Yo, yo, YO!!!
Kickin' it here in New York, where everyone says "YO"! Gearing up for the Roadrunner 25th Anniversary party on Thursday. Adam (who had already been down in L.A. for the last 2 weeks rehearsing with the core band) and I went thru a rehearsal today with a bunch of the guys and some of the singers. Pretty rad concept, the core band is playing 25 classic songs from Roadrunner's catalog, some singers are singing other bands songs, some bands are doing their songs. I myself am singing 3 full songs and 3 half-songs (along with other guys), and Howard and I are doing "The Dagger" for the first time live (which went down killer at rehearsal today - with Adam Duce playing GUITAR!), so that should be fun. Jamey Jasta is MC-ing the event and singing some tunes, Ripper Owens was rockin', all-in-all it should be one helluva show... in fact, this show is gonna be a BLAST.
Phil and Dave got into town tonight, and while they aren't playing, they are officially a part of the MH Drinking Team! I'll have a more detailed report for you a few days after the show, when my head stops pounding from all the free booze... WOO-HOO!!!
Until then, I hope to see a bunch of you fuckers up front headbanging and raging!
-Flynn
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What's up everybody? Just getting back from doing some running, doing 4 miles every other day and starting 5 next week. I'm trying to get in shape for a half-marathon next year, maybe the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in Phoenix... we'll see! Thought I'd share some of the music that I've been running to: Chimaira (new album), God Forbid (IV: Constitution of Treason), Bad Company, Hank Jr. (Greatest Hits) and Hank III (Risin' Outlaw), Lamb Of God (Ashes of the Wake), KISS (Destroyer), Pantera (Reinventing the Steel), Seemless, Ted Nugent (Best of), Watch Them Die, and last but not least, some Foreigner!!!
Anyway, lots going on in Machine Head-land! First off, the DVD. What can I say, it's fucking AWESOME!!! Gotta give tons of credit to Robb on this, he really had a vision of what a killer DVD could look like and made it happen. The actual concert piece came out killer (thanks to Mr. Sloat and Mr. Keaton), and lots of cool backstage and tour stuff. The "Making of" featurette for TTAOE is, well... so brutally honest that at times it's hard to watch, but at the same time makes me feel so proud to be in this band. I mean, we went through so much shit before and during the writing of that album, and it really shows how much we LOVE being Machine Head... how much we care about playing this kind of music that we all grew up listening to, and how it's much more of a lifestyle for us than just a genre of music. It really is an honor to be able to do what we do and have the fans that we have, and I'm stoked at how well that was conveyed, throughout the DVD.
We're also now officially in "writing mode" for the next album! We've been at it for a few weeks now, and just last practice I had "that" feeling again about some of the stuff we're working on!
Writing new stuff is weird, you go through days that are just kinda 'blah', and then there are days where some things just come together and you really start to see where they are going. We were playing this one part the other day and Robb started singing (growling!) over it and holy shit, I can tell you already that it is gonna be SICK! Lots of killer stuff that EVERYONE is contributing to... already, I can't wait for this album to come out!!!
That's about it. Gonna go to the Raiders vs. Cowboys game this Sunday with Phil, for anyone watching it on TV I'll be the bald guy with the bloody nose and the black eye wearing the torn Cowboys jersey! Yeah right... like I'd let anyone in that stadium know I'm a Cowboys fan!!! Let the shit talking begin... Cowboys will win it 24-21!!!
Later,
Dave
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Hey Fuckers!
Greetings from Derka Derkastan! And as we say there, "Ooooh, derka, derka, derka" (yes, I’ve been watching WAY too much Team America).
Just got back from the Kerrang! Awards in London, as well as a short press tour for the DVD and the Roadrunner United project. Both went well. A press tour is not unlike hell... essentially just a long list of stuck up, snobby journalists scheduled to interview you, and each one comes in pretending to know stuff about you and your band (but really doesn't), pretends to like you and your band (but really doesn't), and proceeds to ask you hundreds of pointless questions that have nothing to do with why you're there, and everything to do with stale 4-year-old gossip they read on Blabbermouth.net the night before during their cram session. 80% of these "journos" need to be drug out into the streets by the elastics of their underwear, savagely beaten to the brink of death by grumpy hordes of mindless, irrational indigents and stabbed in the eyeballs with recycled herpes-infected needles.
