What is Machine Head (band)?

Machine Head is a heavy metal band, formed in 1992 in Oakland, California.^[1]

History

Early career (1992-1995)

Machine Head was founded in 1992 by former Vio-lence guitarist Robb Flynn in Oakland, CA. Beginning in a rehearsal room they shared with 4 punk rock bands, they would play their first show in August 1992 at a house (kegger) party in Oakland, with subsequent shows occurring in Las Vegas, L.A., Berkeley and San Francisco. Members at the time consisted of Robb Flynn, Adam Duce, Logan Mader, and Tony Costanza. Gaining a reputation for as a live band to be reckoned with (something they would retain to this day) as well as for being rough around the edges (they would be banned from 3 clubs in the Bay Area for fighting) they played shows with a diverse selection of bands from Rancid, Fear Factory, Clutch, and Deftones, to Possessed, Biohazard and Testament. After recruiting Chris Kontos on drums (Attitude Adjustment, Grinch) they would record a demo in a friends home studio, and would go on to sell over 3,000 worldwide. They released their first album through Roadrunner Records, Burn My Eyes, produced and mixed by Colin Richardson, on August 8, 1994 and the band would tour with Napalm Death (whom they would share a bus with) and then-labelmates Obituary where they received good, but occasionally hostile responses from the primarily Death / Grind fans of the headline acts. The band would be asked to support Slayer for 2 months in the UK and Europe where their album had charted at #26 in the UK, and #44 in Germany. It would not break the Billboard Top 200 in the US, selling barely more than 1,100 copies it's first week. UK Metal magazine Kerrang gave the album their top rating, being "K's", with many international metal magazines giving equal praise to the album.^[2] . The album would be panned in the US by the metal press where band members claim that one review was so bad, it ended by saying "Machine Head, pretty good, if you never heard of Prong".

The first song on the album, "Davidian", features the lyric "Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast". Subsequently the video was banned from MTV America due to its release date being very soon after the Waco Siege which it was apparently describing.^[3] Ironically the video would receive widespread and even daytime play on MTV in the UK and Europe where it would launch Machine Head's career overseas. A US Tour would follow with Slayer and Biohazard.^[4] would help establish the band in the underground. Robb Flynn would appear with Slayer performing the song "Witching Hour" in Slayer's - Live Intrusion video. Appearances at Dynamo in front of 130,000 people, Donington Monsters Of Rock and a European headline tour (bringing singer Peter Dovling's pre-The Haunted band Mary Beats Jane and Meshugguah on their first ever tours), and playing the exact same venues they had just supported Slayer in. US success would be a ways off, Drummer Chris Kontos would be fired, and a headline tour of the US with Stuck Mojo and Wickerman as support with fill-in drummer Will Carroll (Old Grandad, later-Unsane) would be described as, and nick named, the Disastour with average attendance being 150 people, attendance highs of 500, and several attendance lows of 35 people. The band would play their final US show for Burn My Eyes on December 19, 1995, at the Troubador in L.A., where after their set, Los Angeles Sherrifs would remove them from their tour bus after the bus driver accused them of being filthy, smoking too much weed, and threatening his life.

Decline (1996-2001)

After Chris Kontos was fired, the drumming services of Dave McClain formerly of Sacred Reich were acquired. They then released the follow up album, The More Things Change, once again produced and mixed by Colin Richardson, in 1997, and would asked to be apart of the 1st official Ozzfest alongside Pantera, Black Sabbath, and Marilyn Manson. Other US support tours would include Corrosion Of Conformity, and main support to Pantera. Co-headline appearance at the Dynamo Festival in Holland, and US and European headline tours with Napalm Death, Skinlab, Coal Chamber, and Snot as the support. Logan Mader unexpectedly left in the spring of 1998. He was then replaced by Ahrue Luster (Now of Ill Niño)^[5] who worked with the band on the third album The Burning Red (1999). This album was a sign of a change for Machine Head, the band deciding to experiment more rather than release another album that would be seen as just a shadow in the footsteps of Burn My Eyes.

