Category Archives: Machine Head

Machine Head’s Robb Flynn Says Exodus And Testament Should Have Been Included On Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Metal Songs Of All Time” List

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Machine Head’s Robb Flynn has taken some time to comment on Rolling Stone’s recent “100 Greatest Metal Songs Of All Time” list. The frontman thanked the publication for including “Davidian,” while also questioning their decision to leave out Exodus and Testament.

Flynn issued the following statement:

“I’d like to personally thank Rolling Stone for the inclusion of “Davidian,“ from Machine Head’s 1994 debut album ‘Burn My Eyes’ in their Top 100 Greatest Heavy-Metal Songs of All Time. It was a rare and delightful compliment from a magazine that has largely paid us no mind for the last 29 years.

Once the surprise of being mentioned subsided, I decided to go through all “100 Songs.” Sure, there are many, many questionable choices on the list, but there are two glaring omissions I HAVE to mention.

No Exodus?
No Testament?

Bay Area Thrash Metal is still an extremely vital and powerful force in music, and it wasn’t just Metallica that brought it to the World. Upon formation, Exodus were literally the most exciting band around.

Crafting timeless songs like “Bonded By Blood,” “A Lesson In Violence,” or their own ‘pit anthem’ – “The Toxic Waltz”, all deserve similar honors on such a list. When I was a teenager growing up in the Bay Area, I cannot express how important and influential Exodus and guitarist Gary Holt were and remain. Without Gary, there is no Robb Flynn. Without Exodus, there is no Machine Head.

And when it comes to Testament? The word that continues to flash before my eyes is ‘impact.’ I can assure you that every single Rock/Metal guitar player on the face of the planet’s collective jaws hit the floor when they heard Alex Skolnick play.

His adding of classical arpeggio sweeps into songs like “Over The Wall,” and “Disciples Of The Watch,” was game changing. Soon everybody from Kirk Hammett of Metallica to Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest was doing it. The commanding bellow of singer Chuck Billy was an absolute precursor to the Death and Black Metal vocal that would soon follow and continue until this day. That’s undeniable impact.

Again, we are humbled, honored, and grateful for our welcome into your ‘Top 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time’. Lastly, on behalf of the Heavy Metal community, thank you for representing our genre in your publication.

– Robb Flynn (Machine Head)”

Machine Head Announce Spring U.S. Tour

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Machine Head have announced a headlining U.S. tour. The band will be touring in support of their latest album “Of Kingdøm And Crøwn.”

Tour Dates:

05/15 Ventura, CA – Majestic Ventura Theatre
05/17 Reno, NV – Virginia St Brewhouse
05/19 Billings, MT – Pub Station
05/21 Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s
05/22 Hobart, IN – The Art Theater
05/24 Chattanooga, TN – The Signal
05/25 Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom
05/27 Ft. Wayne, IN – Piere’s
05/28 Milwaukee, WI – Milwaukee Metal Fest
05/30 Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation
05/31 Pittsburgh, PA – Spiral Hall
06/01 Detroit, MI – Majestic
06/03 Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck
06/04 Omaha, NE – Slowdown
06/06 Denver, CO – Summit
06/07 Grand Junction, CO – Mesa Theater
06/08 Flagstaff, AZ – Orpheum Theater
06/09 Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco

Robb Flynn commented:

“Really stoked to be heading out in America again, the last tour had so many moments that were so strong and just beyond life affirming!

It makes me super proud that we have stayed the path playing these intimate venues doing 2 and 1/2 to 3 hour ‘Evening With-style shows’ for the last 8 years. These shows are incredibly rewarding for us as musicians and to people who come out to just go fucking nuts with us. Eight years ago the idea was to provide OUR PEOPLE with an experience no other metal band was/is doing right now, and somehow this crazy idea stuck!

Me personally… I’m getting really bored of going to see a band headline for 1 hour and 5 minutes, or trudge 50 miles down to the amphitheater to pay $40 for parking and $15 bucks for beer to see a show, so being able to offer something unique in this day and age feels really good.

We’re especially looking forward to the EHH format with Sir Vogg joining us on this upcoming tour. In reality, I see it becoming even a bit more free-form, you might get 5 songs off of ‘The Blackening,’ you might get 5 songs off of ‘Burn My Eyes,’ you might get 5 cover songs! The setlist has changed a little from day to day, and the beer always flows, so come down a bang with us for Electric Happy Hour (Live)!”

Watch Machine Head Cover Life Of Agony’s “This Time” Live With Joey Z

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During their November 29, 2022 show at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, NY, Machine Head were joined onstage by Life Of Agony’s Joey Z for a cover of “This Time.” You can see footage of that below:

[via Blabbermouth]

Machine Head Recruit Havok’s Reece Alan Scruggs For U.S. Tour

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Machine Head have recruited Havok‘s Reece Alan Scruggs to play guitar on their current U.S. tour. He is filling in for Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka, who is siting out the trek due to his commitments to Decapitated. Fan-filmed footage of the band performing a cover of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” with Scruggs in Fresno, CA can be found below:

Robb Flynn Says Machine Head Tried To Record Their New Album With Logan Mader And Chris Kontos

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During a recent interview with Rock Hard Greece, Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn revealed that the band almost recorded their new album with guitarist Logan Mader and drummer Chris Kontos. However, things didn’t end up working out due to the pandemic.