JUST those 80%, though. The rest are cool.
Max Cavalera happened to be in town promoting his new record "Dark Ages", as were our Roadrage '04 buddies Trivium, who were doing a secret one-off show in addition to attending the awards (they were nominated for “Best International Newcomer”). The three of us ended up doing a crop of interviews together, as Max sang on a track of mine for the RR United thing, and Matt from Trivium was also a Captain... it was cool, and we had some pretty funny interviews, especially with Mike from BBC1 - he's certainly one of the good guys. Definitely check out the new Soulfly, it has a Chaos A.D. kinda feel to it... good shit, and Trivium’s “Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr” from their new album “Ascendancy” is just flat out crushing.
Kerrang! Awards were a different story altogether. Held at the schwanky Brewery Ballroom, each of the 50 tables were prepared with a gallon of Whiskey, a liter of something else, 2 bottles of wine, and over 13,000 bottles of Carling beer (!!!) on hand kept a neverending bucket of beer full at every table, ensuring maximum drunkness... WOO-FUCKIN-HOO!!! Now that's what I'M sayin'! You actually had to ask for water! RR UK sprung for a stretch Hummer with flames on the side for us to arrive in, which was straight BLINGIN', but alas, our bling would be short lived, once we were moving, someone bumped into the strobe light, which in turn blew up the stereo, which in turn killed the air conditioning. Jee-sus! We all stumbled out onto the red carpet, gasping for air and drenched in sweat. Classic!
Our boys Trivium ended up winning the award for Best International Newcomer, Maiden won a Lifetime Achievement award, Killing Joke won a Lifetime Achievement award (which had them introduced with a hysterical story from Dave Grohl - who just has something about him that makes him naturally funny). Our own label, Roadrunner Records, won a "Services To Metal" award for 25 years of metal, which was cool. Max, Matt and I went up there to receive it on behalf of the label. It was crazy, for some reason I got unbelievably nervous and my brain just hiccupped... so I kept it simple and easy on the ol' melon, talked about Sepultura being the reason why Machine Head wanted to sign to Roadrunner in the first place, introduced Max, who told a funny story about how he managed to scam a PanAM flight from Brazil to NY to give demos to RR, and then Matt rocked out the most solid speech of us all, reminiscing about how MH was his first Metal concert ever, and how MH and other RR artists influenced his band, very well-spoken, and genuinely sentimental. I gotta say though, it was bit of a trip accepting a Kerrang! award on behalf of Roadrunner... that irony wasn't lost on me. And hey, between RR and Trivium, we collected 2 K’s that evening!
Got 2 K's from Kerrang!!! AGAIN!!! \m/
The after-party was friggin' RAGING, tons'a beers; I turned down about 740 Brown Eyes (thank fuck for that!), had some chill time with Nick Barker, Bullit For My Valentine, Funeral For A Friend, Omar from Fight Star... eventually went back to the hotel for more beers, then crashed. I got my wake-up call at 10AM - which I woke up to - but then was like, "I think I’m just gonna lay here, for one more minute". I closed my eyes for what seemed like 2 seconds, and opened them again two hours later to an angry cab driver on the phone, pissed that I was 15 minutes late for pick-up. D'oh!
In other news, as of Sunday (8/28) the entire DVD - every single frickin' section and feature - is officially DONE! It's being assembled as we speak, and may actually come out sometime this year! (Though you’re on the crack again if you think I’m gonna give you a release date.) Honestly though, the whole thing turned out awesome, we're extremely stoked with how it all came together, and very proud of the quality and substance that we were able to pack into our first DVD release. We got a killer show, videos, a "Making of" for each video, an all-new, no-punch-pullin' 30-minute "Making of" TTAOE feature, behind-the-scenes vignettes... you'll definitely get your money's worth, and we think you'll enjoy the living shit out of it to boot.
