GREETINGS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome to The General Journals: Diary of a Frontman... and Other Ramblings™.

Over the last 2 years I have spoken with many people who have asked why I don't write my diaries as regularly as I used to. Truth be told, between touring and all the demands of Machine Head, as well as being a husband, and full-time Dad to two young boys when I'm not on tour, I just haven't had the time. On top of that, my diaries had snowballed into epic endeavors that seemed to demand more and more with every installment and that just started to overwhelm the whole process.

Well, I'm stoked to say that after taking a much needed break from writing said diaries, I will be resuming these much-loved nuggets of text, albeit in a less epic form. They will now be called "The General Journals: Diary of a Frontman... and Other Ramblings", and my hope is to have at least one journal a week. They will continue to go up on all the usual sites (MH1, FB, Twitter, etc.) with one new addition - you will now be able to subscribe to these diaries via my newly created phpList so that you can get it sent right to your e-mail inbox. I myself subscribe to a few of these and I think they're really neat. Of course you can unsubscribe from my unusually awesome opinions at any time, but why the heck would you want to do that?!

I really look forward to talking about all things Machine Head, music, life in a band, as well as "life in general" (See what I did there?).

STONE SOUR - HOUSE OF GOLD & BONES PART 1
How good is this record? Seriously, how good is this record? I can't stop listening to it. I'm a few months late to the SS party because, truth be told, up until now I haven't been that big of a fan. I've liked a few songs over the years, primarily their ballads. "Bother" was freaking amazing and a great video. "Silly World" was great (and also a cool video), "Through Glass", ditto. But their hard stuff just came across as, I dunno... "Slipknot-lite" to me. This new stuff is freakin' ridiculously good! The production is massive, freakin' MASSIVE! Jay Ruston did a fantastic job on the mix. Great arrangements, great lyrics. "Absolute Zero" is a stone cold monster rock tune.

"You're looking at an absolute zero / I'm not the devil, but I won't be your hero"

Such a great line, I'm so sick of bands singing about America, and capitalism, how they're gonna win/be rich. We're not all gonna win, we're not all gonna be rich, and it's great to hear somebody say, "I'm a fuckin' loser" and own it.

Stone Sour - "Absolute Zero":


"Taciturn" is incredible, such a passionate vocal performance, Corey pours his heart out, you can feel the ache. "Give me a sign, show me the light / Maybe tonight, I'll tell you everything"

Wouldn't we like to know everything about somebody? Him? We would, but if we found out everything, we probably wouldn't want to know it, but then Corey doesn't tell us everything, and it leaves us that much more interested.

Stone Sour - "Taciturn":


"Influence Of A Drowsy God" may contain my favorite lyric on the album (I've kicked myself thinking "Why the hell didn't I think of that?): "Take all the examples and what have I learned? / Nothing can heal you when everything burns" ...FUCK! SO damn good!

Stone Sour - "Influence Of A Drowsy God":


Hit up iTunes or Spotify right now and get this record.

HE IS LEGEND - IT HATES YOU
I just Spotify-ed this band on the way down to the Mitch Lucker memorial last Friday. My tech Scott (aka Sgt. Stokely) turned me on to them and I haven't been so blown away by a band in a long time. Sort of like Alice In Chains meets Diamond Eyes-era Deftones but released before Deftones made Diamond Eyes. Insanely amazing rock vocals, super down-tuned guitars, cool ambient parts with some seriously legit metal guitar chops. "That's Nasty" is one of the most interesting, beautiful and crushingly doomy songs I've ever heard. Great lyrics and fantastic arrangements. So damn catchy its hooks haunt you for days. Bizarrely, the first three songs on the record blow, and the album cover is retarded. It's only after the first three tunes that the record turns into something truly incredible. "China White III" is mesmerizing... entrancing. "Our land is so terribly dry, and we see no crop, without the raindrops, only the weeds will survive, and keep our seeds from thriving. Will we ever see the spring?" Really cool stuff. Great, unusual, rock band that if you don't dig, you're just not living.

He Is Legend - "That's Nasty":


He Is Legend - "China White III":


APPLE TV / AIRPORT EXTREME
The world has gone streaming, it's just too easy now. I am FULLY on board. LOVE Spotify on my iPhone. My wife just gave me Apple TV for Xmas and I picked up an Apple AirPort Extreme (which is crazy fast WiFi)... duuuuuuuuuude... MIND BLOWN! Netflix-ing everything, I can play Spotify on my laptop and sync it with my TV, it's crazy. Streaming music, TV and movies just went next-level!

