I still can't believe it.
To say that Machine Head were devastated... there aren't even words. We found out about this unbelievable event while in Zagreb, Serbia. The sports arena we were playing had no phone lines, no internet, virtually zero cell reception, no TV, no heat. We had nothing but patchy info for the next few days as we played more shows in Eastern Europe, and frustration started to boil. It was impossible to call anyone, check e-mail, anything. It's only now that I've finally been able to sit down and read everything surrounding what happened.
That night, we dedicated "Descend The Shades Of Night" to Dimebag, a man who inspired us in so many ways. I lost it on stage. We all lost it on stage. It's horrible. Things like this just don't happen. Musicians don't get KILLED on stage... while they're PLAYING... what the fuck? What the fuck is wrong with people?
Dimebag was one in a million. He was the Randy Rhoads, the Jimi Hendrix of our time. I'm not gonna try and make it look like Dime and I were best buddies, we weren't... but I would certainly call him a friend. I met Dimebag for the first time on Ozzfest in '97. He invited Logan and I into their dressing room, and I remember being so fuckin' stoked to be hanging out in the Pantera dressing room, like I had made it into some cool guy club. I loved Pantera, and tried my hardest to mask my excitement...I didn't do a very good job, 'cause Darrell kept coming up to me and saying "Damn dude, you look like you're doin' all right!", and all I could muster in the moment was "...yeah". He offered me a gazillion shots of whiskey that day, and over the next couple of months we hung out...not a lot, as I tried not to be a fan boy, but I couldn't help it, they were fucking amazing.
Eventually they asked us to support them on their headline run for Trendkill. It was here that we learned that it was okay to treat your support bands like equals - something we continue to practice to this day. That tour was one of the funnest, craziest, greatest god damned tours we have ever done, and none of us have, or will ever forget the opportunity, nor the experience. Like it was yesterday, I remember one night, Dimebag got wasted (as he sometimes did)...but I mean, WASTED! ...and during Coal Chamber's set, he grabs my backup guitar, goes out on stage and starts "air guitaring" with them during one of their songs. Coal Chamber looked around nervously and just kinda went with it... he then proceeded to smash my guitar down on the stage, completely shattering the neck. I thought to myself, "uh... okay, we're sorta on next... what do I do?" Then I figured, "eh, fuck it, I'll worry about it tomorrow".
After our set, we go out to watch Pantera. And let me just say, that to watch this man, who literally could not talk backstage, thinking all the while, "oh my GOD, this is gonna be a train wreck"... we all just stood there with our jaws on the floor as that motherfucker went out and played a perfectly fucking FLAWLESS show. Every rhythm, every lead... just NAILED it. It was in-fucking-human.
So the next day I go up to him and say "Hey man, do you remember what you did to my guitar last night?" He's like "Uh... refresh my memory"... so I say, "You... uh... smashed the neck in half"...to which he says "No shit dude?! I'll take care of you, no problem, don't worry!" He then had his tour manager give us TWICE as much money as it would cost to replace / repair the neck. And then a week later, while we're ON STAGE in Chicago, he comes out, and brings both Logan and I brand new, top-of-the-line Dimebag Darrell signature guitars - these things were worth probably 2500 dollars each - and he whispers in my ear, "Sorry about the neck, Carjacker" (a nickname he had for me)... I mean, COME ON!?
The next time we saw him, he played us some "just finished" mixes for the then-unreleased Reinventing The Steel record at he and Vinnie's Club. We were all worshipping. We drank shitloads, and he even rocked on the vodka with us, rather than the whiskey, just 'cause he remembered that The Head like vodka. A week later I get a package at our hotel in Pittsburg... he had sent 4 one-liter bottles of expensive-ass Ketel One vodka, all the way from Texas, with a note that read "Carjacker, it was killer hanging out with you the other night. Remember, it's Goddamn Electric! -Your brother Dime". That's the type of guy he was, such a giving person. 200 bucks worth of vodka? Bah, no problem.
The last time I saw him was at Download / Donington this year. He told me he was "blown away" by our new record. "Record of the year" he kept saying. To hear him say that really meant a lot. I mean it REALLY meant a lot. To be honest, and this is just a hunch, but I think it was the first record of ours that he really liked. My impression was always that he thought our other records were... good.
So he's backstage warming up on my Black V after his guitar was rushed onstage, and he promises to send me more vodka for letting him "warm up"... to which I reply "Dude, don't even think about it".
Right after Download I got to thinking about he and Vinnie, and I ended up faxing him a letter to wish him well with Damageplan, remind him that he'd better not be thinking about sending me bottles of vodka, and to tell him how much of an influence Pantera was on me / us, and in particular, his playing, his guitar tone, the lyrics about unity - everything - had been on Machine Head, especially early on. It was something I'd always wanted to say to him, and even though we had toured with them, twice even...for some reason I always clammed up, or got insecure about saying it when I was around him.