EL-E-GIEEES... FUCK YEAH!!!
The Head have been writing for the last couple of weeks, got about 4 half-songs written. A little too early to say where it's going, it's heavy, difficult to play, and best of all, has no lyrics to get in the way of all those monstrous riffs!!! Yet... *cough*. We're going into the studio in March, and would like to have the record out by the end of July next year, just in time for summer festivals. YEAH FOOL!!!
On a sadder note, on behalf of Phil and I, I want to send our deepest condolences to Snake, Blacky, and Away from Voivod as well as the family of Piggy aka Denis D'Amour. Voivod took Phil and I on tour when we were kids, and Piggy was our drinking buddy... always in a good mood, and always great to hang around with. The last time we saw him was when they rolled through San Francisco with Sepultura, and they tore it up as usual. Metal brothers, we lost another one of the good guys.
For all of our friends, family, Frontliners, and band friends in New Orleans... stay strong.
-Flynn
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Hey Fuckers!
Just a quick update to say thanks to all of the lunatics who showed up to Wacken, and made it such a spectacular evening. Seriously, it was fuckin' AMAZING!!! There was a lot of talk about us being too young and too modern of a headliner for the Wacken crowd *cough* - not a problem we deal with very often *ahem* - but their crowd went bananas. Our first "Head"-lining festival slot of "Through The Ashes", and it's Wacken...? FUCK YEAH!!!
Cheers!
-Flynn
Photo courtesy Metaltix.com / Rolf Klatt
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Hey, hey, hey fuckers!
Still recovering from the Sounds of the Underground tour... good GOD! This wegro was d-r-u-n-k! Probably the most booze I’ve ingested in a year... WOW! Ever see that guy who is so drunk that he can only get out a few words at a time, and barely makes sense at that? Well, that was me! [Note To Self: Never end an all day drinking session with shots of Jager. Ever again] Had a blast though, lost my mind... fun, fun shit.
Sang “Power Trip” with the mighty Chimaira... absolutely check out their new self-titled record, it SLAYS. “Inside The Horror” and “Lazerus” are fucking mind-meltingly heavy. Unearth was really good, first time seeing them live, they were fuckin’ rifftastic. Poison The Well rocked. GWAR was fucking hysterical, the pope with swastika’s inside his robe was just about the cleverest, funniest shit I’ve seen in quite some time (the new pope was Hitler youth as a kid... in case that sounded wierd). Missed a bunch of bands that I wanted to see early on - including Devildriver and Throwdown, who I’ve heard smoke live. Met some GWAR peeps who were really cool, met some All That Remains guys who were super cool. Partied with the LOG boys who are funny as shit. We caught a lot of folks saying some really cool shit about The Head on camera, especially Willy from LOG, and Mark from Chimaira.
Stoked! DVD here ye come!
And speaking of the DVD, what the hell is taking so long? Jesus! Yes, there have been some "hiccups", yes there have been delays, yes we have missed release dates. Not to worry, however, as this shit is turning out *amazing*. Believe me when I tell you, Mike Sloat The Video Director & Editor Extraordinaire, and Mark Keaton The Audio Mixer & Engineer Extraordinaire have literally made chicken salad out of chicken shit. It’s turned out ten times better than we ever could have hoped for because of these delays and each time it's opened a new door for us. We are really excited about you guys seeing this. Most of you already know that we place a very high standard on the stuff we release, and won’t settle for releasing crap just to meet a timeline. The way we see it... the world isn’t waiting for a quickly released DVD, they're waiting for a great one, so in the end, it really has and will be for the better. We think you'll agree once you see it.
We have a "Making The Album" section that, through all of the delays has continually expanded and morphed into one of the coolest aspects of the DVD. It's no longer just a 'recording session documentary', it now picks up our story right after Supercharger, exploring the band getting dropped, guitarist woes, etc... it ain’t pretty, it ain’t nice, and it doesn’t hold anything back. I doubt most bands would willingly say and show some of this stuff, but we've always maintained an honesty with our fans about the things we've had to deal with - good and bad - and we feel that even if it may be hard for *us* to look at, it’s the truth. It's what you've come to expect from us and consequently what we've come to expect from ourselves.
