On January 15, Machine Head’s Robb Flynn and Jared MacEachern played a virtual “Electric Happy Hour” set. The performance included various Machine Head tracks as well as covers of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” Metallica’s “Master Of Puppets,” System Of A Down’s “Aerials,” and a snippet of Bryan Adams’ “Summer Of ’69.” You can watch the full show below:
Machine Head’s Robb Flynn has shared a new poem tilted “Vomitous Creatures And Cretins.” The piece was written following the treasonous pro-Trump insurrection at the United States Capitol, which occurred earlier this week.
Here’s the full poem:
“Charlatans with no morals, have brought us these sorrows, and we have no one to blame⠀
But ourselves we’ve allowed, what can only be now, called a moment of national shame⠀
With confederate piousness, standing tall on the Dias, armed gunman plunder our Congress⠀
When American flags, are replaced with Donald Trump flags, only now do they⠀
see how we’ve regressed⠀
⠀
Fiery speeches, puked by lecherous leeches, the vomitous creatures and cretins⠀
Conspiracies shouted, her truth has been routed, as liberty lays raped and beaten⠀
And we would be fool, not to call this a coup, months in the making this game⠀
Too little too late, did the tech giants wait, as the country went up into flame⠀
⠀
The police remained calm, as white men looted on, the Qanon’s who feigned so much disgust⠀
At when Kaepernick kneeled, because black boys were killed, in silent protest to the unjust
They attacked freedom‘s property, then claimed that it ought to be, OK to kill black kids for the same⠀
God forbid it was Target, that might make them a target, police trigger-fingers itching to tame⠀
⠀
Black folks died for fake $20’s, for toy guns they lost plenty, 2020 our national reckoning⠀
Now in 2021, the Maga’s have come, to the tune of Trump’s pied piper beckoning⠀
And with nary a scratch, a few cans of teargas, to the terrorist attempting a coup⠀
They looted with amnesty, to democracy’s travesty, oh to be white, in the red, WHITE, and blue”
Despite receiving some praise for the poem, it appears others have sadly decided to threaten Flynn over his frequent political posts. He said the following about that:
“Good times in my DM‘s today. Just a little taste. Listen to me… I have literally dealt with this for 30 years. Before it was in mail and hand written letters, then it was emails and message boards, now it’s DM’s and the comment section.
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Just so we’re all crystal clear… I am not going anywhere.
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I will not shut up.
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If you don’t like the things that I have to say on my personal Instagram account, Unfollow. I’m not here to please you, or give you some watered down version of what you think somebody in metal band should be.
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Don’t agree with my politics? Go ahead and Unfollow. Zero Fucks given. No one is forcing you to be here. You are free to speak your opinions here, as long as you are respectful and not spamming, and I keep a pretty long leash on what is “respectful”
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“Shut up and stick to music”? I’ll do just that… By singing songs like a “nation on fire”, “Davidian”, “clenching the Fists of Dissent”, “ in comes the flood“ and “halo”.
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And for those of you who did write this to me, consider this a warning. I purposefully left your names off of this post. This is the last time I will do that. Let there be no mistake, I will not hesitate to Dox you the fuck out.
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I’ve been a public figure for most of my adult life, I’m used to people threatening me, I had over 1000 death threats after the “racism in metal“ video. I still get death threats at least twice a week. I accept it for what it is.
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But the second people start threatening my wife and my kids, you’ve crossed the line, a line I will not ever accept.
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Don’t believe me? FUCKING BRING IT!!”
