MACHINE HEAD

In 1992 guitarist Robert Flynn and bassist Adam Duce split from speed/thrash band Vio-lence and teamed up with Logan Mader and Tony Costanza to form MACHINE HEAD, putting out the now legendary record “Burn My Eyes.” The band has gone through a few lineup changes, making the current members Robert Flynn on guitar and vocals, Adam Duce on bass, Dave McClain on drums and the newest member, Phill Demmel, joined in 2004 and was the former lead guitarist for Vio-lence.  I got a chance to talk with Phil about The Sounds of the Underground Tour, the upcoming Lamb of God tour, and of course their new CD.


ML: I have to ask about Vio-lence, a sick speed/thrash band formed in 1985. What happened to Vio-lence?
Phil: Well…you know in the early 90’s grunge took over in the East Bay and basically all over America, and it wasn’t cool to be playing the fast and heavy music anymore.  It was definitely cooler to be slow and wear flannel and shit like that.  We still beat it to death though.  Rob had been writing other songs and Vio-lence was caught up in the middle of a “what the hell do we do now” type of deal.  Rob had other ideas and he decided to take them on his own and do that.
ML: Do you still live in the Bay Area?
Phil: Yeah, all of us do.  I live in Dublin, the town I grew up in.
ML: What are your favorite clubs here?  
Phil: Now? I like going to Slims in the city, I check out friend’s bands from time to time at Bourbon St. in Concord.  There aren’t too many clubs to go to, definitely not the scene that once was there.
ML: How do you like our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Phil: Get in the chopper!  I don’t know, I don’t really comment on politics in interviews, like my religion, my views and my faith are just things I tend to keep to myself.  I know Rob writes political lyrics and we do share a lot of the same views but if you get into religion and politics you’re going to get 4 different answers.  This new album is pretty social issue driven. All of us are against the war so there are a couple of songs about that.
ML: They haven’t sent me the new CD yet but I know it’s called “The Blackening” and it’s set to be released on March 27th. What’s the theme of the CD, what’s The Blackening?  
Phil: It’s a pretty angry album I think.  We’re carrying on with the same writing style as Through the Ashes.  We are writing for ourselves and enjoying being able to write whatever we feel like.  Lyrically, there’s a lot of dark issues going on.  I think The Blackening is kind of like the word, kind of blackening. You know, there’s a lot of f’ed up shit going on right now.  Whether it be the Middle East issue or Rob touches on some organized religion stuff.  We’ve got a song about suicide called “The Beautiful Morning.”   My favorite song on the album from a melodic standpoint is “Now I Lay Me Down,” which is a Romeo and Juliet kind of story.  A guy wants to know what it’s like to die and so the girl kills him then realizes what she’s done.  I think that this is by far the best Machine Head album yet.
ML: How did the actual recording go?  
Phil: Well, the recording went a lot longer than we anticipated. We had some problems with rigs going down, guitars going down, trouble interfacing with the Pro Tools.  It was definitely a test. A couple of times Rob even went out and had a cigarette, and he hasn’t smoked in like twelve years.  I’ve really got to hand it to Rob and Mark, who engineered and produce the CD. They really put the work in and struggled.  We recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA.


ML: We have some killer photos from the Sounds of the Underground Tour ‘06 that we are going to run with this interview.  Any good stories from that tour?
Phil: It was a great time to be out with bands like In Flames, Cannibal Corpse and Gwar.  Being out with a band like As I Lay Dying and being seen by their crowd was cool but nothing to out of hand happened.  The first night we played the Cannibal Corpse guys came over and just started roaring Vio-lence this and Vio-lence that.  We were hanging out with Jimmy Dunlop at the Dunlop van so they put on the CD and George the singer was singing every word!  We were like, holy crap!  So the Cannibal guys are definitely good drinkin’ bros.  The In Flames guys as well.  Rob went out in the pit the last night of the tour during Gwar and got all bloodied.  I loved it; killer catering every day and playing The Shoreline was very cool.  The Mountain View show was the best we’ve played in our hometown since I’ve been in the band.

ML: What’s the hardest part about touring in Europe?
Phil: Missing the conveniences of America.  You can’t just stop at a truck stop at 2:00 am and go and get red-hot burrito and a Slurpee.  But we are more popular in Europe so the accommodations are nicer over there.  Of course, being away from home is hard. My son Jaden was born about 6 months ago, so being away from him on this up-coming tour in America will be hard.

ML: Machine Head will be joining Lamb of God, and Trivium on the Sacrament Tour starting Feb. 16th.  What songs will you be playing?  
Phil: We never divulge the set list, you got to keep ‘em guessing.  We’ll probably mix in a new one here and there in support of the new CD.  It’ll be a heavy set playing with Lamb of God and all.  They are my favorite metal band at the moment.  We did three shows with them and Devil Driver at the beginning of our last States run in ‘05.  Trivium opened up for us on our Road Rage tour back in ‘04 and have blown up since then; now we are opening up for them.  

ML: Any late breaking news in the Machine Head camp?
Phil: Rob had a son on Sunday the 14th.  We will shoot 2 videos for the new CD.