So fear not! It will be ready soon, and it'll be well worth the wait!
Leaving for Germany today to “Head”-line Wacken... this will be our first appearance at the Wacken Festival and we're fuckin’ STOKED to be there. Been watching the DVD’s and reading about that festival for so long now, it seems like we’ve already played it. Fuck yeah!!!
FYI: This will be the last European show of 2005 for us. After this we’re gonna start writing the new album, fuckers! The ideas are flowing, and the metal is molten.
Let the vodka FLOW like... uhh... the rivers in Egypt! Yeah!!!
-Flynn
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Hey-hey-hey, fuckers!
Note: All “Fuck Yeah's” shall be sung to the tune of Team America’s “America... FUCK YEAH!!!”
Top 5 of the U.S Tour
5) Himsa - Courting Tragedy and Disaster - Making a big comeback.
4) Sam Adams Light - Advertising... it works!!!
3) Chicago Show & Chicago Frontliner Party - Insane crowd, and great folks.
2) System Of A Down - Mezmerize - Jesus Christ those songs stick in your head!
1) Team America: World Police - Trey Parker’s songs > Jesus
DANG, I / we been lagging on the updates! We’ll be better about it. Ch-ch-chillin' here in hot and sunny Richmond, CA. Just got back from playing the Böhse Onkelz farewell show, and a killer festival in Holland with our boys Chimaira; Sabbath also played, Audioslave, Mastadon, Team Sleep, Velvet Revolver, and Rammstein. The Böhse Onkelz show was seriously mind blowing. 2 nights, 110,000 each night, with 50,000 people outside trying to get in!? They were already sold out when they handpicked us to support 'em, and the honor was beyond words. About 5 people knew who we were (though I hear we fared way better than most), and the reaction that B.O. got was simply unexplainable. I guess you could call 'em The Ramones / punk-Bruce Springsteen of Germany. Every person knew every lyric, and pointed the words right back at them in perfect sync. Literally a sea of 110,000 would raise their arms and point along with the words, and then when the lyrics stopped they’d all go back down. At one point Phil and I counted fifty mosh pits before we just lost track. It was fucking in-sane. We were simply honored to be a part of it.
Before that, we wrapped up 6 weeks in America on the States Turn Blue To Gray Tour with Devildriver and It Dies Today. It’s crazy man, we've been touring for 20 months behind TTAOE. It’s the longest touring cycle of our career, by a band that built itself on long touring cycles. For all intents and purposes, our 3rd tour of America supporting "Through the Ashes of Empires" went stellar, albeit not without its share of problems. It started off with a few dates with Lamb Of God which were fuckin' bad-ass! Their fans were totally cool, very receptive to what we had to offer. In fact, most of the kids we talked to were either seeing us for the first time, or seeing us for the first time in like 6 years and didn’t even know we had a new record out!?
First night of our States Turn Blue to Gray Tour in Flint, MI, was sold out. They KILLED it. We sold out the House of Blues in Chicago (first time we’ve ever sold out a place that big in Chi-town - Fuck Yeah!!!), drew 1000+ kids in New Jersey on a Tuesday night (Fuckin' A!) and played some truly insane shows pretty much everywhere, making the most sold-outs of any U.S. tour Machine Head have EVER done. Motherfuckers are seriously feeling TTAOE! Or as Doc from God Forbid would say, “They feelin’ it maaaaan, they feelin’ it!”. It was trippy, a lot of people were STILL just seeing us for the FIRST time 14 months after its U.S. release... fuckin' wild!
We did, however, have a couple of mishaps. The Colombus, OH show scheduled at the Al Rosa Villa (yes, THAT Al Rosa) got cancelled because the promoter couldn’t get any insurance at the last minute, and wanted us to shoulder the costs, including millions of dollars in liability... which of course... in light of everything that happened... fuck? What can I say... it sucked. A lot of bands don’t want to play Columbus anymore, and to us, the only people that ends up hurting are the fans. It’s not Columbus’ fault, or even the Al Rosa Villa’s fault that some freak did what he did... we were hoping to try and make it some kind of rebirth, or celebration... and trust me, the thought of standing on that stage and trying to play a song like "Descend"... it was NOT going to be easy...
