Machine Head’s “Burn My Eyes” 25th anniversary lineup, Robb Flynn, Logan Mader, Chris Kontos, and Jared MacEachern, recently re-recorded the album at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA and have now shared a live in-studio performance of “Davidian.” You can check that out below. As previously reported, the group will be kicking off the first leg of their 25th anniversary tour in October.
As previously reported, Machine Head will be reuniting with Logan Mader and Chris Kontos for a special “Burn My Eyes” 25th anniversary tour. Now, during a recent interview with Kerrang!, frontman Robb Flynn revealed that the band have actually re-recorded the effort as well.
Flynn said the following:
“This ‘Burn My Eyes” tour is happening, but it’s still six months away. As Kerrang! have speculated, we are recording new music. We are getting to release new music. In fact, the line-up that’ll be going out on tour have actually gone and re-recorded ‘Burn My Eyes‘ live in the studio. We plan on dripping that out song-by-song. It’ll probably be digital-only – just something cool to help celebrate.
We filmed ourselves doing it so there’ll probably be some play-through videos, too. It’s so cool seeing us playing those songs again for the first time, like, ‘How does that riff go?’ or, ‘What was that lyric again?’ There are mistakes, but we just left them in. It was just part of this really special, fun, positive moment.”
As previously reported, Machine Head will be reuniting with Logan Mader and Chris Kontos for a special “Burn My Eyes” 25th anniversary tour. Now, the group have also shared a roundtable discussion on the album, which you can check out below. Here’s a description of the clip:
“Chris, Logan, Robb, and Jared sit down with Metal Hammer journalist-extraordinaire Dom Lawson and listen to ‘Burn My Eyes’ for the first time in over 2 decades. This often hilarious conversation sees them trying to remember where they wrote songs, discussing how they got together back in 1992, the mind-bogglingly bad original lyric for “let freedom ring”, and the time they set off the smoke alarms in the Fantasy recording studio from smoking so much weed.”
Robb Flynn shared a new video on his Instagram story saying Machine Head are currently in the studio working on some “new heaviness.” The clip has since been shared on a fan page and can be seen below. As of right now, Flynn and Jared MacEachern are the only remaining members of the band. It is still unknown who will be replacing former members Phil Demmel and Dave McClain.
During a recent interview on the “Talk Toomey” podcast, Phil Demmel opened up about his departure from Machine Head. The guitarist says the band got to a point where “it just became a Robb Flynn solo project, and that isn’t what [he] signed up for.”
Demmel said the following:
“I’m not gonna badmouth the breakup or [Robb]. I think he’s an amazing musician, and the times I had in Machine Head were awesome. The last few years just weren’t. We just didn’t work as people anymore.
I think [Robb] strayed from the path of being a band. He stayed on his path. Instead of us being on the same path or asking to be on the same path, it just became, ‘This is what we’re doing.'”
Demmel also said he “hates” the band’s latest album “Catharsis“:
“I hate the last record. There’s moments of what I wrote that I like. I wrote most of the music to ‘California Bleeding‘, but then he [Robb] wrote the lyrics on top of it that I just wish that… Me and Dave talk about it, like, ‘Fuck! I wish I could take my riffs back.’ [Laughs] ‘No, that isn’t what we want them used for.’
So, I think, in that sense, it just became a Robb Flynn solo project, and that isn’t what I signed up for. And the last few years were basically collecting a paycheck. And I just couldn’t do that. The stress and all the talks and all the ‘can’t do this,’ ‘don’t do that,’ ‘don’t do this,’ ‘don’t stand there,’ ‘don’t say this,’ ‘don’t sing the words to the audience,’ don’t point.’”
For his part, Flynn basically said they had “grown apart” and that he “held on too tight to the reins of this band,” suffocating the other guys in the process. Demmel was also asked about that statement and whether or not the frontman told him that directly. He responded with the following:
“The way I remember it, the final talk that we kind of had… I don’t wanna speak out of turn here, so I’m gonna choose my words pretty carefully. I think that—personally; I only speak for me—I think that Robb was just as done with me as I was with him. I think it was, like, ‘Maybe we can go to therapy,’ but it was kind of things that are just being said just to, like, ‘Hey, we both know this is over.’ I think I kind of did him a favor by not having him have to fire me. I think that he believed what he said. And he knows what’s happening, but it’s just the way that he’s running things now. And so, it just didn’t work anymore.”
He went on to discuss the final tour after being asked if it was awkward:
“…I wasn’t gonna do the [last] tour. I was hoping that they’d get somebody to replace me. And then Dave said, ‘Well, I’m not gonna do the tour unless you do the tour.’ So, if Dave left, then the tour [would have been] canceled. So we just kind of agreed to, ‘We’ll honor the tour [and] be done.’ The last tour, [it was] totally awkward. Me and Robb [weren’t] talking. It [wasn’t] mean, but there [was] no talking. Onstage, it [was] kind of forced.
