Machine Head: voluble, serene and hopeful

Minutes after finishing talking with Robb Flynn of Machine Head, a quote glides into focus: “Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope,” Oscar Wilde opined in the penultimate century.

Ignorant, pimply, loud and made-up is the way Heavy Metal is viewed… But, enough about The Darkness and their populist machinations… There is an HM strain that brings volume, passion, riffs and concerns to a glorious union and Machine Head have always been around the forefront although the sales have stubbornly failed to match their sonic might…

The band‘s fifth studio album ‘Through The Ashes of Empires’ took personal, national and global issues for a realistic cocktail of observations, interpretations and accusations. Due to an acidic remark, read few hours before this encounter, on Prez G. W. Bush by director Oliver Stone - “I think he lives in fear of drinking again. There‘s nothing more dangerous for America than an ex-alcoholic President who tells you to believe in Jesus; if I were George Bush, I would shoot myself.” - lead us to ask Robb Flynn about the recent US election. It strangely causes the frontman to explain the psych-up process before hitting the stage…

“Well, our guy didn’t win,” Flynn waves the flag instantly, “that’s for sure, but we’ve been touring over here and don’t know what it’s really like there. But it is not something I think really about before hitting the stage. I’m in a different frame of mind…“

“I tend to concentrate on the show, my performance and what I’m gonna say to the crowd. The show is my main concern, we are there to entertain people and not to sell politics. Yes, it’s true, sometimes I rehearse what I‘m gonna say but often I just go with the vibe of the crowd, try to push it, mould it into a good time for everybody.”

Providence's ambiguity

Machine Head went through a prolonged rough period that started with the release of the Oakland band’s fourth studio album, ‘Supercharger’, occurring only weeks after the terrorist nightmare of 9/11; its lead-off single ‘Crashing Around You’ was yanked off play lists, their contract with the American arm of Roadrunner expired… The band couldn’t find a label to re-sign them in the whole of America’s wideness.

Europe was a different story entirely, with the band headlining 25,000-strong festivals like East Germany's With Full Force. Things are back on track and the band is looking forward to the future in music industry facing some challenging times.

“Heck, yeah, we f**king hope so,” Flynn suddenly perks up. “We had the second biggest selling record for Roadrunner in 2003, the only one to do better was Nickelback’s record, so… We are kicking arse in America and our tour there was one of the most successful tours for a band that has a limited mainstream (media) access, averaging audiences of 700 kids a night, European shows are generally sold out…”

“At the time, before we started writing ‘Empires’, it didn’t look that good,” Flynn sighs whilst reflecting, “those were tough times but we decided to continue going. Everybody has tough times but we always believed there would be light at the end of the tunnel and it did come. It did take a long time but we are the only band that got dropped and re-signed to Roadrunner. We just kept our minds open to all the possibilities.”

That may be shrinking as the industry has become more merciless in dealing with artists.

“F**k, yeah,” a short, nervous laugh ensues, “it is just the cut-throat now. The industry has started to learn that you have to build bands slowly… The days of 1 million dollar video and 2.5 million dollar media promotion… The kids are onto it, wise to the formula and are looking for grassroots… The fortunate thing for Machine Head is that our whole ideal and our whole system has been based on that.”

“We started out when nobody wanted to start at the grassroot level and we said we wanted to built on slowly but with solid foundation… I pretty much believe that we are here because we built on solid foundations, it was a lot of work and slow a lot of the times but, you know, in the end - that’s why we are here after ten years. We’ve got a fanatical and loyal fan base; I don’t really understand it why and how, whereas and wherefore… We might not have played our cards right with everything we’ve done but we played our cards right there.”

Honesty, integrity and non-compromising stand may have something to do with it.

Hellalive and post-cyberism

The recording industry is being altered at its core level with the launch of new sound carrier and the consumption of music is bound to be affected by iPod capability; with 10000 songs available, how many times will a listener return to a new album, assuming it was downloaded in it its entirety? Will this erode the power of music even further?

“I don’t know if rock… Pop music, that’s always been the case of one song on the radio but rock listeners are more about culture, an ideal, an album, an artwork, all together. When I was buying albums by the underdogs it was an act of rebellion, an act of seeking knowledge that wasn’t widely available, it was a lifestyle, a philosophy… It was against the mainstream, it wasn’t safe, it has an element of danger to it and it is still there, to me, in Metal…”

“Kids buy music because they like albums, I think… But, we have iPod on he road with us and it makes travelling easy. No need to carry 100s of CDs and DVDs, it’s all on one machine, it is just another medium. So, instead of a cover, you have a video, a poster, or something.”

“Dave’s got iPod and he programmed it with variety… Dave’s got plenty of free time to have programmed it, eh?! New technology is fine but there are things it can’t replace, like going to a cinema to watch a movie, or watching a video on fullsize TV… We just got a video for our new single, ‘Days Turn Blue To Gray’, and we saw it first on a laptop, in that small 2-inch media screen! F**k that, it’s awful, it drives me crazy.”

The single is lifted from the current album and the band hasn’t had the time to write some new songs.

“No, but we’ve been filming several of the UK shows, and [will tape] the one in Brixton, for a DVD release next April.”

When you ask Robb Flynn what comes after music in his book, alcohol, sex or drugs, you get a healthy answer - “Outdoors.” The man loves camping and getting away from it all; he says that sitting by the campfire, miles away from TV, telephones, Internet, is the only way for him to - decompress. Seeing how intense and sincere he’s during the shows, you can truly believe it.

Tour dates (remaining):

03 December - Academy, Birmingham
04 December - Uni, Cardiff
05 December - Brixton Academy, London