Lost your password?

Search Results for

machine head

Video: MACHINE HEAD Performs New Song ‘Killers & Kings’ Live For First Time

Manos Spanos
Fan-filmed video footage of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD performing a brand new song, "Killers & Kings", live for the first time yesterday (Saturday, May 17) at the Scion Rock Fest in Pomona, California can be seen below. MACHINE HEAD entered GREEN DAY's Oakland, California's JingleTown Recording compound on February 9 to begin recording its new album for a late 2014 release via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn recently stated about the band's new material: "I would say… that the songs are as epic in scope [as those on 2007's 'The Blackening'], if not more so, except where 'The Blackening' was more epic in the guitar department, this is more epic in the EVERYTHING department. Strings arrangements, keyboard arrangements, massive vocal layering (one track, 'Sail Into The Black' has 40 tracks of vocals), drum overdubs, and, of course, the standard MACHINE HEAD quadruple tracking of the guitars." He added: "I want to reiterate, I don't feel this record sounds like 'The Blackening'. It feels like we're still moving forward. If I HAD to compare it to another record of ours, it may be closer to 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' in one aspect only, the simpler song arrangements. It's still what I would just call classic metal, but we've simplified beats, simplified riffs, taken the unnecessary complicated-ness of something and made it simple. I've even applied that to my lyrics, where I've stripped out a lot of extra words ('the's,' 'and's,' etc), and invented a lyrical technique I call 'clustering,' where you cluster vowels or cluster 'plosives' ('K's,' 'T's,' 'Ch's') together to make it sound heavier, or flow better. It doesn't read all that poetically, but in the song it sounds really cool. I've also really worked hard on sharpening up my rhyme schemes, finding clever places to place rhymes, instead of the usual place at the end of a line, or even again, 'clustering' rhymes. It makes an abstract concept like 'Killers & Kings' (which references 20+ Tarot Cards, and that I'm very proud of the end result) to have a real meaning. Out of that stripped down musical landscape, we've then taken that new (to us at least) 'extra space' and added in layers of strings, layers of dark, ambient keys, layers and layers of vocals, and it sounds HUGE." As part of this year's Record Store Day on April 19, MACHINE HEAD released a 10-inch vinyl single, with the A-side containing the "demo" version of "Killers & Kings". The B-side is a cover version of the track "Our Darkest Days" from one of MACHINE HEAD's favorite bands, IGNITE. Other songtitles set to appear on the new MACHINE HEAD album include "Beneath The Silt", "Eyes Of The Dead" (formerly "Ojos De La Muerte") and "How We Die". MACHINE HEAD's next album will be the band's first with new bassist Jared MacEachern, who replaced Adam Duce last year. "Killers & Kings" performance: "Killers & Kings" demo version:
03 min read

MACHINE HEAD’s ROBB FLYNN: ‘The Music Business Has Sucked The Life Out Of Creativity’

