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"A Bigger, Better Machine I Will Be" is an album recorded by the alternative rock band 2steps2nowhere (Larry Pena, Devon Dawson, Neil Johnson, Shawn Scott, Kevin Hooper). The album was never completely recorded however, as the band broke up prior to its finish. Because of this, the released version remains rough and unmixed. Despite its unpolished nature, it remained the pinnacle album in 2steps2nowhere's career.

"A Bigger, Better Machine I Will Be" is also a novella written by Dawson.

'THE HISTORY

"A Bigger, Better Machine I Will Be" was supposedly conceived after 2steps2nowhere's lead guitar player Devon Dawson's long bouts with depression. Written over the course of a few months, Devon worked on the music and story simultaneously. The story mirrored his life in many ways, only the situations would be exaggerated to fit the odd sci-fi theme of the story.

At the time of its conception, Devon was no longer making music with 2steps2nowhere and had quit playing to gain some perspective on his life as well as deal with the emotional demons that hampered him at the time. A musical concept blossomed when Devon heard an audio recording of Stephen King's Secret Window however. Intrigued by the idea of written word corresponding to audio, Dawson began to link songs to a chapters in a then unnamed book he was penning, eventually writing them in such a way that tracks 1-15 on the would-be album corresponded directly to chapters 1-15 in the book. In an online publication months later, Dawson quoted the idea like so: "You have the book and then the album. Each song on the album relates to, or sets the mood for that chapter in the book. Some of the songs have words while others remain instrumental. It was important to us to not have them rely on each other; they needed to stand on their own. In theory you could listen to the music without any knowledge of the novella, or vice versa and hopefully you'd enjoy it. But where is the fun in that?

Dawson completed his actual writing of the story before he had finished the corresponding music and when he approached his old band mates with the idea of recording this album, they agreed, planning to reform under the secret name The Iconoclast.

THE NOVELLA

SPOILERS ALERT!!!


The story is told in first person, by an unnamed character that is referred to as either The Inventor or The Alchemist. It takes place in an imaginary city called Io, not unlike the futuristic world style that authors like Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov depicted. It is a beachside city full of shiny, metal skyscrapers with a huge monorail train that slithers through the city. At the shoreline however, the metropolis is a slum, as the water from the ocean consistently floods the architecture creating a virtual underwater ghost town. From the surface, the only reminder of the city is a huge skyscraper that sits in the middle of the bay like an island, and the upper half of an "old style" clock tower that miraculously still runs.

In the beginning, this inventor dreams up the idea to build a machine named Aurora that will eliminate emotional pain from his life. He theorizes about its ability to travel time and dimensions; it continued doing what was necessary to avoid hurt in his life. As he begins to build, he falls deeper and deeper into his maddening dementia, and sensing his own departure from reality, begins to tell the backstory of the machine in an attempt to have the world understand his intentions.

The back-story is a very simple one in which a boy and girl fall in love, however tragedy ensues as the girl is killed by mysterious conditions one night coming home from work. The boy paralyzed with pain, spends the following years of his life in seclusion, growing more and more removed from the outside world. Eventually the boy dreams of building a machine.

As the narrator brings the read back to the present, the machine is completed and with great success the Inventor traps himself inside, launching the apparatus from atop a skyscraper. The machine's speed becomes too great and it spins violently out of control, eventually burying itself beneath the waves of the sea. As the remains gently rock themselves to the bottom of the ocean, the narrator sits quietly in disbelief. While he is sure to die of starvation trapped in his own device, he is unable to generate the emotions needed to make his escape.

The Inventor closes his eyes and remembers the night of his lover's departure. It is revealed that she was crushed to death from pieces of metal that had been flung from the sky. The police were unable to find the source of the debris. Only one large piece of metal remained, which only contained one clue: the word "Aurora" was etched into the side.

In a frantic craze, the Inventor looks at the clock immersed in the sea, and realizes that is no longer in unison with his aboard the machine. Indeed time dilation had occurred, and for a brief moment, he had traveled in time, with the remaining parts of the machine, left in the past, falling from the sky.

Aware of his involvement in the death of his lover, the narrator feels an emotion worse that grief... apathy. Eventually the sea water's pressure breaks the seams of the machine, gently seeping into the cockpit while the inventor sits emotionless, awaiting his demise.

Aurora eventually opens enough to allow the Inventor to float to the surface of the waves, where he clings to a piece of driftwood and slowly floats out to sea. Underneath the stars, free of the machine, the Inventor feels all the emotions he was unable to feel before. Alone on the wood he floats mercilessly further and further from Io, alone with the knowledge of his obsession killing the only thing he ever loved. Quietly and with an awareness of what he must do, the Inventor uses small amounts of debris from the machine to create a mass, fastening it to the floating driftwood.

As the sun begins to rise there glimmers a small sparkle in the distance that reminds him of the city he once belonged to. Now he sails towards the open sea, alone.

THE ALBUM

As of August 2006, A Bigger, Better Machine I Will Be remains unfinished.

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TRACK LISTING

1. A Beautiful Abstraction (part I)

2. One Year Gone

3. Rods and Cones

4. Over

5. Character Flaw

6. Building the Machine

7. Cope

8. Gods and Monsters

9. This Ocean

10. El Muerte de la Maquina

11. Indifference

12. Killing the Machine

13. Movement

14. Giving In To Gravity

15. A Beautiful Abstraction (part II)


----

TRIVIA FOR THE ALBUM

- Devon Dawson wrote the bulk of the music over a one month period after not playing a musical instrument for about four months.

- "This Ocean" was the only song that existed prior to the conception of the album. The words were later augmented by Dawson to better fit the motif.

- "A Bigger, Better Machine I Will Be" was never finished recording and released after 2steps2nowhere broke up. It was only months after that the band agreed to release the unfinished material to the public.

- The original demos for the album had trumpet work by Sean Hooper.

- The recording process was so difficult that the band eventually stopped playing shows to focus on finishing.

- The studio choosen for the album was a custom built space outside the house of drum virtuoso Tom Maglovkin. It was located in the Malibu, California hills and over looked Santa Catalina Island, California.

- Though the album was never officially mixed, various incarnations of the songs through the demos and live recordings exist online.

INFLUENCE

The album was very important to the budding Riverside, California music scene, as it marked a departure from the inane and poppy into the darker and more artistic (despite the majority of the material being only heard live). Prior to its conception, the Inland Empire was dominated by a variety of pop punk bands and major events such as the annual Orange Blossom Festival, which was supposed to showcase the emergence of talent, only catered towards youth. But as 2steps2nowhere started to infuse jazz and literature into their music as well as upping the ideas proposed to a large audience, the scene slowly gained a much more seasoned crowd.

When the demos of "A Bigger, Better Machine I Will Be" were released, its initial response was one of confusion as many felt the album meandered in genres too much, but soon many other local bands began incorporating weird noises and ambience into not only their live set, but also their recorded efforts.