Dave MacRae.[26]

Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean formed a number of Soft Machine spin-off bands during the 1990s and 2000s, including Soft Bound (pictured).

Over ten years after the last Soft Machine spin-off band, Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean formed Soft Ware in 1999, adding former Soft Machine drummer John Marshall and former King Crimson contributor Keith Tippett on keyboards.[27] The group did not release any albums, and by 2002 had changed their name to Soft Works as Tippett left and former guitarist Allan Holdsworth joined.[27] Abracadabra, the band's only studio album, was issued in 2003.[28] Holdsworth left again after the album's release and was replaced in October 2004 by his original replacement in Soft Machine, John Etheridge; at this point, the band renamed themselves Soft Machine Legacy.[27] During the final Soft Works tour, Hopper and Dean also recorded an album with Japanese keyboardist Hoppy Kamiyama and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida under the moniker Soft Mountain.[29] In 2004, they completed a tour with French keyboardist Sophia Domancich and drummer Simon Goubert under the moniker Soft Bounds.[30]

The first lineup of Soft Machine Legacy released Live at Zaandam in 2005, followed by a self-titled debut studio album and the live video New Morning: The Paris Concert the following year.[27] On 7 February 2006, however, Dean died following a year of "heart and liver problems".[31] His place in the band was taken by Theo Travis, and in January 2007 the group issued their second studio album Steam.[27] In June 2008, Hopper was diagnosed with leukemia and temporarily replaced on tour by Fred Baker of In Cahoots.[7][32] He later died of the condition on 7 June 2009.[33] As had happened when Hopper left Soft Machine in 1973, his place was taken by Roy Babbington.[34] In 2010, the band issued the live collection Live Adventures recorded in 2009, which was followed in 2013 by their third studio release Burden of Proof.[27]

Starting in December 2015, Theo Travis, John Etheridge, Roy Babbington and John Marshall began touring as Soft Machine, dropping "Legacy" from their name.[13] The band released their first official studio album under the original moniker since 1981 in the form of Hidden Details in September 2018.[13]