Nathan Katsiaficas of the radio show “Metal Mutilation” conducted an interview with Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD on January 26 in Portland, Maine. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked for his opinion on the current Republican presidential candidates and President Obama, Flynn said, “I’m not really into the Republicans, but I’m not really into the Democrats either. I think they’re both kind of full of it. I feel like the whole thing is kind of a farce, really. The choice is between this guy and that guy, but it’s just so skewed… These cadidates come out of nowhere. It’s like, ‘Who is this guy? Who wants this person to be the President?’ And then, all of a sudden, you hear about him, and it’s kind of, like, we’ve got this illusion of freedom of choice, and I don’t really feel like it is the freedom of choice, because I don’t know if any of those guys would be the one that I would want. Some of them may be a little more in line with what I believe, but I think they’re all kind of full of it. . . I think most politicians are all full of it, man. They’ve got their lobbyists and they’ve got all their corporations that are backing them. And if they fucking step out of line, man, they’re getting fucked. They’re not gonna be able to do the things. I think the corporations just have them so in their pocket that they could talk a good talk, but at the end of the day, what’s really goona change until the corporations are taken care of?”

MACHINE HEAD is currently taking part in a North American headlining with support from SUICIDE SILENCE and DARKEST HOUR.

MACHINE HEAD’s new album, “Unto The Locust”, sold more than 17,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 22 on The Billboard 200 chart — putting MACHINE HEAD in the Top 25 for the first time in the band’s 17-year history.

MACHINE HEAD has consistently averaged more than 100,000 copies sold in the U.S. for each of its seven albums and has shifted double that overseas (accruing several silver records in the U.K.), resulting in cumulative worldwide sales of more than 2.4 million.

MACHINE HEAD’s previous CD, “The Blackening”, opened with just under 15,000 units back in April 2007 to debut at No. 54 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band’s 2004 effort, “Through The Ashes Of Empires”, premiered with less than 12,000 copies to land at No. 88.

Source: www.blabbermouth.net

San Francisco Chronicle: At eight minutes, [the new MACHINE HEAD song] “Locust” is probably six minutes too long to get on the radio.

Flynn: Yeah, we’re not exactly trying to reach the Alice crowd with this one. It’s got a solo section that’s over two minutes long — most pop songs now aren’t even that long. We’re conditioned that everything needs to be three minutes or it’s not going to connect. I think music should take you on a journey. Riding a train is cool, but riding a roller coaster is more fun.

San Francisco Chronicle: Is the rest of the album stacked with epics?

Flynn: I think we’ve really taken our music to the next level with this. We feel super-excited about it. I started taking some singing lessons with the guy who worked with Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga. And then I took some classical guitar. I wanted to feel like a beginner again and not be comfortable and see what that brought out. There’s definitely a big neoclassical vibe on the record between all the brutality.

San Francisco Chronicle: What’s the scene like backstage at the [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem Festival? I imagine there aren’t too many guys sipping Chardonnay and playing pingpong.

Flynn: There’s a lot of testosterone in the air, that’s for sure. But it’s a good vibe. They did this great thing where every band on the tour is in charge of throwing a party every three days. There are just two conditions: You have to have an alcoholic beverage that sums up your band in some way. The second (rule) is the party has to have a theme. Last time, ours was the Fourth of July, even though it was in August. We got all these fireworks and shot them up until the cops came.

Read the entire interview from the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Locust” can be streamed in the YouTube clip below (courtesy of Roadrunner Records).

Source: www.blabbermouth.net

During their early days, after they signed with Roadrunner Records, they toured in the U.S. opening for Napalm Death and Obituary. Following the release of “Burn My Eyes”, Machine Head toured North America alongside Biohazard and Slayer. “Davidian” is perceived as the key track from “Burn My Eyes” and managed to reach number 25 on the UK charts at the time, even though it was removed from radio airplay very soon after its first broadcast, due to the track’s lyrics “[…] Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast […]”, signaling the beginning of the band’s global success.

Line Up Changes:
Before reaching today’s line up, Machine Head went through a series of line up troubles. Apart from Robb Flynn and Adam Duce, who have been members since the earliest days of the band, guitarists and drummers have come and gone several times in the past.