As you are probably well aware of by now, pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. earlier today (January 6) as lawmakers were counting the Electoral College votes to officially certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. A number of rock/metal musicians have since taken to social media to comment on the insurrection, which was spurred by Trump himself. You can find some of the various reactions below:
Paul Stanley (KISS):
Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine):
Mark Morton (Lamb Of God):
Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe):
Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides):
Robb Flynn (Machine Head):
Otep:
Alex Skolnick (Testament):
Noodles (The Offspring):
Ice-T (Body Count):
Tom DeLonge (ex-Blink 182):
Dino Cazares (Fear Factory):
Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves):
Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater, etc.):
Sacred Reich:
On December 18, Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn played a virtual “Acoustic Happy Hour Xmas Extravaganza” set. The performance included various Machine Head tracks as well as covers of Green Day’s “American Idiot,” Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law,” Metallica’s “The Memory Remains,” The Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Pearl Jam’s “Black,” System Of A Down’s “Aerials,” Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box,” George Michael’s “Carless Whisper,” and Alice In Chains’ “Bleed The Freak” and “Man In The Box.” You can watch the full show below:
Tim Keller, the metalhead mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, rocked a Machine Head hoodie while casting his ballot in the U.S. presidential election. The band’s frontman Robb Flynn reacted to the news on Twitter:
As previously reported, Van Halen’s Eddie Van Halen has sadly passed away following a battle with cancer. A number of rock/metal musicians have since taken to social media to pay tribute to the legendary guitarist and some of the various posts can be found below:
David Lee Roth (Van Halen):
Michael Anthony (ex-Van Halen, etc.):
Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen, etc.):
Metallica:
AC/DC:
Gene Simmons (KISS):
Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler:
Pantera:
Mark Morton (Lamb Of God):
Slash (Guns N’ Roses):
Brian May (Queen):
Scott Ian (Anthrax):
John 5 (Rob Zombie, etc.):
Zach Myers (Shinedown):
Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper, etc.):
Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, etc.):
Nickelback:
Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater, etc.):
Vernon Reid (Living Colour):
Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed):
Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, and Tommy Lee:
Alex Skolnick (Testament):
Gary Holt (Exodus, etc.):
Robb Flynn (Machine Head):
Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head, etc.):
Bret Michaels (Poison):
Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers):
Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) says he wants to team up with Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row), Robb Flynn (Machine Head), and Kirk Windstein (Crowbar) to record new vocals over the instrumentals on Metallica and Lou Reed’s collaborative album “Lulu.” He even offered to give the band a $50,000 donation for their “All Within My Hands” Foundation to make his vision a reality:
Machine Head’s Robb Flynn recently paid tribute to the late Chester Bennington by sharing footage of himself covering Linkin Park‘s “In The End“ during a live performance three years ago. You can check that out below:
During the June 26 edition of his “Acoustic Happy Hour” series, Machine Head’s Robb Flynn performed covers of Slipknot‘s “Snuff,“ “Deftones‘ “Change (In The House Of Flies),“ System Of A Down‘s “Aerials,” Dio‘s “Holy Diver,“ Staind‘s “Outside,“ and more. You can watch that set below:
During a recent appearance on Knotfest.com‘s “Mosh Talks With Beez,” Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn discussed the band’s new material. According to him, the lyrics in the new music “are pissed off as fuck.”
Flynn said the following while discussing how the ongoing anti-racist protests and the coronavirus pandemic have impacted his creativity:
“I walk around in a fury all day. I walk around in a fucking rage all day, and the lyrics that I write, and the music that I’ve been writing, all of it is very reflective of that. And even if the music isn’t super thrash or whatever you wanna call it, the lyrics are pissed off as fuck.
“As you get older in a band, the best option is to just shut your mouth and make middle-of-the-road statements that don’t really offend anybody and not really take a stand on anything as opposed to when you’re young and full of piss and vinegar and you don’t give a fuck. I think it becomes the logical choice, because why rock the boat? It’s like what happens to you when you become old — people tend to become more conservative; they don’t wanna do things that might offend people.
“I’m definitely nowhere near the middle of the road right now. I am just in a whole other place. And I’m sure I’ll lose fans because of it, at least for a little while. I think they’ll come back, and if they don’t, then thanks for listening for the time you did. But this is what I’ve gotta say, and this is where we have to go, and this is the place that MACHINE HEAD is at.”
He continued when asked if touring guitarist Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka (Decapitated) has contributed to the new material:
“I’ve co-written some stuff with Logan [Mader], and I’d love to write with Vogg too. We’re just kind of hammering out whatever we need to do. But Vogg did play a solo on one of the new songs that we’re gonna be dropping pretty soon here. And, yeah, it’s angry, and I’m stoked about the direction that it’s going. It’s heavy. It’s modern MACHINE HEAD. I would say it’s familiar to the last 10 years. It’s not ‘Burn My Eyes’; it’s still some other thing.”
He went on to say that Machine Head are not planning to release a new full-length album anytime soon:
“I’m all about dropping singles right now. I think an album will definitely show up, and some of these songs may end up on that album, but, to me, it’s all about just a constant stream of music dropping all the time.
“We’re pretty slow with albums — it’s already been two and a half years since our last album [2018’s ‘Catharsis’] — so I just don’t wanna wait another year to get music out. The music’s here, the music’s done; a lot of the lyrics that I’ve written are very much now, and they need to be heard now, in this moment.
“I do a podcast, and I can record a podcast and have it up an hour later. That’s fucking crazy to me. I can finish a song and have it up six hours later on all the fucking digital service providers. That’s fucking amazing. Never in history have we been able to do something like that. And we need to do more of that, especially with songs that are written about this moment and these times. It’s important to put ’em out now, not a year and a half from now.”
He also added the following when asked if fans can expect new music in the near future:
“Very soon. Sooner than you think.”
[via Blabbermouth]
