In 1989, he formed a band, Tin Machine, to play low-key club gigs - but met with a lukewarm response.

BBC: NEWS | Entertainment | Bowie: Pop's most enduring star

In addition to singing and playing bass, frontman Gene Simmons has turned the band into a merchandising machine, plastering their distinctive black-and-white facepaint on every sort of product imaginable.

FORBES: KISS's Gene Simmons Teaming Up With Angry Birds

At another, the band set up a drum machine and weighed down the keys of a synthesizer before leaving the stage.

NEWYORKER: Sound Machine

We all in the band know how to use a fairly famous drum machine called the MPC, made by Akai, which actually these days, quite an old-school way of writing beats and rhythms if you're not using a live drummer.

NPR: Fat Freddy's Drop Blends Reggae, Soul And DJ Culture

Instead, a white band called the Original Dixieland Jass Band, led by LaRocca, recorded with the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1917.

BBC: The birthplace of jazz

Ayres and Soft Machine toured the USA extensively with Jimi Hendrix but he left the band in 1968 after their first album.

BBC: The Soft Machine