After that was our sold-out Toronto gig, which was memorable for the fact that I caught the flu, AND a viral throat infection, and had ZERO voice to speak of. So we had a bunch of fans from the audience audition to MH CD’s backstage (Dave nicknamed it "Canadian Metal Idol") and picked the craziest of the bunch (as well as Jeff and John from Devildriver) to come up and give yours truly a hand with the vox. We had 7 different kids come up, and you know, I gotta say, while it will probably never happen again, those kids went out there and TORE IT UP!!! It was awesome, you all ruled! Video possibly coming soon!!
Played a few more shows, including the only real dud of the tour - Providence, RI, and then a rager in New Haven, CT where we hung with Jamey from Hatebreed and Kirk from Crowbar (who have a new band called Sludgehammer [yes!] or Crobreed) We then had to cancel a couple shows, though, MH drove to all of the venues and convinced the promoters to let It Dies Today and Devildriver play to help our touring bros out and still get paid. Still though, for us, it sucked ass. Did a few more and then ended up having to cancel 2 more.
What was the deal? Well, the first doctor misdiagnosed me and gave me a short-term steroid injection, told me to take 9-12 Advil a day... when I lost my voice again a few shows later, the next doctor told me it "might be allergies". I was like, "Lady, I’ve cancelled FOUR shows in 11 YEARS, and so far I’ve had to cancel four shows on this tour ALONE... it AIN'T fuckin’ 'allergies'!!!" So she gives me some short-term steroid pills and recommended I continue the 9-12 Advil a day. Finally, after the 4th cancellation, I went to a throat specialist, and he says basically, "Dude, your vocal chords are now severely bruised from singing thru this throat infection, the worst thing you could do is take 9-12 Advil a day - Advil is a blood thinner and as such makes any existing bruising WORSE by filling up the bruised area with twice the blood it would normally have as a result." UGH. So he gave me a long-term steroid injection, and I played 6 in a row... had a few 'roid-rage freak-outs, which made for some really intense shows, but hey, it worked! STER-OIDS... FUCK YEAH!!!
Florida and Texas were awesome, Salt Lake, DENVER, and Spokane were awesome, though Devildriver ended up having to pull out of the last 6 shows after Dez got sick, which was a total bummer. That guy has got himself some super cool dudes in that band, very talented. They brought a lot to the table for this tour and we're grateful they were a part of it. It Dies Today too, super fuckin' cool dudes, excellent band. Both they and Devildriver survived our crowds' "Machine Fuckin' Head" chants with class and style. They both have new records out, ("The Fury of Our Makers Hand" and "The Caitiff Choir" respectively) so definitely go pick 'em up. I also want to give a special "Fuck Yeah!" to It Dies Today’s label Trustkill Records for kicking ASS, and going WAY above and beyond what they said they would do to cross-promote the tour. Hands-down the most efficient, easy, and productive label we’ve worked with in the States. Awesome job, guys!
On the other hand, some of these lazy-ass American promoters need to get their shit straight. There were A LOT of promoters on this tour who were on the ball, did great jobs, and the results really paid off in spades. Some of these other guys though... Jesus fuckin’ Christ... People need to learn to play their positions, man. When you can’t even get information out to the kids on your own website, can’t get flyers on the streets, or ads out in the Weekly’s... man... listen up - just because you book a show, or host a festival... it doesn’t make you important... because without us, and every band like us, you ain’t nothin' but a good idea motherfucker. Know your role and do your job.