Manos Spanos
Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD has posted the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings". It follows below in its entirety. "I'm in a shitty mood. "Not for the story I'm about to tell, but because of my thoughts afterward. "I went out to San Francisco for my buddy Joe's birthday shenanigans. We went out for Moroccan food at a joint called El Mansour. The place had a great vibe, belly dancing, sword balancing, and amazing food! The lamb in particular was to-freakin'-die-for, slow roasted and covered in honey and cinnamon. "On the way out there, Joe's buddy Tony picked me up from JingleTown [studio], since I didn't want to drive as I knew I'd be drinking. On the hour-long trip out (Saturday traffic to San Francisco), he was telling me some pretty awesome stories about growing up in the ''70s. You see, Tony was a teenager in 1975, and used to go the famous San Francisco venue Winterland. Winterland was before my time, but being part of the scene you heard the legend, the stories and the history. "Tony is a big BLACK SABBATH fan, saw them back in '75 on the 'Sabotage' tour and said it was a life-changing experience. Him and his buddies used to go to Winterland, load up on LSD, cigarettes, and weed, and go watch pretty much the cream of the crop of classic rock bands. TED NUGENT, SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, JOURNEY, MONTROSE, you name it, he went and saw it. The shows would start and if people loved the opening band (essentially cheering non-stop) they'd get to do encores. He was telling me about a show JOURNEY (the opener!), killed it, and they got 4 encores, the support band got 4 encores! Then the headliner, MONTROSE, got 5 ENCORES! MONTROSE didn't stop playing until 2:30 in the morning, everyone stayed, no one would even dare consider leaving and people experienced some of the best music of their lives. "An opener getting encores, crazy… "And the venue allowed things like this to happen. The venue just kept the bands rolling. "Not only that, but all of the shows at Winterland were $4.50. "4 dollars and 50 cents…..18 freakin' quarters! "Wow…?!? "All I could think of was 'what an amazing time for music.' "People wonder why the 'classic rock' bands were so good. They were playing by their own rules, and they had a culture of venues and people around that were as crazy and fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants as the bands themselves. The promoters around that time did anything to make the bands happy and if it meant playing all goddamn night? Let 'em! "I tell you right now, though, there isn't a band out there who would play til 2:30 a.m. nowadays, let alone find a major venue that would even ALLOW such a thing. "I remember when I first started going to /playing thrash shows, it was a very similar thing. It was no rules, no security, no safety, no curfews, and for the most part anything went! Venues these days are mostly run with union workers. In most major cities, you have to take breaks during the day, where a band can't even sound check for an hour because the union workers need a 'break.' Nowadays if you play 1 minute past 11 p.m. at any of the large union venues, it costs the band $1,000 dollars a minute. When we were out with METALLICA playing arenas they regularly play 20 minutes past 11:00 p.m., and they regularly paid $20,000 to do so. "I went and saw PEARL JAM about a month ago, and they played one of the best, most truly rock 'n' roll shows I've seen in eons. It was fucking magical, Eddie Vedder drank 3 bottles of wine, and about 2 hours into the set, he started getting a little sloppy, forgetting lyrics, missing cues, it looked like it was about to fall off the rails. The band then they took a quick break and he came back and played 'Black'. "Let me tell you, it was magic! I'm getting goose bumps writing this, just remembering it. It was such a turn-around; it totally took the night to an even higher level. At this point they were already 45 minutes past 11. They played several more songs and eventually the Oakland Arena (currently called the Oracle Arena, until some different stupid corporate sponsor buys it and changes it to something ridiculous like Florida's 1-800-Ask Gary Amphitheater) turned on the house lights, signaling them to stop. PEARL JAM said 'fuck you!' and played 2 more songs with the house lights on! Eddie Vedder then brought the band back out onstage to do an extra-long goodbye to the crowd. I love their fucking attitude. "In the end, they played 70 minutes over 'curfew' and I'd imagine left Oakland about $70,000 dollars lighter to do so. Of course PEARL JAM can afford it, and frankly it gave every single person there one of the best shows of their life. But this gesture to keep the 'room' in a good mood in conjunction with the Winterland conversation, it got me thinking. "Shit has changed. "On the one hand, I love PEARL JAM's 'fuck you, were doing it our way' attitude, and on the other hand, it angered and depressed me. "Only the METALLICAs and PEARL JAMs can pull things like this. Bands that have sold millions of records, and they can afford it. "If MACHINE HEAD tried playing an hour over curfew at say, the House Of Blues in Dallas, Texas, we'd be walking out of there with our entire guarantee eaten up. Even if the fans wanted it, some venue would do their best to shut it down, cut power, close curtain, whatever. "The music business has sucked the life out of creativity. No one is encouraged to take risks, no one is encouraged to push the envelope, because it's all about first-week sales! It's about pointless radio play and how good your last tour went. How venues and promoters are squeezing the last drop of spontaneity out of your soul by not 'allowing' you to playing past curfew and not drawing outside the line. "When we play that game, we essentially applaud mediocrity. "There's nothing dangerous about music these days, there's nothing surprising about it either. There can't be. Other than PEARL JAM, the only 'band' that doesn't seem to really give a flying fuck and plays by their own rules isn't really a band at all, are they? Axl and the ROSES are known for bending the rules and telling the powers that be to 'fuck off,' but because their band is so confusing they come across as a joke. But people don't see this. People don't see any of this! "And the reason you don't care is because it's too easy to get sucked into your phone, or your Facebook, or your Twitter, or your Tumblr, or your Instagram, or your games, or your TV shows. "Music isn't important anymore. Say it is all you want, but the fact is, the 2 biggest rock records of last year only sold 400,000 copies, neither even went gold. "Music is in the background of a game. Why go to a show when you can watch clips of it on YouTube and bitch about how it stinks live? "And you know what, I miss music being important! I miss live shows being important. I miss feeling a part of something that was so high on my list I'd crawl through broken glass to get it. "All this technology we have now that's supposed to make us 'connected?' It's making me feel more fucking disconnected than ever. I mean watching all the things that other people are doing that I'm not invited to or even a apart of? And yet at the same time completely disgusted by faux-self-importance it has given everyone, (here's my dog or cat for the millionth time, here's a selfie for the millionth time, here's my kids for the millionth time, here' the food I'm eating for the millionth time, here's what I'm doing and you're not). Don't you wish you were eating what I'm eating? "Fuck you! I've thought of tweeting or Facebooking something so many time and just went, 'who cares', why should anyone care about this, and you SHOULDN'T care. "You're all my 'friends,' you've all 'liked' me, but really, you're not my friends, because we don't know each other. You took a photo of me, or you interviewed me, or we talked after a show. And after you get past the initial coolness, of re-connecting with someone from high school on Facebook or Twitter, you realize you truly have drifted apart. "And fuckin' A, I'm glad we did. "I don't want to be 'friends' with everyone; I don't want to be 'liked' by everyone. I want to feel connected to something. And nothing I look at in the music business does that. I don't get radio bands; I don't get any of these fucking 'scene bands.' I don't get bands singing about how great being American is, as if the geographic location you were born, (and had zero control over in any way shape or form), somehow makes us better than any other geographical place of birth!? "I don't get why people don't want to see live music anymore, I don't get it. Did you see the clip of Hetfield talking about how America needs to start 'wanting' music again? This is James 'Fucking' Hetfield talking, people! Didn't those words do anything to anyone? Didn't what he said make you feel a bit disgusted? I'm a METALLICA fan and those words being spoken kind of stung a bit. "You can bitch all you want that MACHINE HEAD only does festival tours and only plays for 30 minutes, but all those bands (including us) that play festival tours, can't draw squat when were not on festival tours. And even the big metal festivals are having troubles. Maybe the days of bands touring is coming to an end? Bands didn't always tour, you know, Mozart didn't hit the road for a year or 2 back in the day. Touring is really a phenomenon of the last 60 years or so. People didn't always buy records, or CDs, or files, or streams, that's also a phenomenon of the last 60 or 70 years. "I don't get the political fucking correctness of music anymore. "I don't get the narrow-mindedness of the world anymore. "I do
011 min read