Flynn said the following:

“I did. And we tried to do that. Logan actually has a co-write on [the song] ‘My Hands Are Empty’ [which appears on ‘Of Kingdom And Crown’]. And we tried. I sent everybody the demos [for the new album]. The stuff that I had till that point, I said, ‘Hey, add some riffs to this’ or ‘Add some drum ideas.’

I think the timing of it was just crazy. Once the pandemic hit, everybody was just trying to hustle and make money and live and stay afloat. Even Logan and I had a conversation at one point. He was, like, ‘Dude, I’d love to do this, but I need to fucking find a way to pay my rent. I’ve gotta figure out some other shit to make money here.’ ‘Cause he lost a lot of… When the pandemic hit, many people lost their jobs.

So it just, unfortunately, didn’t pan out. Not to say that it won’t in the future, but for this time it didn’t. And so Jared and I just kept on plugging along.”

[via Blabbermouth]

Machine Head Announce U.S. Tour

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Machine Head have announced a headlining U.S. tour. The band will be touring in support of their latest album “ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN.”

Tour Dates:

11/03 Fresno, CA – Fulton 55
11/06 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
11/08 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
11/10 Boise, ID – Revolution
11/12 Casper, WY – The Gaslight Social
11/13 Colorado Springs, CO – Black Sheep
11/15 Minot, ND – The Original
11/16 Fargo, ND – The Hall at Fargo Brewing
11/18 Sioux Falls, SD – Bigs Bar
11/19 Lincoln, NE – Royal Grove
11/20 Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom
11/21 St. Louis, MO – Red Flag
11/22 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
11/23 Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe @ Old National Center
11/25 Joliet, IL – The Forge
11/26 Flint, MI – Machine Shop
11/27 Columbus, OH – A&R Music Bar
11/28 Cincinnati, OH – Legends
11/30 Huntington, NY – The Paramount
12/01 Portland, ME – Portland House Of Music
12/02 Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony
12/03 Reading, PA – Reverb
12/04 Baltimore, MD – Soundstage
12/06 Virginia Beach, VA – Elevation 27
12/07 Huntington, WV – The Loud
12/08 Charlotte, NC – Underground
12/09 Nashville, TN – Eastside Bowl
12/10 Charleston, SC – Music Farm
12/12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room
12/13 Tampa, FL – Orpheum
12/15 Little Rock, AR – The Hall
12/16 Oklahoma City, OK – Whiskey Nights
12/17 Wichita, KS – Wave
12/18 Dallas, TX – Amplified Live Inside Stage
12/20 Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
12/21 Tucson, AZ – The Rock
12/22 San Diego, CA – HOB
12/23 Sacramento, CA – Ace Of Spades

Robb Flynn commented:

“Were fucking STOKED to get out and demolish venues in some of our favorite small towns in America. We have had an awesome and productive pandemic break writing our new album ‘ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN,’ but now it’s time for Machine Head to go melt some faces!!

The reaction to our ‘Electric Happy Hour (Live)’ shows in Scotland so far are nothing short of incredible, so for this first leg of this U.S. run we will continue and will see us performing solo for 2 ½ to 3 hours a night. We LOVED performing our online shows which we dubbed Electric Happy Hour for you Head Cases over the pandemic, the loose, beer-drenched and unscripted setlist, the deep-cuts, the random cover songs, it gave us the freedom to do whatever the fuck we wanted for as long as we wanted every night was liberating.

It’s not what everyone else is doing, and frankly, there are not a lot of bands who could even pull it off, but Machine Head CAN pull it off, and we are excited as fuck to do it again. We are carving our own path here, playing by our own rules, and as an artist, it’s the best feeling in the world, so come down and rage!!”

Machine Head Premiere “NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS” Music Video

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Machine Head have premiered a new video for their new song “NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS.” This track is from the band’s newly released album “ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN.” Robb Flynn commented:

“We’re really proud of the video for ‘NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS.‘ It was an incredible collaboration between three different creative teams working across two different continents. Our director/editor Mike Sloat (Machine Head, Testament) teamed up with the amazing Grupa 13 (Behemoth, Amon Amarth) and then the stunning 3-D CGI came from Phil Radford AKA MayaGuy of Strangebox. The track was masterfully mixed by long-time Machine Head collaborator Colin Richardson and his engineer Chris Clancy. This is a really special song from the album.”

Machine Head Share Behind-The-Scenes Footage From Surprise Bloodstock Open Air Performance

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Machine Head have shared a behind-the-scenes look at their surprise performance during this year’s Bloodstock Open Air festival in Walton-on-Trent, UK. You can check that out below. Notably, guitarist Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka was unable to make the set due to his commitments to Decapitated.

Machine Head Celebrate 28th Anniversary Of “Burn My Eyes” With Full Album Playthrough

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Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn and bassist Jared MacEachern recently celebrated the 28th anniversary of “Burn My Eyes” by performing it in full during a livestream with drummer Chris Kontos. The set, which also included various covers, can be found below:

Machine Head’s Robb Flynn Reunites With Ahrue Luster For “The Burning Red” Album Playthrough

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Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn and the band’s former guitarist Ahrue Luster recently reunited for a playthrough of their 1999 album “The Burning Red.” The set also included select songs from their 2001 album “Supercharger” and some covers. Notably, bassist Jared MacEachern was unable to attend the playthrough due to a positive COVID-19 test. Despite this, he still recorded his parts from home.