The band has been together, broadly, since May 2015 although the current line up only emerged early in 2016. The foundations of the band, however, go back a lot further. Dave Livingstone recruited Phil to join the band Kicking Stone in the late 1990s as a harmonica player and backing vocalist.
When that band folded, Dave and Phil continued to play together as a duo with the unforgettable name of Rumbleguts. At this time, Dave and Phil shared the vocals. Expansion followed with the recruitment of a percussionist. Subsequently, a female vocalist joined and the band was renamed Ahab.
However, in 2003, Ahab split and Phil and his wife set off to travel extensively. Dave continued to play, most notably with Noise Club, but, when Phil returned to Kendal in 2013, they got back together as Lustrum. The duo soon became a trio with the recruitment of Rod Carter on hand drums, mainly djembe, and further expansion followed when Steve Roberts joined as lead guitar. The quartet renamed as Fred and the Steam Machine (see the RANDOM STUFF page) and proceeded to cut their first CD, Piston Power. At this point, in May 2015,one of life's strange coincidences occurred when Phil met up after a gap of 15 years with the bass player from his first band, Mike Sayer, and he was invited to join to add his unique bass lines to the CD tracks. Dave Pennington then joined as second percussionist using cajon as a contrast to Rod's djembe. However, early in 2016, Rod left and Dave Pennington switched to full drums. That line up continued until June 2017 when Mike left, citing "musical differences". Shortly after, Steve joined as the bass player and the current line up was complete.