MITCH LUCKER MEMORIAL
What a great night with so many amazing performances. Such an incredible vibe in the place, emotionally charged and intense. I laughed, I cried, I was blown away. I met and re-connected with people on what seemed like a deeper level. I felt fucking alive. We did five tours with those guys. A lot of the 30-minute Behind The Music-style intro video killed me, very powerful.

Stand out performances and surprises for me were:
Dude from Job For A Cowboy. He had to open the show - no pressure, right? Man, he had such an unusual look on his face, looking up at the sky for quite a bit of the show (singing to Mitch?), but GOD DAMN he killed it on the vocals. Brutal, charismatic and engaging. Never paid dude much attention before, but I will now. Dude from Whitechapel absolutely KILLED the vocals, he knew the song like he was born to sing it, voice so low and heavy it was jaw-dropping. Eddie from All Shall perish killed it, whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Ricky Ex-Suffokate killed it like some crazed lanky spider up there.

Suicide Silence guitarist Mark Heylmun and I spent the previous night working on my acoustic cover of Black Sabbath's "Die Young". We soundchecked it twice with Scott on tremolo guitar; I was surprisingly nervous, maybe because it was the first time playing it live, maybe not being able to rely on my usual bravado/attitude/"roar" was a bit daunting. It was 3 acoustics and a vocal, naked and all about the passion. It felt good and to my surprise got an amazingly good reception. Even the deathcore, neck-tat kids were patting me on the back all night. I got a bit choked up near the end, but I nailed the high scream in the bridge; it was weird though, the "choking up" made it more real. There was a lot of emotion in the air and people were moved. They felt something.

We all did.

I bet even Mitch did.



"Die Young" live:





- Robb

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The entire Machine Head family wishes every one of you the happiest of holidays and a fantastic new year! Our heartfelt thanks for an amazing 2012, here's to an even better 2013!

Through December 29th, you can pick up Machine Head's new 2-disc live album "Machine Fucking Head Live" for only $9.99 at Best Buy!

Happy F*cking Holidays! Get 20% off all North American webstore and UK / EU webstore orders from now through Monday, December 3rd! Use promo code MCH20 at checkout.

Hurricanes, hernias, chest infections, bus breakdowns and Disney bans aren't enough to stop Machine Head, whose raucous hometown set Monday night in front of a packed Fox Theater in Oakland reiterated just how driven and dedicated the band is to their fans and the music.

A mere 12 days removed from surgery to repair a double inguinal hernia and fighting a wicked chest infection, Robb Flynn was back in action Monday night as Machine Head returned to the Dethklok, All That Remains, and The Black Dahlia Murder tour to annihilate their hometown for the first time since their legendary set at the Henry J. Kaiser Arena in 1995 while touring with Slayer.

You can check out fan photos and video from the show below, and be sure to catch Machine Head at one of the 10 shows remaining on this tour!

Thanks to SoCalElvis, SkullsNBones Twitter feed and TheBobcat808.

Machine Head are currently stuck on the side of the road a few hours outside of Portland after their bus broke down earlier this afternoon, and unfortunately must announce that they will miss tonight's show. Pouring rain and heinous traffic mean that even if they could get the bus running, they'd never make it in time, frustrating all involved to no end. Sincerest apologies from the band to all of the fans expecting to see Machine Head play tonight, trust that they're as disappointed as you are by these maddening circumstances. VIP's note: You will be contacted directly with info regarding obtaining a refund.

After being forced to miss a total of 9 dates due to frontman Robb Flynn’s emergency hernia surgery, Machine Head will be returning to the Dethklok, All That Remians, and The Black Dahlia Murder tour for the November 24th date in Portland, Oregon as expected, and continuing on as scheduled.

Flynn arrived back in the Bay Area on Saturday and has been recuperating at home with his family, and so far, so good. Flynn says the experience “Totally sucked balls", but is "feeling stronger now, especially after a heavy listening schedule of Accept's 'Balls To The Wall', AC/DC's 'Big Balls', hell, I even found time to record a cover of Soulfly's 'Eye For An Eye', with the lyrics changed to 'Guts In The Nuts'”. "Guts in da nuuuuuuts, guts in da nuts, in da nuts, in da nuts."