Right before we went out on this last tour, he calls me up around midnight, I'm driving home at the time and happen to be awake. He tells me he has someone who wants to talk to me, so I say "Oh, yeah?", and he puts me on the phone with this HUGE Machine Head fan... apparently the kid had walked into this Mexican restaurant, ran into Darrell, and during their conversation they both got to talking about how much they loved Through The Ashes..., and the kid says to Darrell, "Robert Flynn's my idol, I'd do anything to meet him". So Dime whips out his phone and says, "Let's call him!". So there I am, talking to this kid for like 15 minutes, mostly about how much we both love Pantera...soon afterward he puts Dimebag back on, and we talk for another half hour or so, mostly about the aforementioned letter. He told me that he was genuinely moved by it.
In retrospect, I'm really glad I that I finally got to say those things to him.
He had more of an effect on the four of us than he could possibly imagine.
Some people consider it "un-metal" to be a giving person, but I tell you what, that guy right there was one of the most giving people that you could ever meet, and he was as Metal as it fuckin' gets.
To Nathan Bray, the courageous fan who jumped on stage to perform CPR on Darrell and died trying to save his life...you are a true hero, and your death is no less significant than Dime's, nor were the lives of Erin "Stoney" Halk or Jeffrey "Mayhem" Thompson.
To James Niggemeyer, the policeman that shot and killed that twisted freak that had the gall to call himself a "fan", I commend you. You deserve a medal of honor.
To Blabbermouth.net, and the people that post there, you have all never stood taller in my eyes. The wealth of information that has been brought forward by the editor, and the class with which it has been presented, is truly unprecedented. In addition, the level of respect and empathy shown to each other - and especially to the mother of Nathan Bray, who wrote that heart-wrenching letter - was sincerely admirable.
To the politicians who are claiming that this is what Heavy Metal breeds. You don't know what the hell you're even talking about.
And lastly, to the hatemongering son-of-a-bitch named William Grim, from conservative website The Iconoclast, who wrote the most disgraceful, classless article I've ever read entitled "AESTHETICS OF HATE: R.I.P. DIMEBAG ABBOTT, & GOOD RIDDANCE".
You WILL burn in hell!
What would YOU know about love or values? What would YOU know about giving to the world? All that you know is teaching prejudice, and your heart is as black as the "ignorant, filthy, and hideously ugly, Heavy Metal fans" you try and paint in your twisted, fictitious ramblings. It's because of people like YOU, that there are Nathan Gale's in this world, NOT the Dimebags and Metal musicians who work to unite people through music.
You just don't get it.
You say, "Americans should aspire to greatness". Well, Dimebag was an American that did more than "aspire" to greatness. He was an American that "achieved" it. And you will NEVER know what it is to taste greatness William Grim. Because in order to achieve greatness, you must first believe in the greatness of people, no matter how "ugly" or "fat" or "stupid" they are, on the outside...and Dimebag did just that.
Long live Dimebag Darrell in the hearts of us all.
-Robert Flynn
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Hey fuckers!
What’s goin’ on.
Let me start out by saying...Why God, WHY, is Robbie Williams so big over here??!! He is the biggest fucking dork on the planet.
Whew, glad I got that off my chest.
Doing the "Around the World in 80 days Tour", literally. Been on tour now for about 60 days so far, got 20 left. Started out in Australia, which, after a 31 hour flight to get there, I gotta say, was un-fuckin believable.
It was literally some of the craziest shows we’ve ever played. Every single person up in front knew every fuckin’ word, screaming their heads off, HUGE circle pits from hell, crazy fuckers just losing their minds, Machine Head chants between every single song, and got to meet tons of cool people.
Frankly, we love Australia, and cannot wait to get back.
After another 27 hour flight over to Europe we started The World Turns Blue To Gray Tour with our buddies God Forbid, and German metalcore-ers Caliban. Both these guys have AWESOME records that everyone should buy today!! We have an even larger bunch of people following the tour around this time, with the Frenchies, Scots, Germans, English, and the Belgies probably hitting half the tour already. It’s also still amazes me how many people are seeing Machine Head for the first time on this tour.
Most of the shows have been sold out, and some of the UK shows sold out over a month in advance. Fuck Yeah!!! France was bad ass. After that we went into Spain and Portugal. Spain rocked, but Portugal... Holy shit! Those people are fucking nuts man... Je-sus!? Every single person up front knew every single word to every song, and the pit... the PIT! It was violence on a whole new level. They ain’t fuckin’ around. At the end of the show they had swept all the garbage up against the barrier and there was literally, a 1-foot-high pile of “hair” that people had ripped out while just murderizing each other. DAMN!?