Played a Backyard Party for a contest Machine Head devised in conjunction with FUSE TV’s "Uranium" program, Roadrunner, and Revolver magazine. It was fucking AWESOME!! The kid who won was 22-year old Clay Fish out of Austin, TX, and it was one of the funnest shows we have ever played. About 50 of Clay’s buddies and his buddy’s buddies and their buddy’s buddies' buddies showed up for Texas BB-Q, kegs of beer, a colossal PA set up under Clay’s carport / garage, and about an hour's worth of Machine Head playing our songs and lots of covers. We started drinking about 2PM, played at around 8PM, so good GOD... were we well liquored up by time we hit the carport. Clay ended up being a really good dude, and his friends were equally super cool. Our Merch guy JD was on FIRE, and we raged until about 2 or 3AM somewhere in downtown Austin, where we drank Clay under the table. I got back to the hotel and called every pizza place in Austin until I finally gave in to the fact that no one was going to deliver pizza to a hotel that I was unable to babble the address to, so I stumbled into IHOP and basically ordered the menu.
WHEW, it was a good night! Here’s some pics:
DVD is coming along... slooooooooooooowly but surely...
And speaking of the DVD, due to a glitch in the system *cough*, the version of the DVD shirts that we sold on the STBTG Tour (courtesy of our seriously KICK ASS new merch company, Hi-Fidelity) contained a rejected version of the official DVD artwork. The actual date at the bottom of the DVD cover will NOT be on the DVD, so essentially, all of those shirts are extremely rare collectors items!
DVD update and RR All-Stars update coming soon.
- Flynn
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Hey Fuckers!!
The Head played Denver, CO last night. Unfortunately, Devildriver had to cancel, so we and It Dies Today played longer sets. But let me just say... good lord... honest to god... and holy SHIT!? This was seriously one of the most amazing shows we’ve ever played in the U.S.... super violent pit... and they would not stop chanting "Machine Fuckin' Head"... chanting it during the acoustic part of "Descend" and shit (?)... fucking mind blowing! Denver, you fuckers RULE!
Coming up on the home stretch here, we’re really looking forward to playing Salt Lake, Spokane (our first time!), Seattle, and the mighty Portland on Friday night. Should make for a raging last night of tour celebration from hell.
Fuck Yeah!
I’ll have a more in-depth update soon...
-Flynn
P.S. – DVD is officially dropping Aug. 16th.
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"I invented violence, you vile, venomous, volatile bitches, vodka, VICODIN, vrinn, Vrinn, VRINN!!"
Hey Fuckers!
What is goin’ on?! Hope you’re doing great. I myself am doing fan-fucking-tastic. In fact, as my Dad would say, “I’m doing so good... I couldn’t stand it if I was doing any better!” And hey... how’s about a loud, and hearty “Happy Birthday Through The Ashes Of Empires!" You’re a year old today in the U-S of A.
Just got back from a packed God Forbid, Caliban and Full Blown Chaos show, and holy be-jesus, mother of God... literally, gallons of vodka were flowin’... Christ almighty! Had a blast! Good people, good friends, good times. Full Blown Chaos had THE sickest “wall of death” I’ve ever seen in my life... Caliban went down a storm... and God Forbid are really just SO fucking good, it’s ridiculous.
The Head have been taking some much needed time off. After ending last year touring for 3 months straight in Europe, hitting 22 different countries, taking 15 different flights, across four different continents, we were, well... ready for some time off. But now, time-off time is over, and it’s time to get back to the business at hand. And that business is bringing the metal to the masses! Just played a one off in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and WOW... that was one amazing show. Those kids out there were awesome! We had metalheads from Iran, Syria, Lebanon... whodathunk? It was CR-A-ZY. All totally normal, just like any metal kid in America... Morbid Angel shirts, Metallica shirts, Slipknot, AFI, chanting Machine - Fuckin’ - Head, jumping, slamming. Jammed “Creeping Death” with Andreas from Sepultura (also on the show) which was a blast, partied with a bunch of the bands and kids after... the next day we S.U.V.'d through the sand dunes of the desert and rode camels! It was a great, great experience.