I’m sitting here now just kind of processing everything that has happened, and I think that there is still some… I don’t wanna say ‘bitterness,’ but just… I don’t know if I’ve been able to really process the way everything has ended and gone.”
The guitarist also said he is sure Flynn will move forward with a new lineup:
“There was never a doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t [carry on]. Especially in my position — I think that the guitar position for that band would just be a plug-and-play situation. I contributed heavily to the material. But in the end, Robb wants to do what he’s gonna do, so I don’t know how much that would be a factor. The records that I contributed to — five records; well, actually four — I’m not gonna count the last one. ‘The Blackening’, ‘[Unto The] Locust’… Those records would look entirely different without my contributions.
I think losing Dave McClain is a huge, huge blow. I think that he was such a part of that process, and finding somebody is not gonna be easy. But there’s never been a doubt in my mind that [Robb will] find two people to probably just be hired guns. I don’t think that he wants to take on the headache of the corporation and all that. This is what he’s good at. He’s an amazing musician. He’s great with notes and note selection and melodies and layering stuff. And he’s got Jared [MacEachern, bass] with him, who’s fucking… I think he was the best musician when I was in the band. The guy is classically trained and knows theory and can sing his ass off and can play.”
Despite all this, Demmel doesn’t regret his time in the band:
“I look back at my time in the band and I’m really proud of everything that we’ve done. I helped take this band from its lowest point to its highest point. We wrote some amazing records, played some amazing shows. So I’m trying to reflect on all the positive stuff. And just being free now of… So much was held back towards the end—in the past couple of years, three or four years—and just being stress-free is what I’m kind of focusing on now. Just focus on all the positive stuff that we’ve done and move forward with all the fun stuff that’s happening now.”
This news comes after Demmel previously said Flynn was not approached about participating in Vio-lence’s reunion shows, which are set to take place on April 13-14 at the Oakland Metro in Oakland, CA. Those shows will reportedly be followed by another to be announced date overseas.
[via Blabbermouth]
Robb Flynn (Machine Head) has shared a behind the scenes video from the “Stars To The Rescue XXVIII” fundraiser. That event took place on January 26 at the Lesher Center For The Arts in Walnut Creek, CA and it found Flynn performing with Craig Locicero (Dress The Dead, ex-Forbidden), Andy Galeon (ex-Death Angel), Harald O. (ex-D.R.I.), and Kayla Dixon (Dress The Dead, Witch Mountain). Proceeds from the fundraiser went towards Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation.
As previously reported, Vio-lence will be reuniting for two shows at The Metro in Oakland, CA on April 13-14. However, Machine Head’s Robb Flynn will not be taking part in the reunion. Decibel recently asked Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head) about Flynn’s absence and he responded by saying Flynn wasn’t even approached about participating.
Demmel said the following:
“Ray Vegas will be playing on guitar. We actually didn’t even approach Robb to do this. He’s always really worked pretty hard to not talk about Vio-lence or include Vio-lence in the past and this is something that, especially fresh off the Machine Head exit—yeah, he wasn’t approached.
This is something we’re doing without him; when we closed Vio-lence back in 2003 when I joined Machine Head, I was actually gonna write a Vio-lence record and shortly after I joined Machine Head, I was told that I couldn’t do that.
So Robb, he played in that last show and even his involvement in that last Vio-lence show back in 2003 was kinda… there are some memories from all of us about him being involved and playing the benefit with Sean that was something special and he got to sing. We will do like we have done before, move on, without him.”
He also added the following when asked about the future of the band:
“Future Vio-lence performances [laughs]. I’m really surprised, some other people aren’t surprised, but starting to get some offers for some Euro festivals and the rumors are abound, like, “Oh, Vio-lence is rumored to be on tour with Overkill!” and all this.
There’s no tour involved. There’s guys in the band that work and have families and need to be at home, so we’ll assess all of that and see who can do what. Euro festivals and American festivals have no formal offers, but have inquired to see what we’re doing. I think we just need to get through these first two shows and prove to ourselves that we can do it and also prove to everybody else, see if we have a product and if the quality is there and if we’re able to pull it off.
Not closing the door on anything. I really never thought that this would happen, you know? I’ve had some peers say “Hey, you should do some Vio-lence shows, we’ll get some other dudes to sing,” and first of all, I never thought anybody really cared outside the Bay Area outside the band anyways. It’s pretty awesome. The outpouring of support and everything, we’ll see. People, if they wanna see it, then we’ll see. We couldn’t do Vio-lence without Sean, there’s no Vio-lence without Sean Killian. He’s the one ingredient that needs to be there.
I am very, very happy that my friend is healthy, first and foremost, and getting to jam with him again, that’s just a plus. I am hoping that everybody will enjoy this gift of—he had a liver transplant, the dude was on death’s door and here he is, wanting to play. It’s not just, like, wanting to get up and sing “Green Manalishi” with your high school buddies. This fucking Vio-lence set, man, is not easy to fucking get through, especially to sing it.
I’m proud of him and I’m proud to be his friend and I’m proud to be in this band again.”