Played in Paris with Slipknot and Slayer. Mastadon opened the show, which was really cool. Hung with them for a while, really nice guys, drinking absurd amounts of booze together, singing Georgia Satellites songs on the acoustic (it’s a long story). Our show was nothing short of a-fucking-mazing. 14,000 people screaming along to “Hear Me Now, Words I Vow, No Fucking Regrets” was just... FUCK!? 14,000 fuckers clapping along to “Descend” was the real surprise though. We were a little nervous about playing that one (...Slipknot / Slayer fans) but it brought the God Damn house down. Slipknot were fucking awesome! People just going apeshit for 'em. People LOVE that band. We hung out with them 'til the end of the night, drinkin’ Brown Eyes and shit. We hadn’t seen those guys in a while due to our tour schedules, and it was a blast hanging out again. Slayer played an awesome set, it was my first chance to see them with Lombardo, and with all due respect to Paul Bostaph, who I’ve seen play probably 70 shows with Slayer, Lombardo is just amazing!!! Live... Lombardo IS Slayer.
Spoke with both Tom and Jeff for a while. Both were way cool as usual. Adam and I went into Slayer’s dressing room to talk with Kerry, who I hadn’t seen or spoken to since our little spat began 2˝ years ago, but who seemed like he had let things go. He stopped slagging us in the press, and both Dave and Adam had seen him at the Metal Hammer Awards and he’d told them that he loved “Through The Ashes”, and was very cordial to them.
At first he avoided me for 10 minutes, then I finally went into his area to shake his hand and say “what’s up fucker”. He was eating a sandwich so he declined the handshake, which didn’t seem weird. He was pretty stand off-ish but we made small talk about the Paris show, and how unbelievably happy they were that the tour was over, then he left to other room again.
At this point I decided, hey, I’m gonna try and squash this thing officially, “bring it up”, and kinda break the ice. So I went up to him a second time, extended my hand to shake and said, “Hey man, so are we officially done?” he didn’t shake my hand, just kinda knocked it, and replied sarcastically, “Done with what?” I said, “Done with our little spat”, he said, “It was never a spat with me”, I said, “Then shake my hand, and call it a day”, he gave me a smarmy look and said, “No...”, I said, “You’re not gonna shake my hand?”, he pursed his lips, shook his head and said, “...No”. I just stood there for a few seconds, kinda like... what?, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and was like “all right man, whatever...” I wished him safe travels, he said, “thanks...”. I left the room.
I gotta say man, when I left I was steamin’. I don’t know why I was so mad really. Maybe it was because he’d acted so seemingly friendly (faked or otherwise) to my guys at the Metal Hammer Awards. To the very people who he claimed had, “No integrity, no credibility, and were sell outs who tricked him into thinking they were Metal”. Maybe it was because he was so cool to them, I had (mistakenly) thought he would be cool to me, even when my guys felt the exact same way I did. Maybe, it was the fact that I felt like I had gone out of my way to give him a certain level of dignity by not calling him out in public, in front of the entire French Metal media, like all of them were asking me to do, and instead went into his dressing room, on his turf, in private, went up to him, offered him my hand 3 times in reconciliation, obviously giving him the higher ground, and yet he still couldn’t let it go.
Maybe it’s because I wish we were friends again. But then again, if all it took to end the friendship were a few songs he didn't like, maybe we weren't that good of friends to begin with.
Maybe, it’s because this time he got the best of me, and I don’t like that... at all.
Or maybe, just maybe, I expected him to be the bigger man about this whole thing, and I guess that was just a little too much to expect.
Next was Italy, and Italy was a bummer. Our bus broke down on the freeway to Rome while going thru the Swiss Alps. Though truth be told, if there was any place to break down, there really is no more beautiful place to look at for 14 hours. All the poor cars that drove by though, boy, they got quite the eye-full. Being that we can’t shit on the bus, all 10 of us could be seen several times throughout the day, taking a dump (or three) on a narrow trail going up the side of this very steep mountain. The best thing about it was that the first guy would take a dump near the top of the hill, but then every other guy had to take a dump in front of his dump, or risk stepping / falling into the previous dump. After about 6 hours there was a frickin’ line of toilet paper and fresh dumps about, oh... 25 dumps long!
NOT a pretty sight.
Next was Austria, and Austria was SICK!!!! Austria Rules! East Germany and Germany were rad, all except Berlin who frankly, sucked my ass with their snobby little, I’m Dieter from Sprockets, “want to touch my monkey?” attitude. Hamburg redeemed Germany for all time though... Wow! Did a RAD in-store in Hamburg where we signed a dude’s Machine Head car:
Unfortunately some over-eager fan stole me and my tour manager’s suitcases out of the bus. They got about half my street clothes, and every single piece of clothing my TM owns. I’m guessing they wanted some Robert Flynn mementos. Worse still, they got my prized (and incredibly stinky) “Fuct” shirt, so if anybody sees that shit on Ebay, please let me know ASAP.
Fucker...
Denmark, the land of massive MH influence Mercyful Fate, were incredible. Spontaneously chanting “10 more years!!”, singing songs to us in Danish. It was fuckin’ crazy. Helsinki though... was just... W-O-W!!!! I don’t even know where to begin with them, everything about Helsinki just kicks ass. Let’s just say there was a lot of love in the air that night.