The excitement level in the band is so high right now, because we are a part of one of the most monster package tours we’ve ever assembled here in America. Machine Head, Devildriver, and It Dies Today will be touring across America and Canada for all of May and most of June. Pure titanium, molten-metal hot lava, ready to kick your fuckin’ asses. YEAH!!! I still can’t believe it’s been almost a year since we toured the States!? We’re hitting places we haven’t hit in 5 years, like Seattle, Portland, Sacto, and Louisville (Southside Jinx!). Right before that gets underway, we get to tour with one of our favorite bands, Lamb of God, so man, we’re fuckin’ stoked! On a related note, our thoughts go out to the Jensen brothers and the rest of The Haunted during what must be a very difficult time.
Congratulations to Alex Awn, Grand Prize winner of the States Turn Blue To Gray flyer contest. Great job!
Seriously man, every one of you has a reason to come to this show. We've got all the bases are covered. We know there are a lot of other summer tours coming around in next few months, and while we’re sure the thought of paying buttloads of cash to hang out in your favorite parking lot, in the scorching hot sun, with no shade, and beers for 8 bucks a pop... watching your favorite band play with no lights, a tiny PA, and no vibe, sounds just... awesome! The Head will be giving out FREE beer, vicodin and hookers at our air-conditioned, vibe-filled shows, so come on down! Ok, so the beer, vicodin and hooker part isn't really true, but, well... we can't actually guarantee the air conditioning thing either... but still, the vibe will be CRAZY! And free of charge!!! Well, save for the super-reasonable ticket price...
Been getting a lot of questions about the "Days Turn Blue To Gray" video lately since it aired on Headbangers Ball the other night. Thanks for all of your interest. The story of the song is true, though it is not about me, it's about my wife and her brother. My wife’s father was a heroin addict / alcoholic. He was only in her life for a total of about a year and a half, and the time he did spend with her wasn't all that great, as you can imagine. When she got older and got past a lot of her anger towards him, she started trying to have a relationship with him again, and he just constantly let her down. He would do things like forget to call her on her birthday, only to call a few weeks later, not say happy birthday, but ask if she had any diabetic friends... so he could get needles.
After a particularly bad episode a few years ago that left him hospitalized, a doctor told him he had 6 months to live. He was told to quit drinking and drugging - or die. She and her family rallied around him to no end, but he wouldn’t quit. 6 months later, he died. For my wife it was very hard... she had put so much effort into trying to mend their relationship, and in the end, they didn't... there was no closure, no happy ending.
Whew! Not lighthearted stuff, I know, and it’s certainly not your dad’s heavy metal, but it’s real, and it’s the type of stuff that a lot of regular folks have to deal with. Hopefully, singing about it might help the kids who are dealing with similar situations, and lets them know that they're not alone.
I read a great quote by Abraham Lincoln the other day, it said, “Anyone can overcome adversity. If you really want to test someone’s character... give them power”. It’s funny, you know? You really get a sense of a person’s character when the chips are down. I’m often amazed and disgusted by it, especially being in this business. We knew that getting this record into peoples' hands was gonna be tough, and there’s the sad but true axiom “You never get a second chance in the music industry”... being label-less for 2 years, a record out on the internet and available on import for 6 months prior, etc.... but even still, the resistance in the mainstream press we have encountered to this record and the band in general, in the U.S. at least, has been pretty darn amazing. It’s as if Machine Head don’t fit in. We’re the outsiders, we’re the band they want to sweep under the rug, we’re the band they hope just goes away. We're not as new, and cute, and as fashionable as those other fashion-core bands... ”Why should we give THEM an interview?”
Maybe, they just don’t get it, maybe they’ll never get it, and frankly, we don’t care if they EVER get it... because when the chips were down, we learned something about the character of metal fans and the aggressive music fans of America, and around the world... we learned that you WILL stand behind something, in fact, you’ll carry it on your god damned shoulders if you have to.
You’ve forgiven us our mistakes, and you've applauded us for the chances we've taken... we have grown, and you’ve grown along with us. You are the most loyal fans in the entire realm of music. It amazes us. Seriously. It amazes us. Don’t think that because we’ve had some success here over the past 12 months we’ve forgotten where we were just a year and a half ago. We haven’t, AT ALL, and I doubt we ever will.
