Pittsburgh family band Essential Machine plays Tampa’s New World Brewery this weekend

According to drummer Karen Dietrich, Pittsburgh-based indie rock family trio Essential Machine calls Tampa a “hometown of sorts.” Dietrich and her husband RJ—who both moved to Tampa around the turn of the century—met while working at a Capitol One call center, and ended up bonding over Third Eye Blind’s at-the-time recently released self-titled album.

Their son Robert was born in 2001, but a few years after RJ went to work for Oldsmar’s Apple Rehearsal Studios and Karen taught English at Tampa’s Gaither High School, the little family moved up north around 2007.

“One benefit of having a kid so young is that now we can play in a band together,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “Of course we’ve come back to visit over the years but this is our first time playing a show in Tampa.”

The family band’s latest EP Exponential Crisis is built around experiences during COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as “ambition and the darker side of what it means to be human.”

Tickets to see Essential Machine at Tampa’s New World Music Hall on Friday, Nov. 10 are still available and cost $10.

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This article appears in 11-02-2023.