Other than Stockholm, Scandinavia was a little disappointing. Though we did get to meet the In Flames guys in Gothenburg, which was cool as hell. Anders and I did a cover shoot for a cool Metal / Punk mag called Close Up (check it out).
IF, MH, CB (who Anders produced) and GF all went to some goofy Swedish rock bar after the show and got really trashed, and sang hoopty 80's metal songs all night, which was hella fun.
Got back into Germany and did the BIG shows there. Both Weisbaden and Koln fuckin’ ruled. Here is also where we got our final cut of the DTBTG video, which I gotta say man... is really awesome... and pretty fucked. People are gonna trip. It’s a pretty heavy topic to begin with, and the video don’t candy coat it. The thing that we’re happiest about is that it’s really different looking. Really stark animation and shit. I can’t say I’ve seen a metal video quite like it. I mean, in the end, it’s a fuckin' rock video, it ain’t like we reinvented the wheel or nothing, but it definitely has something different. The end ROCKS too. Most videos kinda end all... yeah, happy note. When this one ends you’re like... Fuck, I’ll go slit my wrist now... but in a good way!
Still got 3 weeks to go!
The God Forbids and Calibans are turning into their own musical juggernauts, and The Head have fully hit our stride. Greece, eastern Europe, and Old Blighty, we're coming to kick your asses! Already did a few UK dates already and all have been in-fucking-credible, but Manchester and Glasgow were just...Oh - my - fuckin' - GOD?! Glasgow have earned best circle pit of the tour for the 2nd year in a row. Funnest show we've played in long time.
As far as I can tell, barring a couple of possible random festivals, these will be the last concerts we do on this side of the world til’ probably 2006! So get your butts out of the house, throw some beers down your throat and come on down to the shows fuckers! We’re gonna be filming several of the UK shows for our DVD, and filming every second of London in all of it's drunken, mayhemic glory, and expect you all to come highly inebriated and ready to sing, jump, circle pit, scream, make love, explode, and lose your fuckin' minds!
Deal?!
Let’s blow this shit up!!!
-Flynn
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We are officially finished with the Roadrunner Records Road Rage Tour.
Super stoked to have toured, hung out, drank with the Chimaira boys once again. I love those guys, and I love that band. “The Impossibility of Reason” is one of the best modern metal records to come out in the past 5 years, and they are a un-fucking-believable live band. Wow! Those guys have really come into their own. It is awesome to see how much they have improved since we first took those guys out back in 2001.
Monday Night Mosh!!!!!
Openers / teenagers Trivium rocked the house big time, and went over really well. Seriously good dudes too. The Brown Eyes flowed heavily. In Chicago... oh my God. In Anaheim...oh – Jesus - God?!
Roadrunner really stepped up to the plate and did a great job delivering the goods. There were ads up the ass! Nearly all the shows kicked butt. Had a couple o’ duds... DC was boring, Detroit was good. Toronto rocked, NYC... f#%kin’ A! San Antonio, & Columbus... Holy Cow!!! Orlando... What the f#%k!!! Philly... F#%K YEAH! HOLY SHIT!? People singing along to “Seasons Wither” and “Days Turn Blue To Gray” SO loud!!! It’s crazy. Good stuff. Best circle pit of the tour hands down goes to Orlando...unreal man...you guys got issues...
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Heard a new The Haunted track called “99 lives” ...oh... my... god!!!???
Peter Dolving’s vocals sound absolutely amazing. It warms my soul to hear a man that angry. That guy is seriously pissed off. Also got a chance to hear the Megadeth “Peace Sells” remasters... and you know, I honestly forgot how great this record was. It is a masterpiece.
God Forbid’s “Gone Forever” is still in heavy rotation in the dressing room, it’s definitely got some staying power, and we are REALLY fired up to have them on board for Europe. If you missed them on the NWOAHM tour, be sure to catch em’ with us this time, you won’t be disappointed. Dew Scented’s “Inward” and “Impact” are both getting heavy rotation, as is the mighty, MIGHTY Viking Skull who have nearly attained worship status.
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Watching my 11 week old son learn how to laugh...man...it is the cutest god darn thing I’ve seen in my entire life. Jesus!?
Did I mention it’s summertime?! Wakeboarding, camping, the lake, the sun, already did it once, and can’t wait to do it again. Group camping sites right on the water, with all your friends, bar-b-queing, drinking an ice cold Peet’s Wicked Ruby Brown Ale or two, or three, or four... no phone, no TV, no internet... ah... heaven!
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Burn My Eyes turned 10. Wow?! In all honesty I never thought we'd last this long. We are so grateful, fortunate, and so lucky to have the best, most passionate, rabid, and insanely loyal fans in the entire world. You inspire us. You've kept us going in times of doubt, and keep us going even now. You are the reason the world will miss us when we’re gone.
