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Machine Head Offer Update From The Studio

9th March 2014

Machine Head‘s Robb Flynn has given an update regarding the bands current time in the studio recording their next full length. The update was given via the bands Facebook page along with the accompanying photo:

“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 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 god damned 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 2nd to last day of rehearsals McClain and I deconstructed “Blazing Saddles”, and then reconstructed it into a far simpler structure, and its fuckin rockin’! Less of a Slayer/Slipknot vibe, and more of a “Screaming For Vengeance“-eraJudas 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”.”

Machine Head Set To Enter Studio

6th February 2014

Machine Head have announced they will be heading to the studio next week to begin the recording process for their new album. Band guitarist Phil Demmel had the following to say:

“Countdown: 4 days until load-in to record #8.Most excited I’ve been before an album session since my first, 26 years ago.Lots of work to do!”

Second Trailer Released For “Ending Is The Beginning: The Mitch Lucker Memorial Show”

23rd December 2013

A second trailer has been released for the upcoming “Ending Is The Beginning: The Mitch Lucker Memorial Show” Blu-ray/CD and CD/DVD. For further details regarding the release check out this location. The Blu-ray/CD and CD/DVD will be released on February 18th (United States) and March 17th (Worldwide) with pre-orders Stated to begin on December 25.

Machine Head Streaming Unreleased Live Covers

18th December 2013

Machine Head have released previously unreleased live cover tracks including Sepultura‘s “Territory“, Pantera‘s “A New Level” and “Walk“, Metallica‘s “Seek And Destroy” and Iron Maiden‘s “The Trooper“. All four of the performances were captured during the bands December 05 2004 set for their “Elegies” live DVD however never made the final cut. Band front man Robb Flynn has released the following regarding the tracks:

“As promised, I dug up some rarities from “The Flynn Vault”.

When we shot the “Elegies” DVD on December 5th, 2004, as was pretty standard on that particular tour cycle we did a bunch of cover songs near the end of the set. It was usually an indication that we were having fun. It was also a cool way to pay homage to the bands that inspired us without having to be too serious the entire night.

For various reasons we removed these from the final version of the DVD, but the “audio” was still mixed, just to have I suppose. So needless to say, I have been sitting on them for about 8 years. These have never been heard before until now, though I’m sure if you caught us on this tour cycle it will bring back some good memories. These are for our people, the Head Cases to enjoy!

These covers are “LOOSE” if ya know what I’m sayin? We were well lubricated by this point on that particular night, and as such, did A LOT of covers. This show was a blast.

So without further adieu, here is an early Christmas present to all you Head Cases out there, “Headbang Motherfucker!!”

“Ending Is The Beginning: The Mitch Lucker Memorial Show” Blu-ray/CD and CD/DVD Details Announced

17th December 2013

Suicide Silence have released details regarding the release of “Ending Is The Beginning: The Mitch Lucker Memorial Show”. The Blu-ray/CD and CD/DVD will be released on February 18th (United States) and March 17th (Worldwide). Proceeds from the release will go towards the education fund of Lucker‘s daughter, Kenadee.

The track listing for “Ending Is The Beginning: The Mitch Lucker Memorial Show” will run as follows. A trailer for the release is also available below:

01 – “Destruction Of A Statue” (feat. Jonny Davy of Job For A Cowboy)
02 – “Distorted Thought Of Addiction” (feat. Greg Wilburn of The Devastated)
03 – “Ending Is The Beginning” (feat. Brook Reeves of Impending Doom)
04 – “Bludgeoned To Death” (feat. Ricky Hoover, formerly of Suffokate)
05 – “Unanswered” (feat. Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel)
06 – “Girl Of Glass” (feat. Myke Terry, formerly of Bury Your Dead)
07 – “Price Of Beauty” (feat. Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria)
08 – “No Pity For A Coward” (feat. Johnny Plague of Winds Of Plague)
09 – “Disengage” (feat. Cameron “Big Chocolate” Argon of Disfiguring The Goddess)
10 – “No Time To Bleed” (feat. Burke Vanraalte, formerly of With Dead Hands Rising)
11 – “Smoke” (feat. Anthony Notarmaso of After The Burial)
12 – “Wake Up” (feat. Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying)
13 – “March Of The Black Crown“
14 – “Slaves To Substance” (feat. Eddie Hermida, formerly of All Shall Perish, now of Suicide Silence)
15 – “OCD” (feat. Austin Carlile of Of Mice & Men)
16 – “Fuck Everything” (feat. Chad Gray of HELLYEAH/Mudvayne)
17 – “Die Young” (feat. Robb Flynn of Machine Head)
18 – “Roots Bloody Roots” (feat. Max Cavalera of Soulfly, etc.)
19 – “Engine #9” (Deftones cover) (feat. Mitch Lucker through the PA)
20 – “You Only Live Once” (feat. Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God)