MACHINE HEAD: First Video Blog From The Studio

Manos Spanos
San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD entered GREEN DAY's Oakland, California's JingleTown Recording compound on February 9 to begin recording their new album for a late 2014 release via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. The first in a series of short segments regarding the production side of making MACHINE HEAD's new CD can be seen below. Tentative songtitles set to appear on the new MACHINE HEAD album include "Killers & Kings", "Beneath The Silt", "Eyes Of The Dead" (formerly "Ojos De La Muerte"), "Sail Into The Black", "How We Die" and "Night Of The Long Knives". As part of this year's Record Store Day on April 19, MACHINE HEAD will release a 10-inch vinyl single, with the A-side containing the "demo" version of "Killers & Kings". The B-side will be a cover version of the track "Our Darkest Days" from one of MACHINE HEAD's favorite bands, IGNITE. Speaking to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn stated about the band's new material: "It sounds like MACHINE HEAD! It's definitely moving forward, which I feel like we're probably always gonna do. "We're not a band that ever looks back. We do our thing and try to take the life experiences that we have and the musicianship that we've evolved and try to use it. Obviously, we have our sound and we have the MACHINE HEAD patented harmonics, the downtuned riffs and I sing the way I sing. "I think Bob Dylan said it best: 'You just find new ways to say the same thing.'" Speaking about some of the specific tracks and the lyrical themes covered on the new album, Flynn said: "I've got some pretty cool lyrics ready. There's a song called 'Night Of The Long Knives', and it's pretty fucked! It's about the Manson murders, and the lyrics are really dark and vicious. "We've found some new twists to give to the MACHINE HEAD sound and some new fire and excitement." Asked what the band's main aims were when they started composing music for the new CD, Flynn said: "Well, it's nice to try and have a plan, but music has a way of unravelling over time! [Laughs] You've just got to roll with it. "With [2007's] 'The Blackening', I'd love to say I had this grand vision of nine- and 10-minute songs, but the first four songs we wrote were the four shorter songs on the record. For months, there was no indication whatsoever that we'd have 10-minute songs. That stuff came later. "Human nature wants to control and dictate where things will go, but you can't. It won't let you! The more you try, the more it goes, 'Fuck you.' It's going some other way!"
03 min read

