Band
Who we are
TOR
I was originally a drummer, but switched to bass when I found an old beat up bass without a pick-up and with rusty strings on it in the basement. I taught myself to play on that thing listening predominently to Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. I eventually saved up enough money to buy my first proper bass and then went on to form the Norwegian Iron Maiden tribute band Iron Made’em. I later joined the Metal band Paganize featuring drummer Trym Torson of Emperor fame and rockers Thomas Rokne and Geir Helge Fredheim from 2020 Vision. We signed a record deal with Candlelight Records and released the album Evolution Hour in 2006. After several failed attempts at starting a hard rock band in Norway, I reached out to Gian Cassandra and asked him if he fancied recording some original songs. We had recorded a few Iron Maiden covers in an online project together, and his guitar work stood out to me as exceptionally good. Thankfully he accepted, and his musical contribution to the songs I brought to the table elevated the material to a different level. It also turned out he had a brother, Stefano. Stefano Cassandra happened to be the best drummer in the world! And, he was willing to join us! To top it all off he brought in his friend Flavio Esposito on keys, which in turn gave the songs yet another dimension. A dimension thus far unimagined by yours truly! This quartet make up the backbone of Machine Man, and we’re currently cooking up some seriously hot stuff! Photo by Tom Ivar Arntsen
Gian
Born in Napoli, in 1986. He starts listening to Rock music by the influence of his father who used to collect vinyl, cassettes and cds of bands like Deep Purple, Queen and Pink Floyd which will extremely influence his guitar playing. During High School he started playing classical guitar until he discovers Iron Maiden. After two years of studying Classical music, he took up the electric guitar and starts playing covers of Nirvana, Metallica and Iron Maiden in a young band. In 2004, at the age of 18, joins Up the Irons (Italian Iron Maiden tribute band) as Adrian Smith alter ego where he meets Flavio Esposito at the keyboards and later he will bring his brother and drummer Stefano Cassandra in the band. After 6 years of touring Italy and a little tour in Turkey, the band breaks up when some of the members are not able to face the serious challenges of playing abroad due to many requests for live shows. Only after few months later in 2010, he is asked to play in the band The Duellists (Italian Iron Maiden tribute band) where he played for about 4 years until he takes a break to focus on the studies in Civil Engineering and Architecture. In the Covid era, he started playing on social network sites and started a YouTube channel where he shares videos of guitar solos and Iron Maiden covers and so the idea to involve people from the network to play Iron Maiden covers was born. So, he founds Guitar Team (the name will turn into Maiden Team) where guitarists, bassists and singers from around the world would play together doing Iron Maiden covers and videos on YouTube. In this project, several musicians like Courtney Cox (The Iron Maidens, Burning Witches), Nico Falso (Licks of the Beast), Ron Sandhu (Altered Minds), Tor Seltveit who stands up for his accurate Steve Harris bass playing, and Flavio Esposito who does a great job as keyboardist and as sound engineer are involved. In 2022, he founds a new Italian Iron Maiden tribute band called Maiden Legacy. In the meanwhile, when Stefano Cassandra joins the cover of The Trooper on the Maiden Team, the bassist Tor Seltveit asks to start a new Heavy Metal band: Tor wrote the songs which led to the creation of Machine Man.
Gian
Born in Napoli, in 1986. He starts listening to Rock music by the influence of his father who used to collect vinyl, cassettes and cds of bands like Deep Purple, Queen and Pink Floyd which will extremely influence his guitar playing. During High School he started playing classical guitar until he discovers Iron Maiden. After two years of studying Classical music, he took up the electric guitar and starts playing covers of Nirvana, Metallica and Iron Maiden in a young band. In 2004, at the age of 18, joins Up the Irons (Italian Iron Maiden tribute band) as Adrian Smith alter ego where he meets Flavio Esposito at the keyboards and later he will bring his brother and drummer Stefano Cassandra in the band. After 6 years of touring Italy and a little tour in Turkey, the band breaks up when some of the members are not able to face the serious challenges of playing abroad due to many requests for live shows. Only after few months later in 2010, he is asked to play in the band The Duellists (Italian Iron Maiden tribute band) where he played for about 4 years until he takes a break to focus on the studies in Civil Engineering and Architecture. In the Covid era, he started playing on social network sites and started a YouTube channel where he shares videos of guitar solos and Iron Maiden covers and so the idea to involve people from the network to play Iron Maiden covers was born. So, he founds Guitar Team (the name will turn into Maiden Team) where guitarists, bassists and singers from around the world would play together doing Iron Maiden covers and videos on YouTube. In this project, several musicians like Courtney Cox (The Iron Maidens, Burning Witches), Nico Falso (Licks of the Beast), Ron Sandhu (Altered Minds), Tor Seltveit who stands up for his accurate Steve Harris bass playing, and Flavio Esposito who does a great job as keyboardist and as sound engineer are involved. In 2022, he founds a new Italian Iron Maiden tribute band called Maiden Legacy. In the meanwhile, when Stefano Cassandra joins the cover of The Trooper on the Maiden Team, the bassist Tor Seltveit asks to start a new Heavy Metal band: Tor wrote the songs which led to the creation of Machine Man.
