Head Machine

Featuring members of the Gods performing under pseudonyms -- Ken Leslie (keyboards/vocals/guitars), John Leadhen (bass), Brian Poole (drums), and Lee Poole (percussion) -- British hard rock quartet Head Machine was created to record an album of compositions by producer/songwriter David Paramor, the bandmembers pledging themselves to a basic, pummeling rock sound redolent of Atomic Rooster. Their music was accented heavily toward crushing rhythms, with the Poole brothers providing a distinctive multi-layered backdrop to Leslie's alternately mythological or humor-based lyrics. Their sole album, Orgasm, was released in 1969 but failed to build a commercial profile. The band eventually morphed into Toe Fat and later Uriah Heep, after the bandmembers had returned to their more famous billings: Leslie, aka Ken Hensley; Leadhen, aka John Glascock; and the Poole brothers, aka Brian Glascock and Lee Kerslake.