What more can I say?
Fuckin'. Wow?!
Love, man.
Fuckin'. Love.
And yes, in case you were wondering, we recorded every second of the BME 10th anniversary performance in Philly with a 6-camera, 24-track digital filming-and-recording rig courtesy of the guys at High Roller productions, and it will be released in some form or another. Hell yeah!!
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As for the immediate future, we will be shooting a video for "Days Turn Blue To Gray" starting Tues. Sept 21st, and it’s looking like we might be filming a "live" DVD from our Brixton Academy show in London. What we would like to see happen is for this DVD to be released in the beginning of the year, with the main DVD being the London show with the first pressing of the DVD containing a "limited edition bonus DVD” of our ‘Burn My Eyes’ 10th Anniversary show, as basically a thank you for our hardcore fans, and long time supporters. After that first pressing has sold out, the bonus BME show will go away, and the full London DVD will be available. So if you sleep on it, your loss.
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Australians, we have heard your pleas and they will be answered. We’re finally heading down to... headline Down Under for the first time in 9 years... FUCK YEAH!! AND we will be collecting our first Gold Record ever! Cheers Australia for giving us our first Gold record fuckers! We’re really, really looking forward to hanging with you VB drinkin’ lunatics. We will NOT be going to Japan this year. So instead we will bypass Japan entirely, and go directly to Europe / UK and on Oct 8th, commence the biggest, most extensive tour in the history of this band. HELL yeah!!! We cannot wait! Plus, Paris with Slipknot and Slayer! Ruling! Until then, we look forward to seeing all of you ‘Supercharger’ tattoo havin', beer drinkin’, vodka stinkin’, circle pit wreckin’, hell raisin', "Machine Fuckin' Head"
chantin', life lovin' lunatics out on tour!!!
Hell YEAH!!!
-Flynn
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What's up?! Well, after a week of sleeping I'm ready to write a diary, so here goes. First show, a headline show in Brussels. The day starts off great, I usually get up early and head to the show with the crew, I don't know why, I just like seeing the whole thing come together and I get to hang out with my buddy Turtle! The crew start loading the gear into the venue and guess what? Our genius bus driver forgot to get my drums and some guitar cabs before he left London!!!! After the driver and Bus Co. got a verbal reaming from our Tour Manager we had to find a drumset in Brussels!! So the kit arrives and Turtle and I scramble to make it work. A true Spinal Tap moment!!! Next we played the Rock Hard Festival in Germany, we got our drums back for this one so it's a good day. We headline and tear it up, thank you, good night!
Next show is in Belfast, Ireland. We haven't played there in a long time. We have a day off and learn that Britney Spears is playing down the street so what we do? We do what any real Heavy Metal Band would do... try to go! It didn't happen, our booking agent over there didn't get back to us in time so we sat down in the bar watching all the moms and daughters come in looking for Britney, Turtle actually got mistaken for her a few times and signed some autographs! Next day we show up at the venue and I walk in with the crew, a perfect place for a Machine Head show, it looks like it holds about 1,200 people and it already stinks inside!!! The show ruled!!! I think it was the hottest show we've ever played and the crowd was SICK!! Towards the end of the set someone decided that the sound board needed a beer, not good, no more P.A.!! We still had 4 songs to play so we turned our monitors toward the crowd and finished the show! God we're awesome!!
Next was Download Scotland, didn't get to see much of the day, after we were done we had to load up a bunch of our stuff and fly to the next show in Germany 'cause we wouldn't have made it in the bus. We drive to the airport in Glasgow, the crew loads up 45 pieces of equipment, we fly to London, crew loads gear into vans, stay at hotel for 3 hours, drive back to airport, crew loads gear on plane, fly to Frankfurt, Germany, crew loads gear into vans, drive for 2 1/2 hours to show... No sleep!!! We get to the Rock Am Ring festival and it's POURING down rain, I gotta hand it to our crew, after no sleep they were right up onstage getting everything ready while it's freezing and raining The show was killer, Soil played while it was just pouring down rain sideways onto the stage, they were killer. Motorhead, Evanescence and Korn played too, I had never seen Evanescence before, Amy has got an amazing voice! Korn, what can you say, they're an unbelievable live band, they had 50,000 people in the palm of their hands. Next day was Rock Am Park, pretty much the same lineup so it was cool talking to all the bands a little more.
