Timothy Blake is an English keyboardist, synthesist, vocalist, and composer, who is known for working with Gong, Hawkwind and his synthesizer and light performances as Crystal Machine, with the French Light artist Patrice Warrener. Blake met Daevid Allen at Marquee Studios, where the latter was recording his first solo album Banana Moon in 1971. At the end of the sessions, Allen had invited Blake to be Gong's sound mixer, but Blake preferred to work on his own music.