La Machine (6)

Swedish punk group. A New Wave/punk band from Holmsund-Umeå which was one of the more popular local bands during the musical golden years in the early 1980's. The original members of the band in 1980 (which was then called Sune Slem) were Anders Dahlgren and Roger Degerman on vocals and guitar, and Tony Fischier on drums. The band soon changed their name to La Machine (after a French murderer in the comic strip series Modesty Blaise) and added Göran Thyni on bass guitar. The band played in various places in Norrland, notably in Umeå and its surroundings, but also at the famous punk-Mekka Ultrahuset in Handen, Stockholm. Roger Degerman left the band around 1982 and La Machine did some gigs as a trio before Agneta Granberg picked up the microphone. Göran Thyni left the band around 1984 and was replaced first with Joakim Larsson (Instead of a hug) and then with Kenneth Bergdahl. There were a number of demos and radio recordings made, as well as the vinyl single "Hell". As a curiosity Thyni plays bass on the A side of the single, Larsson on the B side while Bergdahl is included in the cover images. In 1985, three quarters of La Machine moved to Gothenburg and continued to play under the name Cast of Characters, now with Mikael Sagerström on bass guitar. They were finally disbanded in 1987. In 2012 the four original members revived the band and recorded a single for digital distribution. The band is still active