Gangrene Machine

It's hard to place a genre on the Charleston quartet known as Gangrene Machine.

"This band is very versatile," drummer Dylan Ray said. "If I had to describe (the band), I would call us a funk-punk-jazz fusion-psychedelic rock band. When we're writing music, we don't have a plan. We don't sit down and calculate it. But that's the fun part of the whole process."

Gangrene Machine features guitarists Matt Dobie and Currey Long, Elliott Vanotti on bass and Ray behind the drum kit. Dobie also sings lead vocals. The band started playing in the first quarter of 2010 and has been gigging around the Lowcountry since then. The Machine takes an improvisational approach to music, allowing for loose song forms and the potential for interesting changes at each show. The band focuses on songs that are forever growing and capable of diversity to mix up their live shows for habitual concertgoers.

I feel like the unplanned aspect of it is what we enjoy most, which is why we enjoy playing shows," Ray said. "We've been trying our hardest to make each show unique, so people who are at multiple shows don't hear a lot of repeats."

The band's set is primarily original songs with some colorful cover songs thrown in the mix. Ray's previous musical endeavors have capitalized on the Charleston college bar scene, but he thinks that Gangrene Machine is more at home in a venue that traditionally houses original music acts, such as the Pour House or the Village Tavern.

"That's what we enjoy most. I want people to come out and experience it firsthand, rather than having someone log on to a website to listen to us. We try to have fun and pick some covers to throw in there, but the whole goal is to get people familiar with our songs."

Gangrene Machine has been recording demos as well and plans to release an EP in the first quarter of 2011. Until then, the boys plan on playing live shows around Charleston.

"That's where I feel like we stand out, when we can feed off of the crowd," Ray said. - Charleston Scene