Stefano
At the age of 11, while walking through town with my family, I saw a drumkit on display in a music store.... It was love at first sight and I begged my parents to buy me one so I could start playing. From the moment I had a drumkit, I began studying what would become my greatest passion of all to this day, attending classes in my small town near Caserta, Italy. I have been listening to rock music in all its forms ever since I was a child and collected records from all the great bands and of the past, including of course, all the records from my favourite band... Iron Maiden! Nonetheless, my first drum teacher taught me to keep an open mind about music. I was able to approach and appreciate different musical styles, never focusing on one genre only. Soon after, I started playing in a few local bands with my older brother and guitarist Gianni Cassandra, with whom (back then) at the young age of 14, I undertook an extraordinary and professional experience with Iron Maiden tribute band “UP THE IRONS” performing for 5 years in all the main Italian cities, concluding the experience with a 3-date tour in Turkey in 2009. After my experience with Up the Irons, I drifted away from hard ‘n’ heavy genres for a few years, and started to listen to and play Pop, Electronic, Alternative Post-Rock music. This musical transition allowed me to mix my approach, spurring me to constantly create new drumstyles and improve my skills, offering my drumming ability to different bands and artists I have played with over the years. I attended the RockSchool drum academy in Naples, where I studied and specialised in Pop/Rock and Italian Pop drumming in order to sharpen my skills. In the years that followed, I played with Post-Rock band TAD&BCS and later with the band Fiberglass, with whom we opened the show at the Neapolis Rock Festival in 2013, supporting major artists such as Tricky, Soviet Soviet and Kings of Convenience. More recently, I played and recorded for about 1 year, with the Italian band Rollermet. In 2022, thanks to my brother's friendship with Norwegian bassist Tor Seltveit, I joined the band Machine Man, which also includes my old friend and keyboardist Flavio Esposito! Tor’s bass playing style fits my drumming perfectly, and we slotted in immediately as if we had played together for years. Tor and Gianni's great musical skills combined with Flavio's sound and our combined experience as Iron Maiden tribute band members, gave birth to this great heavy metal project. In the line up, as singer, we have none other than the great voice of Tony Johannessen, known for his past experiences in various heavy metal bands of Norway and Scandinavia.
Flavio
Flavio (Flenny) was born in Caserta Italy in 1974. At age 9 he had a dream. a dream where he saw himself playing a keyboard. Soon after his parents bought him his first electric piano, and from that moment on, his passion for the keys has been a constant in his life. He started out listening to all kinds of music: "classic, pop, blues, rock and heavy metal". The true love fell for the latter. At age 11 he first heard "The number of the beast" from Iron Maiden. That was it, the destiny was written in stone. Keeping his passion for Maiden, Flavio kept improving his technique and he also started exploring sound engineering and mixing by working for events on the road and in stadiums and theatres. At age 20, Flavio wrote 10 songs for an Italian author. He received an award for the music he created from an Italian Festival contest. In 2004 Flavio joins a passionate Iron Maiden tribute band called Up The Irons. Here he meets the most gifted and skilled guitarists he has ever met, mr. Gian Cassandra and his younger brother, the great drummer and true Nicko fan mr. Stefano Cassandra. They played a lot of gigs together and they received great feedback and memorable reviews from all over Italy. They also had the chance tour Turkey to great success and crazy receptions from the Turkish Iron Maiden fans. In 2009 he left the band for personal reasons and in 2011 he moved to the United Kingdom where he currently resides. With great passion he contributed to Gian’s YouTube project “the Maiden Team” where he played all the keyboard parts and as well as doing the audio mixing for the Maiden tracks that the team recorded. Tor Seltveit, a very skilled bassist and song writer joined the team, and shortly after he asked us if we were interested in recording a few original songs that he had written. He had a dream to start a Hard Rock/Heavy metal band, and now he can say that the dream came true!! The dream is called Machine Man.
Flavio
Flavio (Flenny) was born in Caserta Italy in 1974. At age 9 he had a dream. a dream where he saw himself playing a keyboard. Soon after his parents bought him his first electric piano, and from that moment on, his passion for the keys has been a constant in his life. He started out listening to all kinds of music: "classic, pop, blues, rock and heavy metal". The true love fell for the latter. At age 11 he first heard "The number of the beast" from Iron Maiden. That was it, the destiny was written in stone. Keeping his passion for Maiden, Flavio kept improving his technique and he also started exploring sound engineering and mixing by working for events on the road and in stadiums and theatres. At age 20, Flavio wrote 10 songs for an Italian author. He received an award for the music he created from an Italian Festival contest. In 2004 Flavio joins a passionate Iron Maiden tribute band called Up The Irons. Here he meets the most gifted and skilled guitarists he has ever met, mr. Gian Cassandra and his younger brother, the great drummer and true Nicko fan mr. Stefano Cassandra. They played a lot of gigs together and they received great feedback and memorable reviews from all over Italy. They also had the chance tour Turkey to great success and crazy receptions from the Turkish Iron Maiden fans. In 2009 he left the band for personal reasons and in 2011 he moved to the United Kingdom where he currently resides. With great passion he contributed to Gian’s YouTube project “the Maiden Team” where he played all the keyboard parts and as well as doing the audio mixing for the Maiden tracks that the team recorded. Tor Seltveit, a very skilled bassist and song writer joined the team, and shortly after he asked us if we were interested in recording a few original songs that he had written. He had a dream to start a Hard Rock/Heavy metal band, and now he can say that the dream came true!! The dream is called Machine Man.
Tony
Coming soon!