The Soft Machine now is the best band I’ve ever been in

When John Etheridge was a young guitarist a lot of his pals were making a fuss about a jazz-rock album by The Soft Machine. “Third was a big deal, when I was at university” he recalls. “I had a mate who became the biggest Soft Machine fan of all time because of that. But I wasn’t that interested because they didn’t have a guitar player.” In fact the band’s bassist Hugh Hopper had been very clear on that subject, famously saying that “we certainly didn’t want a guitarist.”  Yet fast-forward five years and John was calling up the aforementioned mate: “One day I was able to phone him up and go ‘Hello Dave, I’ve just joined The Soft Machine” “What? WHAT!!” He was gobsmacked!” So what had happened? We called him up in advance of the band’s Bristol gig to find out.

Almost from their first embodiment as a mid-60s art-rock band from the thriving Canterbury psychedelic scene The Soft Machine’s one consistent quality was inconsistency. 1970’s Third was not only their third album, it reflected their third line-up and a much more intensely jazz-centred approach. Similar changes went on through to 1973’s Seventh (they really worked on those album names!)

By the eighth album – Bundles – they had recruited flamboyant guitarist Alan Holdsworth whose dazzling playing dominates the record. Unfortunately, by the time it was released in 1975 Alan had decided to leave the band but recommended his friend John Etheridge to replace him.

Soft Machine 1975 – Karl Jenkins (sax), John Marshall (drums), John Etheridge (guitar), Mike Ratledge (keys), Roy Babbington (bass) (photo: Mike Putland)

At that time John was playing in a laid-back rock band when, unbeknownst to him, some of the Soft Machine came to check him out. He was mortified: “When I found out they’d turned up to hear that I thought well that’s the end of that. But luckily I’d got hold of their number and phoned up the manager to ask for an audition. Being jazz guys they’d been auditioning really unlikely people because they didn’t know anybody from the rock world. They were good players but totally unsuitable for Soft Machine.” They gave him a second chance and the next thing you know, he’s on the phone to his astonished mate Dave. But wasn’t he just a bit gobsmacked, too?

“Well, I was very over awed and thrilled but I did also feel I was the right man for the gig. The lucky thing for me, looking back on it, was that they had a guitar album to promote. Their default position was the saxophone but they’d got a guitar in for that album and I reckon that if they’d made it and promoted it with Alan before he’d left they may well have gone back to a saxophone.

It was pretty hard work for me because it was mainly long guitar solos which I had to get into. But I upped my game and I think I did OK and then we went on to make a couple of albums that I was quite pleased with. I did feel really challenged to take on that role but I also felt I was kind of up for it.”

All of that was fifty years ago, and since then John has been involved in many other prestigious music projects, notably including playing with French jazz violin legend Stephane Grappelli and a series of duos with top classical guitarist John Williams. The one consistent thing, however, has been The Soft Machine whose latest tour comes to the Jam Jar this month (Sun 23). John is enthusiastically clear why it has lasted so well.

“For me, unashamedly, it’s my favourite thing to do. I just really actually enjoy playing in the Soft Machine and I feel I can play in a way that I can’t in any other context. I’ve played with masses of brilliant people and I always try to fit in with what’s appropriate to the context I’m playing in. It’s not a question of compromise but a matter of blowing with them. But with The Soft Machine I feel that the audience and everyone who’s there will accept the way I want to play and it’s totally appropriate and great. I thoroughly enjoy it, by far my favourite band I’ve ever played in.”

“And The Soft Machine now, the band with Theo Travis  (sax), Fred Baker (bass), Azaf Sirkis (drums) and myself, is the best band I’ve ever been in – and the greatest band in the world! Everyone’s so committed, they play with such commitment. Azaf is so dedicated, he never stops practising, completely into it. Fred’s amazing, a genius, and Theo’s brilliant, he’s expanded his instrumentation to cover so much. Theo’s really organising and everybody’s pulling their weight.”

Throughout the half century since that phone call The Soft Machine continued to change, completely disappearing throughout the 90s. Checking their discography it would seem there is a long gap between 1981’s Land of Cockayne and 2018’s Hidden Details but John is quick to correct that impression: “What actually happened was the band in 2004 – Elton Dean, John Marshall, myself and Hugh Hopper, especially – for various reasons, didn’t want it to be called Soft Machine so we decided on Soft Machine Legacy and we made a number of albums under that name.”

“But a lot of the promoters, in Europe especially, didn’t even use the Legacy thing and it just confused everybody so finally in 2015 we bit the bullet and called it Soft Machine. Then we did the Hidden Details album and it was supposedly the first Soft Machine album in 37 years, but we’d actually made five or six albums with the same line-up before.”

Pic Tim Dickeson 24-03-2024 John Etheridge (Guitsar) & Vimala Rowe (Vocals)

At 77-years old John has sadly had to mourn the passing of most of his past Soft Machine bandmates. However, he is still actively gigging with his organ trio Blue Circle, duos with guitarist Gordon Giltrap, singer Vimala Rowe and violinist Christian Garrick and his occasional Zappatistas tribute band as well as this Soft Machine tour. He has made one concession to his age by commissioning a new guitar: “It was made for me by Martin Booth who made the guitar I’ve been using for quite a long time. I found it was getting too heavy so he’s made me a hollow version – looks more or less the same except it’s hollow. It’s a really nice bit of work he’s done and that solid one was really doing my shoulder in. And when you get to a certain age …” He may sigh, but in his case the years hardly seem to show.

The Soft Machine are at the Jam Jar on Sunday 23 November