MACHINE HEAD’s ROBB FLYNN Checks In From The Studio

Manos Spanos
San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD entered GREEN DAY's Oakland, California's JingleTown Recording compound on February 9 to begin recording their new album for a late 2014 release via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Comments MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn in the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings": "As I step off the insane recording treadmill I've been on for a few weeks, one thing is for certain, it's all about slow and steady progress. I mean, I really wish I had more of an exciting update to give you, but I've been slammed recording guitars, laying down vocals, and working on some killer packaging ideas with the Nuclear Blast crew. "Less than a week before we got into JingleTown, we finished a pair of songs, one of which was literally not even an idea the week previous. Phil [Demmel, guitar] brought in some great, GREAT stuff at the 11th hour and we were able to turn it into a really cool song with the working title of 'Sharkbite Days Revisited'. The other song, formerly known as 'Blazing Saddles', just wasn't working. Even though it had some cool parts, it was just too goddamned hard to play and make it sound natural, so we back-burnered it for a while. It was the type of song where we finally realized our mortality, LOL! One of those 'dammit, I can't play this fast at my age anymore' kind of moments! But it was a song that came at a time when we needed a good kick in the ass, and it completely helped break my writer's block. It was the crack in the dam, and after that, all hell flowed. So if anything, it served its purpose well! "So on the second to last day of rehearsals, [Dave] McClain [drums] and I deconstructed 'Blazing Saddles', and then reconstructed it into a far simpler structure, and it's fuckin' rockin'! Less of a SLAYER/SLIPKNOT vibe, and more of a 'Screaming For Vengeance'-era JUDAS PRIEST feel to it. Appropriately, it has now been given the working title 'Simmering Saddles'. "I laid down some scratch vocal ideas on the 3 'newest' tunes, and made some huge progress on the song (working title: 'Riffnado'). I can already tell it's gonna be really cool. "So that's about it for now. I know it doesn't look like much, but as my engineer Juan says, 'There some blood on the board there' (pic below)." "Killers & Kings". The B-side will be a cover version of the track "Our Darkest Days" from one of MACHINE HEAD's favorite bands, IGNITE. The third of four tarot cards making up the cover artwork for the "Killers & Kings" single can be seen below. Also available is video footage of MACHINE HEAD members Phil Demmel (guitar), Dave McClain (drums) and Jared MacEachern (bass) laying down backing vocals on the "Our Darkest Days" cover version. Says MACHINE HEAD guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn: "I remember growing up in the thrash scene and always wanting to hear the demo version of songs. You searched them out. Thankfully, my buddy Jim was a big 'tape trader,' and through trading, we had both METALLICA demos, EXODUS demos, bootlegs of songs sometimes 'years' before they came out. "I knew how to play every note of 'Pleasure Of The Flesh' by EXODUS easily two years before the record was out. I had SLAYER's 'Reign In Blood' three months before it came out. I remember it still had the hi-hat counts starting the songs!! "My friends and I would debate the merits of each (the demo was always better, LOL!). "It's so much cooler to hear it BEFORE the album is out! "So we're gonna do that for you. "I can't wait for you guys to hear this stuff. Then you can debate it, haha!" Tentative songtitles set to appear on the new MACHINE HEAD album include "Killers & Kings", "Beneath The Silt", "Eyes Of The Dead" (formerly "Ojos De La Muerte"), "Sail Into The Black", How We Die" and "Night Of The Long Knives".
04 min read