Introducing lesser known influences such as The Cure, and Robb adding more of his rapping techniques in this album alongside the growl he used on earlier releases. The song "Devil With The Kings Card" is based on Logan Mader's leaving of the band.^[6] The album did, however, receive some backlash from fans who weren't pleased with their change in style - some even accused the band of "selling out" and following musical trends (nu-metal and rap metal were becoming increasingly popular in 1999).^[7]

Machine Head released Supercharger in October 2001, and would chart at #115 higher than The More Things Change. The video for the song "Crashing Around You" (filmed before 9-11) was banned by MTV due to its images of collapsing buildings around the times of WTC collapse strike.^[8] Co-headlining with inaugural Road Rage tour with Fear Factory (with Chimaira and Ill Nino opening) and overseas tours with Slayer in Australia, Japan, and Korea, and headline tours of the US and Europe would follow.

By 2002, Machine Head had sold over 1.3 million albums worldwide, and overall "Supercharger" (mixed by Colin Richardson) would go on to sell an impressive 250,000 copies worldwide, but it would be met with mixed reviews, and would be their lowest selling album to date. Once the tour for the album had been completed, Machine Head and Roadrunner Records mutually decided to sever ties with regards to distribution in North America and around the world, however to fulfill their obligations, the band released "Hellalive" (also mixed by Colin Richardson) which was a recording of a 5,000 capacity sold out Brixton Academy, London set.^[9]

Limbo (2002-2003)

In May 2002 Ahrue Luster left the band and was temporarily replaced by Phil Demmel,^[10] who played in thrash band Vio-lence alongside Flynn. Demmel played some festival shows with Machine Head (including a headlining slot at the With Full Force festival in Germany). Then with Phil not being able to commit to the band, he and Machine Head parted ways. The remainder of the band started writing songs for the next album (eventually titled Through the Ashes of Empires), hoping to get signed to a record label. They recorded a 4 song demo featuring the songs Descend The Shades Of Night (a different 3 1/2 minute version), All Falls Down, and Bite The Bullet and included a slightly more radio-friendly song called "Pins and Needles" (which was never recorded by Machine Head). Nearly every record label in the music industry rejected the four song demo.

Revival (2003-present)

However in March 2003, the band's spirits rose when Phil rejoined the group full time,^[11] and Roadrunner International (Europe and the rest of the world) came to the band with an offer. Then the band signed the international deal, and started recording Through the Ashes. The band then decided to go back to Roadrunner USA hoping to be signed (which they eventually were), and Through The Ashes of Empires (Colin Richardson mixing once again) was finally released in Europe and around the world (except North America) on October 28, 2003. Outside the US, the album was praised in most musical publications (a notable absentee from the favourable reviews was Britain's influential Kerrang! magazine, who initially gave the album 2 K's but have since claimed in articles that they awarded 5 K's), and then it created a buzz in America.

Roadrunner USA came back to Machine Head and made them an offer, and they signed with the label. To make up for the American fans having to wait so long for the new album, they recorded a track called "Seasons Wither" which had not appeared on the European release. Through the Ashes of Empires returned to a style closer to that of Burn My Eyes, and received significant publicity due to the success of the song "Imperium" and what was seen by fans as a massive return to form - both musically and lyrically. As part of this revival, Machine Head headlined the "True Metal" stage at 2005's Wacken Open Air festival in front of 40,000 fans - their biggest show to date ^[12](they made an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air festival in their early years but didn't headline). Through the Ashes of Empires debuted on the Billboard Charts in US at #88 -- an excellent showing for a band that was considered at one point dead-in-the-water.^[13]

On October 11, 2005, Machine Head released their first ever DVD: Elegies. The DVD contained concert footage from the Brixton Academy show in December 2004, and various extras, including their most recent music videos (of 2004) and a documentary on the Making of "Through The Ashes". In the DVD's first week of release, "Elegies" reached the #13 spot in US^[14] and the #6 spot in UK music-related DVD sales.

As well on October 11, 2005, Roadrunner Records released an album to commemorate the 25 years of the label's storied history. Four of the songs on the album, Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions, were written by Robert Flynn. Both Phil Demmel and Dave McClain contributed to the album musically, and Logan Mader came on board as a producer, also providing the melodic harmonics on the track "The End". Roadrunner United was a project conceived by the label to showcase the talent of the dozens of bands signed to Roadrunner Records. There were 4 "Captains" assigned to write songs for the album: Robb Flynn of Machine Head, Dino Cazares ex-Fear Factory, Matt Heafy of Trivium, and Joey Jordison of Slipknot.^[15] Each "Captain" had to choose which artists were to participate in the recording of their songs, and they were to be primary producers. The album saw an all-star cast of artists from such bands as: The Misfits, Killswitch Engage, 36 Crazyfists, Sepultura, Soulfly, Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly, Coal Chamber, Ill Niño, Vision of Disorder, Trivium, Opeth, Stone Sour, King Diamond and Deicide, among others.