Hell, we may not have mainstream metal media on our side, but a crazy, organic, grass-roots support system blossomed, and went out and made a fucking huge statement to the powers that be. The metal fans of the U.S. went out there and stood behind this band. You believed in us, you went to bat for us, and while it may have been off of a lot of people’s radars, Machine Head have quietly managed to out-sell, and out-draw a LOT of these up-and-coming bands that all the mainstream metal magazines are hyping incessantly. It’s pretty incredible, man. Literally, it’s been an endless stream of good news. This record wasn't supposed to have done what it has to this point. In fact, to be honest, it probably should have only sold HALF of what it has. And you know what? That’s why you fuckers rule.
Let’s celebrate that shit when we come to town with some beers, Brown Eyes, and bloody noses.
Love!
See you on tour!!!
-Flynn
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Hey Fuckers!
Hanging out drinkin' an ice cold Heineken in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Pretty crazy shit, we're supporting The Darkness (?) at a festival called Desert Rock, Sepultura and Within Temptation are also on, should be really cool. They're rolling out the damn red carpet for The Head though, WOW! After a 23-hour flight we got whisked away from the plane, in a private bus, with the windows blacked, to a special waiting area complete with giant TV's and gourmet cookies and pastries, while our passports got checked. After that we got whisked away to a fancy-shmancy hotel called The Fairmont, where the rooms are THE BOMB.
We're all like... JEEZ!
Not complaining, that's for DAMN sure.
The promoters (the unbelievably efficient Center Stage Management) then took us to a press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe where we had a choice of riding over in a brand new Hummer, or riding ON a Harley... DANG! Adam took the Harley, the three of us took the Hummer.
First time here in Dubai, I was a little surprised at how American it is, for the Middle East and all (if you looked on a map it's all the way to the east side of Saudi Arabia). They got Round Table Pizza, McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Cactus Jack's, Hardee's, casinos, waterslides, super modern skyscrapers, it's a lot like Las Vegas, especially the whole middle-of-the-desert vibe. The only daunting aspect is that they've given me a direct request to, "not swear, or drink alcohol on stage"... I'm like... HUH?! Have you lost your muthagrabbin' mind?
Mmmm... Hmmm... *wink*
Other than that been real busy with the DVD, Mark Keaton and I are mixing the audio, Mike Sloat is editing the video, and lemme tell ya, it is turning out heavy. And when I say heavy, I'm talkin' heavier than Star Jones, with cottonmouth, at an all you can eat Taco Bell buffet! Now that's heavy! We changed the name of the DVD too, it will now be called "Elegies", which as I'm sure you may know is similar to the word eulogy, only a eulogy is a "speech" you give at someones funeral, an elegy is a "song" you would sing at someones funeral. We like it a lot, and agree with the folks that thought there might be too much confusion with the
titles. Here's what the cover's gonna look like, thanks to the masterful Paul Brown.
Had a few technical difficulties getting the rough DVD edit / snippet up on the site, but not to worry, the official edit will be up ASAP.
Boo, boo, boo, and hiss to Modern Drummer magazine for not even nominating Dave McClain for the best metal drummer category. In all honesty, Dave McClain is THE MOST underrated drummer alive right now. The man plays circles around all of those nominees.
Shame on you, Modern Drummer!
Rant over.
Anyway, planning on having a bunch of drinks tomorrow, and then Sat. we're all going 4-wheelin' on the sand dunes, riding a camel (!) and having a desert BBQ by sunset, and we'll be home Sunday for Easter. Have a good one too.
From Dubai,
- Robb Flynn
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Hey everybody!
We just got some rough footage of the DVD that was shot at the Brixton Academy in December. The footage came out great thanks to the fine people at Roax films, and will be edited by none other than Mike Sloat (Imperium, Days Turn Blue To Grey)! No title as of yet since "Dave Plays Brixton" got rejected by the other guys! Anyway, we're gonna be putting a snippet of it up on the site pretty soon, and I'll give you a hint about what song it is... as Robb says, "We're gonna go waaayyy back to an album called Burn My Eyeeeesss! This song is called ___!"
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