Next stop, Donington. This show for me was the one I was dreaming about playing, I would always hear about Iron Maiden and most of my favorite Metal bands playing the Castle Donington festival and now we were playing it!!!! The show is like a High School Reunion, everyone is there. First person I see when I got off the bus is Ahrue, we take a shuttle to the dressing room area and go our seperate ways, they're onstage in about 45 minutes. I go up to the stage and start seeing everybody, talking with the Slipknot crew and watch Ill Nino rock for a little while, we get word that there's been some problems with a band or two and we go on later now and Damageplan is getting moved to the Main Stage and are going on right before us! I go up and say hi the DP guys talk to Vinnie and Dime for a minute, went over and said what's up to the Slayer boys, their crew wasn't there yet so they weren't in the best of moods, but I was cause we were getting ready to play one of the coolest festivals EVER!!! The cool thing about playing a show like this is that for me the audience turns into the band and I'm the audience, a great experience and we were AMAZING if I do say so myself!!! After the show I was hanging out in the dressing room area and a guy who works for Metallica comes up and asks me if I knew any of their stuff... DUH!! At first I thought they were putting together a cover band for one of the stages, then I heard that Lars was gonna be a no show!! I went straight to their dressing room and waited outside for my shot! They were already jamming with someone (I think Joey) so I waited and waited... never happened, Joey was doing pretty good in there and we had to leave before they went on but I heard he did killer, good for him, that's any drummers dream come true!
Next night was the Metal Hammer Awards, another High School Reunion! Hung out with everybody, Soil, God Forbid, Hatebreed, Damageplan, In Flames, Mark from Chimaira, even hung out with Kerry King for a while and talked about music. A great night, drank about 43 Vodka and O.J.'s and even did a shot of Absinthe with Corey (God Forbid) and Mistress Julia. Went back to the hotel and passed out for about 3 hours then off to the airport where after being on the plane for 3 hours they cancelled our flight!! Mr. Demmel wasn't having any of that, he went up and got us on the next flight out (they were trying to put us back in a hotel for the night) and we made it home. Life Fucking Rules!!!!!! Thank you, Good night!
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What is up, fuckers?!
Just wrapped up the first night of the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" tour in Philadelphia. Wow! Awesome crowd, singing SO loud! Great way to kick it off, despite support calamities. We've played 2 warm-up shows prior to this, just to get back in the groove. Trust us, it was much needed. We pretty much sounded like the worst Machine Head cover band you've ever heard. I think by tonight we sounded like a really, really good Machine Head cover band, and I'm confident we'll sound like Machine Head any week now.
We got some really, really good news today. As of today, April 28th, Through the Ashes of Empires' first week sales totals came in at over 11,000 fuckin' copies! Hell yeah!! Beating out Supercharger's first-week sales by a long shot, and tying our highest Billboard chart position in history at #88. Someone at Billboard screwed up big time, and god bless em' for that.
Obviously, we're not talking Eminem first week numbers here, or even Slipknot first week numbers here, but the fact that we sold that many records on our first week is well... god damn AMAZING! And let me tell you why it's so amazing. We've known all along that this record is going to be a long haul; we've known that it was going to have to have a slow, methodical build up. It's about the long race, not the short race. We knew going into this we weren't going to have some staggering Korn-ish first week sales number, and on top of that, the set up for this record in the US has been... uh... well... a challenge, to say the least.
For starters, as most of you know, the record came out now 6 months ago overseas, and has been available to buy on import, and download off the internet for as long. Many die-hard MH fans went ahead and spent their hard-earned dough buying the import, and with imports now just an online click away, it isn't difficult like it was back in the day. None of us expected many people to fork over their dough again, nor should they have.
Secondly, and most people don't know this, but because we got re-signed so close to our US release date, nearly all major metal magazine ad deadlines were missed. As of today, only one ad for TTAOE has hit the streets. Other than a couple of local mag ads out, all major ads won't hit until May.
Third, through no one parties' fault in particular, the video for Imperium (which had been approved and played by other video channels) was supposed to start airing on MTV2 and Fuse 4 weeks prior to the release of TTAOE (standard procedure for setting up a record dictates, the video starts getting played 3 to 4 weeks in advance of release to get a buzz)... well, that didn't happen. Some of the "fucks" in Imperium weren't edited well enough for new FCC guidelines, so we had to re-edit them, but then due to some scheduling conflicts, the video got bumped to premier not 2 weeks prior to release, not 1 week prior to release, but actually premiered 5 days after release on both networks.
Arrrghh!!!
And yet, in spite of all that shit, somehow, some way, we managed to sell 11,424 frickin' albums in one week?! Let me tell you, that isn't just amazing, that's a god damn miracle! That right there... is a total fan-driven statement. That right there... is the voice of the people. That right there... is love. That isn't hype, that isn't over-saturation, that isn't the press going ga-ga. That is a grassroots ground swell. That is the best fans in all of metal, letting their voice be heard throughout the entire United States of America. Hell fuckin' yeah!!!
Yeeyeeah! Ookaaay! Hwhat?!?!
And it doesn't stop here. We still have hearts and ears to win over, we still have a looooooong road ahead of us, we still have many obstacles to
overcome, but with the statement you guys have made this week, to ALL of our beer drinkin', vodka stinkin', music lovin', Head Cases here in America...
on behalf of Adam, Dave, and Phil, I want to thank every single one of your bad asses for going out there and showing the world how you feel about this
band and this record.