March 26th (Europe/Rest of the World) and 28th (USA), 2007 saw the release of the band's sixth studio album "The Blackening"^[16], which was produced by Robert Flynn and mixed by Colin Richardson. They have also contributed a studio recorded and produced cover of Metallica's "Battery" for Kerrang! magazine's 'Remastered', a tribute to Metallica's seminal album Master of Puppets, which is included on the album as bonus content.

On October 31, 2006, Roadrunner Records announced that as part of their 25th Anniversary, they will be re-releasing Burn My Eyes with a bonus CD, including previously unreleased tracks and rarities. It was originally due out on January the 8th, 2007 but was pushed back to September 2007 so it did not interfere with the release of 'The Blackening'. However these plans have since been scrapped by the band and Roadrunner.^[17]

Machine Head began 2007 by opening for Lamb Of God on their US tour in support of their album, Sacrament. Also on this tour was Trivium and Gojira. In April 2007, they were on tour opening for Megadeth and Heaven and Hell in the US. They then began their European festival dates during May, June and July in Luxembourg, supported by Caliban. During this time they played the Download Festival at Donington Park. Their performance at the festival was praised by Kerrang! as one of the best performances of the entire 3 day event(In the bands previous visit to the festival they were voted as "band of the weekend" by fans.

Shortly after their appearance at Download, they announced a co-headlining arena tour of Japan/Europe/Australia (called The Black Crusade) during October, November and December 2007. Otherbands on the bill are Trivium, Dragonforce (Europe only), Arch Enemy and Shadows Fall.

On 12 June, at the Metal Hammer awards, the band won the award for "Best Album", along with Robb Flynn winning the "Golden God" award.^[18]

They also replaced Bullet For My Valentine (they had to cancel because Matt Tuck needed a tonsillectomy) supporting Metallica's Wembley Stadium Show on Sunday July 8, 2007, much to the audiences delight.^[19]

Sometime during the month of August, current Machine Head bassist, Adam Duce suffered a broken leg injury while Dirt Bike Riding in Redding, CA. In an interview, Duce had this to say about the injury, "It sucks to be in this position, because we have such a killer tour set up for the end of the summer and now we'll have to find a replacement for me. I've never missed one show that this band has ever played up to this point and I never thought I would see the day when Machine Head would be playing and I wouldn't be on stage."

Unfortunately, the tour Adam will be missing is the Black Tyranny Tour. Dates within September 13, and October 13 are still shows that Machine Head will be playing.^[20]

Discography

Main article: Machine Head discography

Studio albums

Date of Release	Title	Label	U.S. Chart Peak
August 9, 1994	Burn My Eyes	Roadrunner	-
March 25, 1997	The More Things Change	Roadrunner	138[13]
August 10, 1999	The Burning Red	Roadrunner	88[13]
October 2, 2001	Supercharger	Roadrunner	115[13]
April 20, 2004	Through the Ashes of Empires	Roadrunner	88[13]
March 27, 2007	The Blackening	Roadrunner	54[13]

Members

Current

• Robert Flynn - vocals, guitars, lead guitars (founder)
• Adam Duce - backing vocals, bass (founder)
• Phil Demmel - lead guitars (2003-)
• Dave McClain - drums (1995-)

Former members

• Logan Mader - guitars (founder - 1997)
• Tony Costanza - drums (founder - 1994)
• Chris Kontos - drums (1994 - 1995)
• Ahrue Luster - guitars (1999 - 2001)

Notes

External links

• Machine Head official website
• Machine Head on Roadrunner
• Interview with Rob Flynn (2006)
• Interview with Phil Demmel

•  • [ e]
Robb Flynn – Adam Duce – Dave McClain – Phil Demmel
Chris Kontos – Logan Mader – Ahrue Luster – Tony Costanza
Discography
Studio albums: Burn My Eyes – The More Things Change... – The Burning Red – Supercharger - Through the Ashes of Empires – The Blackening
EPs:
Live albums: Hellalive
Songs: "Old" - "Davidian" - "Ten Ton Hammer" - "Take My Scars" - "From This Day" - "Year of the Dragon" - "Silver (Take My Hand)" - "Crashing Around You" - "Imperium" - "Days Turn Blue to Gray" - "Now I Lay Thee Down" - "Beautiful Mourning" - "Aesthetics of Hate"
See also
Vio-lence