MACHINE HEAD To Enter Studio This Weekend

Manos Spanos
San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD will enter GREEN DAY's Oakland, California's JingleTown Recording compound on Sunday, February 9 to begin recording their new album for a late 2014 release via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Comments MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn in the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings": "Looking forward to this; it's gonna be a fun album to record. "We have some really, really strong songs, powerful songs. "There's no question it's going to be a big project. So with big projects come big expectations and sometimes big 'issues,' but the feeling in the band, the feeling BETWEEN the band, is so positive we're chomping at the bit to get started. "We know it will be a big undertaking but we're up for it. We're ready. "We're approaching two decades of recording and releasing our music to you. Let that sink in for a minute... because it definitely causes me to pause. "Most bands do not get to make music for as long as we have and flourish. Most bands do not get to build an 'army' of fans and friends. We have, and for one of many reasons, we refuse to rest on our laurels. There's no getting complacent at this stage of the game. Good isn't good enough, it has to change the world, it has to dent the universe. You won't care if it's anything less. We're putting in the long, hard, boring hours of work that it takes to make something truly special. "And I have to mention it again; the feeling of four guys pulling together, four guys all on the same page, four guys all on the same team, man... it is an amazing feeling. I can't remember a time when the band was this locked-in mentally, physically, and spiritually. "There's still a waaaaays to go before we're done, a few songs still getting wrapped up musically / lyrically... "But yeah, it begins... this weekend." He adds: "As I mentioned last week, we will be releasing the 'demo' version of 'Killers & Kings' with a B-side of the IGNITE classic 'Our Darkest Days / Bleeding', on 10-inch vinyl for Record Store Day worldwide. "For those of you who don't know, Record Store Day is a day to support the local mom-and-pop record stores. Often bands will release limited-edition items exclusively to these stores, it never ends up in the big chains. It helps support the little guys, and if you can't make it to the store, you can still order if from them online. We back it 100%. "Yesterday we put the first of four 10-inch album covers that will be released. Four Tarot cards in total. "More covers coming next week. "It's the first time since our debut album that we've actually released demos 'before' an album. Since that album, we've only done it after the fact, and I really am excited about doing beforehand. "I remember selling the six-song MACHINE HEAD demo at our early shows. We'd sell it in the parking lots of metal shows like drugs. I even brokered a deal overseas to have the demos sold and they did extremely well; it helped create a buzz over there. "This demo version of 'Killers & Kings' is not-finished. Shit, I'm still 'scattin'' some the lyrics, meaning = making it up as I go! I think it's cool that you can hear that. "I'm not sure why the idea of releasing demos before a record stopped. I always loved hearing demos before a record came out. "I think what happened is that record companies got scared that people wouldn't buy the record if they didn't like the demos. I know, for me, I wanted to hear new music no matter what. If I was crazy about the band, I searched far and wide to hear anything they had, demos, bootlegs, rehearsals, videos, the more I found, the better. It's like I went on a journey with the band. Listening to the songs evolve, or not evolve, change or not change. "I love that journey! I hope you do too, 'cause we're about to take you on a crazy fucking journey. "Are you ready?" Other tentative songtitles set to appear on the new MACHINE HEAD album include "Beneath The Silt", "Ojos De La Muerte", "Sail Into The Black" and "Night Of The Long Knives". MACHINE HEAD's most recent studio release, 2011's "Unto The Locust", entered The Billboard 200 chart at position No
04 min read

MACHINE HEAD: ‘Killers & Kings’ Single Artwork Unveiled

Manos Spanos
As part of this year's Record Store Day on April 19, San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD will release a 10-inch vinyl single, with the A-side containing the "demo" version of a new song, "Killers & Kings". The B-side will be a cover version of the track "Our Darkest Days" from one of MACHINE HEAD's favorite bands, IGNITE. The cover artwork for the "Killers & Kings" single can be seen below. Also available is video footage of MACHINE HEAD members Phil Demmel (guitar), Dave McClain (drums) and Jared MacEachern (bass) laying down backing vocals on the "Our Darkest Days" cover version. Says MACHINE HEAD guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn: "I remember growing up in the thrash scene and always wanting to hear the demo version of songs. You searched them out. Thankfully, my buddy Jim was a big 'tape trader,' and through trading, we had both METALLICA demos, EXODUS demos, bootlegs of songs sometimes 'years' before they came out. "I knew how to play every note of 'Pleasure Of The Flesh' by EXODUS easily two years before the record was out. I had SLAYER's 'Reign In Blood' three months before it came out. I remember it still had the hi-hat counts starting the songs!! "My friends and I would debate the merits of each (the demo was always better, LOL!). "It's so much cooler to hear it BEFORE the album is out! "So we're gonna do that for you. "I can't wait for you guys to hear this stuff. Then you can debate it, haha!" MACHINE HEAD will enter the studio in February to begin recording its new album for a late summer release via the band's new label, Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Other tentative songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Beneath The Silt", "Ojos De La Muerte", "Sail Into The Black" and "Night Of The Long Knives". Says Flynn: "The new stuff is turning out better than anyone expected. "We had THE breakthrough with the song formerly known as 'Back From The Grave'. "I'd been working with the string section that played on 'Locust', Quartet Rogue, as well as multi-instrumentalist / keyboardist Rhys Fulber, and to quote [METALLICA drummer] Lars Ulrich (who was actually quoting Robert Trujillo), 'We're on some NEXT-LEVEL shit!!!' "With that one song getting finished, I could totally see where the whole record is going. It opened up before my eyes. "Nothing short of exciting!!!" Speaking to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, Flynn stated about the band's new material: "It sounds like MACHINE HEAD! It's definitely moving forward, which I feel like we're probably always gonna do. "We're not a band that ever looks back. We do our thing and try to take the life experiences that we have and the musicianship that we've evolved and try to use it. Obviously, we have our sound and we have the MACHINE HEAD patented harmonics, the downtuned riffs and I sing the way I sing. "I think Bob Dylan said it best: 'You just find new ways to say the same thing.'" Speaking about some of the specific tracks and the lyrical themes covered on the new album, Flynn said: "I've got some pretty cool lyrics ready. There's a song called 'Night Of The Long Knives', and it's pretty fucked! It's about the Manson murders, and the lyrics are really dark and vicious. "We've found some new twists to give to the MACHINE HEAD sound and some new fire and excitement." Asked what the band's main aims were when they started composing music for the new CD, Flynn said: "Well, it's nice to try and have a plan, but music has a way of unravelling over time! [Laughs] You've just got to roll with it. "With [2007's] 'The Blackening', I'd love to say I had this grand vision of nine- and 10-minute songs, but the first four songs we wrote were the four shorter songs on the record. For months, there was no indication whatsoever that we'd have 10-minute songs. That stuff came later. "Human nature wants to control and dictate where things will go, but you can't. It won't let you! The more you try, the more it goes, 'Fuck you.' It's going some other way!"
06 min read