Roadrunner Records To Release Four-Disc Box Set

15th August 2013

To celebrate 30 years in the business, Roadrunner Records will be released a four-disc box set titled “XXX: Three Decades Of Roadrunner Records”. The first three discs of the 54-track collection will focus on a certain time period of the label. The fourth will showcase the labels hard rock signings over the years.

Disc 1 (“Foundations“):
01 – Mercyful Fate – “Evil“
02 – Whiplash – “Power Thrashing Death“
03 – King Diamond – “Abigail“
04 – Carnivore – “Carnivore“
05 – Obituary – “Slowly We Rot“
06 – Annihilator – “Alison Hell“
07 – Deicide – “Sacrificial Suicide“
08 – Suffocation – “Infecting The Crypts“
09 – Biohazard – “Punishment“
10 – Type O Negative – “Christian Woman“
11 – Brujeria – “Matando Güeros“
12 – Cynic – “Veil of Maya“
13 – Life of Agony – “Through and Through“
14 – Treponem Pal – “Excess and Overdrive“

Disc 2 (“Horns Up“):
01 – Nailbomb – “Wasting Away“
02 – Machine Head – “Imperium“
03 – Dog Eat Dog – “No Fronts” (Jam Master Jay’s Main Edit)”
04 – Death – “Crystal Mountain“
05 – Sepultura – “Roots Bloody Roots“
06 – Coal Chamber – “Loco“
07 – Soulfly – “Eye For an Ey“”
08 – Fear Factory – “Shock“
09 – Slipknot – “Spit It Out“
10 – Spineshank – “New Disease“
11 – Chimaira – “Pure Hatred“
12 – 36 Crazyfists – “Bloodwork“
13 – Ill Niño – “What Comes Around“

Disc 3 (“And Metal For All“):
01 – Killswitch Engage – “My Last Serenade“
02 – Trivium – “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr“
03 – DevilDriver – “I Could Care Less“
04 – Cradle of Filth – “Nymphetamine Fix“
05 – Hatebreed – “Destroy Everything“
06 – Cavalera Conspiracy – “Inflikted“
08 – Roadrunner United – “The Dagger“
09 – Porcupine Tree – “Fear of a Blank Planet“
10 – Dream Theater – “On the Backs of Angels“
11 – Opeth – “Heir Apparent“
12 – Megadeth – “Head Crusher“
13 – Down – “Witchtripper“
14 – Heaven & Hell – “Bible Black“
15 – Gojira – “L’enfant Sauvage“

Disc 4 (“Rock For The Ages“):
01 – Nickelback – “Side of a Bullet“
02 – Jerry Cantrell – “Anger Rising“
03 – Stone Sour – “30/30-150“
04 – Karma to Burn – “Ma Petite Mort“
05 – Glassjaw – “Pretty Lush“
06 – The Dresden Dolls – “Girl Anachronism“
07 – Airbourne – “No One Fits Me (Better Than You)“
08 – Murderdolls – “Dead in Hollywood“
09 – Theory of a Deadman – “Bad Girlfriend“
10 – Black Stone Cherry – “Lonely Train“
11 – Korn – “Get Up!” (feat. Skrillex)
12 – Rush – “Headlong Flight“
13 – Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Still Unbroken“

XXX: Three Decades Of Roadrunner Records

Machine Head Announce New Bassist

25th June 2013

Machine Head have announced their new bass player as Jared MacEachern (ex-Sanctity) who replaces Adam Duce, who was let go from the band earlier this year. The official statement on the matter can be found below.

“It is with great pride and excitement that Machine Head announce Jared MacEachern as their new bass player. Jared has already begun rehearsals for the upcoming Rockstar Mayhem U.S. summer festival tour and will soon relocate from North Carolina to Northern California to begin pre-production for Machine Head‘s upcoming 8th studio release.