Their first drummer was Tony Constanza, who barely stayed in the band for a year (1991) and then joined other bands such as Crisis and Crowbar. Tony Constanza was replaced by Chris Kontos in late 1991, who remained a member of Machine Head until 1996, when he left to join Konkhra and later Testament, while currently plays for Spiral Arms. Machine Head’s first guitarist was Logan Mader, who left the band to join Pale Demons, Medication, Stereo Black and finally Soulfly. He was replaced by Ahrue Luster in 1998, who stayed in the band until 2002 and then left first to join Horde Of Torment and later Il Nino.

Current Members:

Before moving on to more biographical information of the band, I should take some time to describe each current member’s background and former activity, since I find such information very interesting. Robb Flynn, whose actual name, before he was adopted, was Lawrence Matthew Cardine, was born on July 19, 1968 in Oakland, California. His first band – from 1985 to 1987 – was Forbidden for which he wrote four songs, all of which were included in the band’s debut album and which are: “Chalice of Blood”, “As Good As Dead”, “Forbidden Evil” and part of “March Into Fire”. He left from the band right before the recording of their debut album to join Vio-lence, a member of which was also Phil Demmel – current lead guitarist of Machine Head. Right after Robb Flynn joined Vio-lence, the band signed a contract deal with Mechanic Records and released a demo tape and later a seven-track album entitled “Eternal Nightmare”. Later, in 1990 they released their second album, “Oppressing the Masses” under Megaforce record label (featuring bands such as Anthrax, Testament, M.O.D. and many more) and in 1991 they released a four-track EP. In 1992 Robb Flynn left the band to form Machine Head.

Very little is known about Adam Duce… He was born in 1971 and he is one of the founding members of Machine Head along with Robb Flynn, but other than that no other biographical information on him has ever been published.

Moving on to Phil Demmel… Demmel was born on April 1, 1967. He initially was the lead guitarist of Vio-lence, a band in which his full talent and innovation was first shown. “Eternal Nightmare” is one of the basic tracks of Vio-lence, which proves Demmel’s value, since most of the track’s writing was done by him. After Vio-lence disbanded, he first joined Torque, a local band in Oakland, California, which was basically a Machine Head wannabe band. Then he joined a band named Tecyhnocracy, but soon after they released their first album, he left because, as he has previously stated, he didn’t want to go on tour with them and leave his wife behind at the time. The first time Phil Demmel played for Machine Head was in 2002, when he temporarily joined the band, just to help them out in a couple of shows, but soon after that he officially became the lead guitarist of the band.

Last but not least, Dave McClain was born on October 24, 1965 in Wiesbaden, Germany. He joined Machine Head in 1996 to replace Chris Kontos. Prior to that, he served as a drummer for San Antonio Slayer, Murdercar, Narita and Sacred Reich. The first album that he recorded with Machine Head was “The More Things Change…” which was released in 1997.

Releases:
Machine Head up to date have released six albums in total. The first is entitled “Burn My Eyes”, was released in 1994, was produced by Colin Richardson and mixed by Colin Richardson and Vincent Wojno. The second album, “The More Things Change…” was released in 1997, was produced by Colin Richardson and mixed by Colin Richardson, Robb Flynn and Andy Sneap. The band’s third album was “The Burning Red”, which was released in 1999, was produced by Ross Robinson and mixed by Terry Date. “Supercharger”, their fourth album, was released in 2001, was produced by Johnny K and mixed by Colin Richardson. The fifth album was “Through The Ashes of Empires” (2004) and was produced by Robb Flynn and mixed by Colin Richardson. Their latest album is entitled “The Blackening” and was released in 2007. “The Blackening” just like “Through The Ashes of Empires” was produced by Robb Flynn and mixed by Colin Richardson.

Other than that, the band also released a live album, “Hellalive” in 2003, which was recorded live at Brixton Academy in London on December 8, 2001. “Hellalive” was produced by Machine Head and mixed by Colin Richardson. In 2005 Machine Head released their only DVD up to date, “Elegies”, which includes live performances of the band from Brixton Academy in London from their live performance on December 8, 2001, several official video clips from “Imperium”, “Days Turn Blue to Gray” and “The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears” as well as personal statements from the band’s members and the makings of “Through the Ashes of Empires” and the three video clips included in the DVD. Machine Head’s latest release is a special edition of “The Blackening”, which includes several live performances of the band and bonus tracks. Robb Flynn and Adam Duce also participated in Roadrunner Records’ release “Roadrunner United” (2005) and consequently the DVD “Roadrunner United: The Concert” (2008).

Rena Kostopoulou.