Secondly, I also want to thank all of the kids on the Machine Head / Roadrunner Street Teams that have been busting their asses like rabid, possessed maniacs getting the word out on the street, and all of you that felt it necessary to tell everyone that you know about this record, because that is where this awareness came from. This awareness didn't come from some publicity machine, this awareness didn't come because someone deemed us "buzzworthy", this awareness didn't happen because our songs are all over the radio like that god damned Usher song... this awareness came from you guys.
Thank ALL of you fuckers so much, man.
Really.
Seriously.
Thank you.
Keep up the good work, keep your beer mugs high, and keep spreading the word! See you fuckers on tour!
-Flynn
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Thought it was about time I shared some of my memories from my first extended tour of Europe. Keep in mind they were all taken with disposable cameras and for the most part, under the influence. Just kidding (for the most part). Enjoy.
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Hails and salutations fuckers!
The release of our new record, "Through The Ashes Of Empires" (from here on out referred to as "TTAOE") is less than a month away! The new, exclusive track, "Seasons Wither" is mixed, mastered and sounding absolutely incredible thanks to the honorable sir Colin Richardson... the response to it has been fantastic, I think you guys are gonna love it.
Having turned out as well as it did, we chose to "promote" the song from bonus track status, to instead, adding it into the official song sequence as track 8, after "Vim" (bumping the songs that followed back one track number). And even though it was written and recorded a full six months after the original TTAOE sessions, I gotta say, it flows seamlessly into the album, adding an extra touch of speed and aggression to the record, and as a result, raises the bar set by the rest of the album.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Tour is lining up nicely. The best band I've ever heard from Alaska, 36 Crazyfists, have been added to the alcohol-fueled mayhem, and we're damn glad to have them on board! This tour is gonna be fun. This tour is gonna be big. Make sure you make it out! It's Machine Head, so that alone should compel you to sell your soul for a ticket, but to get Arch Enemy, God Forbid and 36CF too?! It may be time to hit the street corners and shake a lil' somethin' if you're short on the cash-ola... there is no excuse to miss this tour. There's also a rumor going around that we may be filming one of these U.S. shows for an upcoming MH DVD. Nothing is official yet, though, and there may not be enough time to make it happen.
The Head will be co-hosting MTV2's Headbanger's Ball April 23rd. Might air the very next day (Saturday the 24th), not sure. Super stoked about it though. I haven't gotten the chance to watch HBB (don't have MTV2), but I've heard Jamey is an awesome host, and would expect no less from a guy as down to earth and charismatic as he is. Our deepest condolences go out to him and the band.
Starting to get a little of the pre-release jitters... a wacky combination of overwhelming excitement, skepticism, and downright insecurity. It's normal. Got a lot of things going right with this one, but we've also got a few things going wrong. The most obvious of the wrong things is that the record is coming out 6 months after it's been available to buy on import, and download. But hell, we're used to working twice as hard as some bands have to, and don't mind having to work for the things we earn. We believe in this record, and we know you do too... after all, there's no better feeling than knowing you achieved something the old fashioned way... by earning it.
So with that, we'd like to toss a little nugget of appreciation at those of you who bought our last 4 records. And especially to the good people over in Europe and the UK that made TTAOE such an ongoing success internationally. That is what allowed TTAOE the chance to be released over here in the states. And as I'm sure you all know, we only get this platform if the beast gets fed. No one is releasing our album because they think it's a good idea to write 8 minute epics about death, or write songs that call your biological parents "cocksucker" and "whore".
Frankly, the spot we're in right now is a pretty tough one, no doubt, but we're counting on all of you, and all of your friends, and all of your friends' friends... and all of your friends' friends' friends... to go out the week of release and make a statement, to appreciate this record, and the fact that you want to hear more like it, by feeding the beast. Because, in all honesty, that is what will keep this band going. With the current state of the industry, especially here in the states, as well as our fairly odd situation, a misfire in sales at this point in time could spell our doom, and we want no part'a that shit, no siree.
So, if you love this band as much as we love playing to all of you, feel free to do your part to help spread the word. We'll be launching an e-card here shortly that will have full clips of all of the original ten songs from TTAOE, so be sure to e-mail it to all your friends, and all of your friends' friends, put a link to it in your signatures on message boards, let anyone that you know that may miss out on this record for whatever reason know about it. We'll also be posting printable flyers shortly, one promoting the record, another promoting the tour with an area left open for you to fill in your local venue, show date, etc. and make copies from, so you'll be able to download those, print some out and drop 'em off at your local record stores, venues, pass 'em out at shows, etc., should you wish.
Those of you here in the states will be surprised by how many people will respond with no knowledge whatsoever of TTAOE's existence... "Whoa, Machine Head has a new record coming out?! Killer!!"
We've gotta get this word out, people... fast, and hard.