Some fans might remember MacEachern from 2007′s The Black Tyranny Tour, playing with his previous band Sanctity. Machine Head, challenged to find a fill-in bass player for the North American tour after an injury sidelined their then-4-stringer, also found themselves in need of someone to sing harmony with singer/guitarist Robb Flynn. Flynn remembers, “We had locked in Brandon Sigmund of local boysHostility to play bass on that tour, but we soon realized we’d need someone to hit the high harmonies.

Our A&R guy Monte Conner recommended Jared since he was already on the tour, and that ended up being a great call. Jared flew out a few days before the tour and rehearsed with us and did great. What was most impressive about the whole thing was that he was doing double duty – opening for Machine Head with his band at the timeSanctity, and then later singing with us. He would stay sober until after our set, and often get in the van and drive all night. His seriousness and dedication was awesome to see and it stuck with us”.

Earlier this year, Machine Head conducted an extensive search for candidates through various channels, the most fruitful of which proved to be video submissions. Sifting through more than 400 videos, the band personally reviewed and evaluated everyone’s performances, including MacEachern, who made the short list without a second thought. Lead guitarist Phil Demmel recalls, “There were dozens of amazing players, and it was interesting to watch each one take on our tunes. One of our biggest criteria for this gig was to be able to sing the high harmonies. That was our litmus test. And Jared passed with flying colors.”

After reviewing all of the submissions, the band narrowed down the 400+ candidates to a short list of 7, each of whom took a trip to Oakland to perform a handful of songs in person and spend the day hanging with the band. Remembers Drummer Dave McClain, “Jared came in to the audition and just killed it! Besides being able to nail the bass and vocal harmonies, he also had the vibe and personality to make it feel like we were a BAND again. It was a great feeling and we all knew he was the guy.”

MacEachern first picked up concert bass at 12 and around the same time, discovered metal. Jared recalls, “I heard the song ‘Unforgiven‘ and really liked it. The next day my friend gave me ‘Kill ‘Em All‘ and it was over. I became completely enamored with all the metal bands of that time; Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Pantera, but when it came to bass, it was all about Cliff Burton, he was, and is my dude.” With a brief stint at the Brevard School for Music Performance, Jared has consistently played bass for the past 22 years, most notably in Sanctity, where oddly enough, the band needed a guitar player. “That was purely out of necessity” he explains, “I’d been a bass player, but that gig opened up and I gave it a shot on the 6-stringer.”

After extensive global touring with Sanctity and the birth of his daughter in 2007, the band’s release from their label ignited Jared‘s sense of responsibility and he quit the band to focus on her. But music stayed a part of his life and he continued to jam locally throughout the south with death metal bands From A Dig and Telic, until he saw Machine Head were in need and thought he’d try out.

Frontman Robb Flynn reflects, “We really wanted a guy that was hungry for this, someone who could live and breathe this with us. Dave would joke around that we didn’t want to get someone too green that’d be like ‘oh my god, is this a dressing room?!’, but we also didn’t want someone who was too jaded by the whole thing and ‘been there done that’. We thought the perfect guy would be someone who’d paid some dues, who had done 9 or 10 crummy van tours, and wasn’t broken by that, but inspired to keep going and play music, and in many ways that was Jared. I mean hell, the guy’s only rode in a bus for two nights, one of which was with us! It brings a really cool level of appreciation to the table, and it shows where his heart’s at.”

Jared enthuses, “I’m ready to get to work! This tour is going to kick ass and the new tunes are heavy as shit! I’m SO looking forward to making good music with good dudes!”

Machine Head Album Progress

29th March 2013

Machine Head front man Robb Flynn has release a comment regarding the band’s upcoming album. Check out what he had to say below:

“We’ve been really productive writing-wise. As of last night we have 4 songs pretty much done musically, another 5 jams / half songs. The song we finished last night felt like it could be something really special. Phil has been on a riff roll, bringing some really unique sounding riffage and Dave McClain (our secret weapon) has brought some damn cool riffs to the table as well.”

Machine Head Fire Bassist

27th February 2013

Machine Head vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn has revealed that bassist Adam Duce was fired from the band. Flynn had the following to say:

“As much as I do not want to write this journal, I promised you I’d write them “at least once a week”. Good, bad, happy or sad… so this is what has to be done. 2-11-13. That is the date we fired Adam Duce. That is the day that I had to tell Adam that after 21 years of being in a band together, I just couldn’t take it anymore.

