Happy Birthday MACHINE HEAD

Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn has posted the following on the official Machine Head site:

"[20 years ago today] at 'Day On The Green' #19, featuring METALLICA, QUEENSRŸCHE, FAITH NO MORE, SOUNDGARDEN, I started MACHINE HEAD.

"Well, sort of... it was more of a figurative thought as I didn't have a band yet, but after watching / being blown away by METALLICA for the umpteenth time, I decided that I was going to start a side project, as I was unhappy in my then-band VIO-LENCE. Later that night backstage (or maybe while METALLICA was still playing and we were watching from the stage-right backstage bleachers?) I turned to my friend, partner-in-crime and long time VIO-LENCE fan Adam Duce, and said I was going to start a then-unnamed side project and asked if he would like to play bass. He eagerly agreed.

"I had two songs written by then, the heavily GODFLESH-inspired 'Death Church' and 'Blood For Blood', both songs that I had already brought to VIO-LENCE, but they were not interested in jamming either of them. VIO-LENCE had gone through numerous label changes, were unsigned again, thrash was dead, and the vibe in the band at the time was that the new tunes were going to take a more heavy rock/grunge approach, which seemed a bit crazy to me. Though I wasn't thrilled with our new direction, I said I would stay on, and though no one seemed happy about me doing it, starting a side project seemed fairly reasonable considering our circumstances.

"Four months later following a (thoroughly documented) AM/PM gas station brawl after an UNJUST/DEFTONES show (with DEFTONES opening) at the Omni in Oakland, I quit VIO-LENCE and focused on MACHINE HEAD full-time. But that was still four months away, and for now, it was just a thought, an idea, a dream, that metal could be taken to a different, heavier place.

"Did I think that 20 years later MACHINE HEAD would be a Top 25, Top 10 or Top 5 charting band throughout the world? Hell no.

"Did I think MACHINE HEAD would even be going 20 years later? God no!

"Did I think that we could become one of the best American metal bands on the planet? Yes.

"20 years ago on this very day (October 12, 1991), MACHINE HEAD was born.

"Happy birthday, MACHINE HEAD."

Check out some exclusive live footage from 1997 of Machine Head performing "Take My Scars"

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Tags:  Machine Head, Roadrunner Records, Robb Flynn  

Jason Fisher    October 12, 2011