MACHINE HEAD Sued By Former Bassist ADAM DUCE

Manos Spanos
According to Courthouse News, ex-MACHINE HEAD bassist Adam Duce has filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates alleging trademark infringement, breach of partnership agreement and defamation, among other things. Duce was fired from MACHINE HEAD on February 11, 2013, a few months prior to the band signing a new deal with Nuclear Blast Entertainment. According to Adam, he was expelled from the group "after he put 21 years of his life into it" so as to allow the other bandmembers to make a bigger profit. Although MACHINE HEAD formed a general partnership and a corporation under which each member owned 25 percent, the band's guitarist/vocalist, Robert Flynn, got a larger portion of the band's income, Duce claims. MACHINE HEAD's 2009 tour, which included dates with METALLICA, grossed more than $2 million. A 2012 Europe tour grossed more than $3 million, according to the complaint. "After receiving very little compensation despite the millions the band was bringing in, plaintiff requested and reviewed the records from the tours. Plaintiff found that [the band's manager, co-defendant Joseph W.] Huston, Flynn, and PFM [Provident Financial Management] had squandered money throughout the trip without consulting plaintiff for the vast majority of 'expenses,'" Duce says in the lawsuit. "Despite their increase in popularity and touring revenue, [Duce] became concerned with how little income he was receiving, despite the time and hard work put in to developing the band," the complaint states. "Though he expressed these concerns to Flynn, Huston, and PFM, [Duce] was never satisfied with the answers he received." The complaint adds: "Despite plaintiff's expressed concerns, he was unable to make enough money to live within his modest means. Because of this, when the band was not touring, plaintiff supplemented his income as a licensed real estate appraiser." The lawsuit goes on to say: "After [guitarist] Ahrue Luster left the band and was replaced by [Phil] Demmel, MACHINE HEAD continued as a partnership in which all four members — [Duce], Flynn, [drummer Dave] McClain, and now Demmel — held equal 25% shares in MH from approximately late 2002 until February 2013. "While early on, each of the partners had equal rights in the management and conduct of MH business, Flynn, with the help of Huston, began making unilateral decisions without involving the other partners, essentially usurping control of the partnership. "Despite the fact that Huston received 10% of the band's gross income, he failed to ensure that the members of the band made even close to his 10% cut." Duce alleges that Nuclear Blast, Flynn and Huston "wrongfully and intentionally conspired to expel and then did expel [Adam] from the band prior to signing the new record deal in an attempt to preclude [Duce] from enjoying the profits of the new record deal. As a direct, proximate result of these actions, [Duce] has been damaged in an amount to be proven at trial, but in any event in excess of $800,000," the complaint states. Flynn wrote about Duce's departure in a "diary entry" on MACHINE HEAD's web site by "directly attacking plaintiff's work ethic," Duce says in the complaint. "Therein, Flynn stated, inter alia, 'We may have fired Adam on 2-11-13, but Adam quit MACHINE HEAD well over a decade ago. He just never bothered to tell anyone ... but we all knew it.' Flynn went on further in the diary entry, continuing to say about plaintiff, 'No matter how un-happy [sic] or fed up he got, quitting the band would be seen as 'losing' or a 'failure.' Truth be told, he was sick of it. Sick of touring, sick of recording, sick of practicing, sick of looking at album artwork, sick of being-on-a-team-but-never-getting-the-ball, sick of yearning-for-the-honeymoon-to-resume when 20 years deep it never does. Sick of never quite hitting the big-time, sick of carving the niche ... sick of caring.'" (Ellipses in complaint.) Adam claims that Flynn's "diary entry was libelous per se in that in contained untrue statements made to third parties that tended to harm [Duce] in his reputation and occupation." Duce adds that "Flynn published this diary entry without making a reasonable effort to ascertain the truthfulness of its contents." In addition, "Flynn was not privileged to make such statements in the diary entry. As a direct, proximate result of this diary entry, [Duce] has been damaged in an amount to be proven at trial, but in any event in excess of $1,000,000."
05 min read