On a semi-related note, I'd like to formally thank all of the people who stop me in the street or after shows and tell me their stories of struggling / overcoming, and how our music has helped them through tough times. It has had a more profound effect on us than you could possibly imagine, and I / we thank you for sharing your experiences with us. It has meant and will continue to mean a lot to us moving forward.
I'd also like to take a minute to thank the folks at Roadrunner Records US that are working their asses off making this happen, especially Jonas Nachsin, the president of RR US and Cees Wessels, for taking the risk and having the faith to let us share our vision with the world. Also, thanks to our A&R man Monte Conner, for being the unwavering, unflinching, #1 supporter there, and eagle eye / ear behind many a detail. And thanks to everyone else there who goes unheralded, but who has made the release of our music possible, and helped put it in actual record stores: Matt Polen, Doug Keogh, Maria Gonzales, Jamie Roberts, Benjy S., Amy S., Kathy Merrit, Chris Mitsuka, Dave Rath, Harlan and far too many others to mention.
We also want to thank all of you who work in those record stores and online music stores selling our records, and to the clerks who help steer kids toward some good listening. Your efforts are truly and sincerely appreciated.
I, personally would like to thank our webmaster, and occasional editor to my often inane ramblings, for performing the all-important "stupid" check, and helping cover up my glaring misuse of comma's, apostrophe's, and periods. The one and only, P to tha muthafuckin' D, Mike P.
Last but not least, we'd like to thank the die hard fans, friends and supporters of Machine Head--the Head Cases. The ones who influence, pester, and coerce their friends into spending their hard-earned dough on a band who wants to change the dour face of music for the better. Those fans, friends and supporters that are in the streets, and on the internet, spreading the gospel of MH with the most powerful method known to man... word of mouth.
Hails and salutations indeed.
-Flynn
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Woo–hoo!
Still recovering from Fat Tuesday, Yow! Drink of the night, Grey Goose Vodka Lemon Drops. Fuck – in – A! Kind of a fruity drink (in the metrosexual sense), but they’re a manly color, so, you know... that's how manly men can pull it off *cough*. Last night was the final night of tracking for our “new song”, so we had a little post-recording / Fat Tuesday celebration. We were back at Sharkbite studios with Mark Keaton in the engineer’s seat, and yours truly back in the producer's seat. We busted it out in 4 days, Dave nailed his drum tracks on the first take, even though we did a few takes... the man is a monster. Phil played a BAD ASS lead, and The Duce-ster sang some of the most crystal-clear vocals ever! Still working on a title *ahem*, but the new tune is rockin’. Probably the fastest song on the record, with a full-on U2 breakdown in the middle... sounds crazy... but it works. Colin Richardson begins mixing Friday.
We had contemplated adding a cover song to the U.S. release, and I believe our new U.S. record company, Roadrunner Records, announced that we were including a cover. But... originally it was believed that our U.S. release would be 2 versions - a 2-disc limited edition with demo tracks, the making of, cover song, etc... and then a normal version. After we concluded that that idea wasn’t logistically feasible, we decided to just include the new song, as we didn’t feel it would be appropriate to add a cover song to TTAOE for the rest of eternity. We thought it better to record the cover for a future release sometime down the road. What song was it? Rush’s “Witch Hunt”... a seriously bad-ass song.
And yes, you read right, we’re BACK on Roadrunner. Crazy, huh?! It’s a crazy business, Rock n’ Roll. Trust us, it was the right decision. I think that’s like... history or something... not sure if that’s even happened with a band before. Honestly though, we’re super stoked, and proud to be working with them again. Would they have come back to us if we hadn’t written the record we did, or the record didn't take off over in Europe like it did? Of course not. Do we care? No. Every band has to prove themselves to a label. We did. We’ve smoothed out our issues, worked out differences, and they are chompin' at the bit to get this record out. In all the years that MH and RR have worked together I've never experienced them being this excited and this hungry to put a Machine Head album out. Ever! They are fully 100% behind the band, nay, 1000% percent behind the band.
Record's comin’ out April 20th.
420, kid!!!
Machine Fuckin' Head are going out on the road in the U.S. around April 27th, and we are STOKED about the package we lined up with the help of our ass kickin’ booking agent Scott Sokol.
The "Weapons Of Mass Destruction" tour featuring Machine Head, Arch Enemy, and God Forbid will be hitting most major U.S. cities in April and May, with a more extensive U.S. headline run happening in September. Both AE and GF dole out heaping helpings of lean, low-carb, cutting-edge Metal, and offer something fresh to the world of music. Arch Enemy’s "Anthems of Rebellion" was practically the only CD we listened to on the TTAOEurope tour, and God Forbid’s "Gone Forever" is the ONLY thing in my CD player. It’s fuckin’ inspiring to have these bands out with us. Buy their records, dammit!
New England Metal Fest is confirmed for Fri. April 30th, more dates coming soon.
And get your livers ready, fuckers, cause the Vodka Kings are comin’ back...
And we ain’t fuckin’ around!
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