That is the day I said “My hope is that this can be amicable.” The words sounded like someone else had spoken them. It was like being outside of my body watching someone else deliver these painful words. But, it was me saying it. And we all said it.

We had our say sitting in our jam room in Oakland. Dave said it. Joseph (our manager) said it. Phil said it. We all said that we couldn’t take being in a band with him anymore. That if this didn’t happen, we were going to break up the band. It was hard. One of the hardest moments of my life. It was also a long time coming. 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.

Contrary to popular belief, being in a band is tough. Really fucking tough. It’s the toughest sonofabitch you’ll ever come across in your life and it will beat the living shit out of you 80% of the time. Many times it feels like one big rollercoaster, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. There are wins and losses seemingly every single day. Being in a band is one of life’s strangest gambles.

But when you do win, when you win that 20%, well… it truly is salvation. It’s what makes eating the other 80% of that shit-sandwich bearable. It’s where “those” stories come from. It can be the best job you’ll ever have and unquestionably one of the hardest you’ll ever have. But until you’ve done it for 20+ years, you have no clue. Until you’ve held a band together for 20+ years, you really don’t know jack shit about it.

You think you do.

You don’t.

A band is a dysfunctional family. A brotherhood, a family business, and a renaissance-era-court. You’re room-mates in studio-apartment-on-wheels for years-at-a-time, 24-hours-a-day. Plus you’re in the pressure cooker of the spotlight, every move analyzed, read into, or attacked. Everybody wants something from you, everybody wants to be your friend, everybody loves you, everybody can do so-much-better-for-you-than-the-people-you-have-now. Some people try and turn you against each other, and everyone wants to take credit for your success.

Often time you’re enemies. At odds and fighting about something, but “pretending” everything is “fine” onstage.

But it isn’t…

You just wear a mask that looks like it’s fine, and after 20 years, we know that mask so well, it slides on way too fuckin’ easy.

Adam hasn’t been happy in this band for a long time. But how do you leave? To a guy like Adam everything is either winning or losing. A stunning victory or the ultimate failure. There was no in-between. And while that sounds great for a TV show or an interview-sound-bite, or even a John Wayne movie that wraps up in 90 minutes… life just isn’t like that.

And life certainly isn’t like that for a band like Machine Head. A band who operate in the upper-middle-tier. For us, there are no stunning victories, only respectable wins. No ultimate failures, just better-luck-next-times. We carved a niche, we OWN that niche, but it’s still just a niche. Nothing wrong with that.

No matter how un-happy 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.

I don’t blame him. It’s hard to keep the passion.

But he just wouldn’t quit.

We wanted him to quit. We were hoping he would quit, “guys, my heart isn’t in this anymore, it was a good run, later dayz”. We didn’t want it to come to this…

But he wouldn’t.

I didn’t feel anything as I drove away from the jam room that night. When I awoke the next morning I didn’t feel anything either. I wasn’t “numb,” I still “felt”, was just kinda blank. But three days after the meeting, an argument broke out in the jam room about how conflicted I felt about it. Then I cried.

I cried and cried.

I’ve cried every day since. I’ve been an emotional wreck. I cried writing this. I was sick the day that we announced it (11 days and 2 General Journals after actually doing it), walking around about to vomit for hours.

I met with him for a couple hours last Wednesday, met with him yesterday. It’s civil.

I don’t know what else to say.

I don’t have some inspirational quote to end with here. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you everything is gonna be all right, or that’s it gonna be the same. At this moment I can’t even bring myself to say that it’s going to be better.

Why?

Because it sucks.

It fucking sucks.

It sucks for everyone who tried to save this.

It sucks more than you can imagine…

It’s a horrible relief.”

Biggest Names In Metal Auction Items For The Daughter Of Late Suicide Silence Vocalist

22nd November 2012

Items from some of the biggest names in metal including Slayer, Trivium, Slipknot and Machine Head are being auctioned off in support of the daughter of late Suicide Silence vocalist Mitch Lucker. The auction will run from this Friday, November 23rd through to Monday, December 3rd. For more details on the items up for grabs check out unitetheunited.com.
Donations towards her education fund can be directly given through suicidesilence.net.

Machine Head

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