MACHINE HEAD’s ROBB FLYNN Says New Songs Are ‘Definitely’ Moving Band’s Sound Forward

Manos Spanos
San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD will enter the studio in February to begin recording their new album for a late summer release via the band's new label, Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Tentative songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Killers & Kings", "Beneath The Silt", "Ojos De La Muerte", "Sail Into The Black" and "Night Of The Long Knives". Speaking to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, MACHINE HEAD guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn stated about the band's new material: "It sounds like MACHINE HEAD! It's definitely moving forward, which I feel like we're probably always gonna do. "We're not a band that ever looks back. We do our thing and try to take the life experiences that we have and the musicianship that we've evolved and try to use it. Obviously, we have our sound and we have the MACHINE HEAD patented harmonics, the downtuned riffs and I sing the way I sing. "I think Bob Dylan said it best: 'You just find new ways to say the same thing.'" Speaking about some of the specific tracks and the lyrical themes covered on the new album, Flynn said: "I've got some pretty cool lyrics ready. There's a song called 'Night Of The Long Knives', and it's pretty fucked! It's about the Manson murders, and the lyrics are really dark and vicious. "We've found some new twists to give to the MACHINE HEAD sound and some new fire and excitement." Asked what the band's main aims were when they started composing music for the new CD, Flynn said: "Well, it's nice to try and have a plan, but music has a way of unravelling over time! [Laughs] You've just got to roll with it. "With [2007's] 'The Blackening', I'd love to say I had this grand vision of nine- and 10-minute songs, but the first four songs we wrote were the four shorter songs on the record. For months, there was no indication whatsoever that we'd have 10-minute songs. That stuff came later. "Human nature wants to control and dictate where things will go, but you can't. It won't let you! The more you try, the more it goes, 'Fuck you.' It's going some other way!" Regarding whether the songwriting process comes more easily after more than two decades as a band, Flynn said: "I just try and do my thing. With this record in particular, I've tried to discipline myself more with routine, writing a little bit every day, but for months I was in a riff rut. Every riff I wrote fuckin' sucked! Then we took a two-week break and I was writing my Facebook journals about the 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' [MACHINE HEAD's 2003 album] story, and that cleared my head. At the end of those two weeks, the floodgates opened and all hell of riffs poured out. I was so stoked! This torrent of riffs, this molten hot lava, was at my fingertips. It's such a good feeling." Flynn also revealed that MACHINE HEAD has "definitely got some ideas" for the artwork and imagery for the band's new album, but added: "It's weird, though, because who the fuck even buys albums anymore? "An album cover is a necessary thing but for so many people it's justa little one-and-a-half-inch square on an iPhone. "We're going to have a lot of worldwide special editions, so for the people who are still into that stuff, we'll have some next-level shit. Especially with our new label, Nuclear Blast, they can do all of that stuff. They're not afraid to do all these crazy, over-the-top special-edition things and big two-foot metal cases and all that. "I'm a super-nerd collector and that shit rules to me!" MACHINE HEAD's most recent studio release, 2011's "Unto The Locust", entered The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 22 — putting them in the Top 25 for the first time in the band's history.
04 min read