“On Wednesday night, Phil Demmel quit Machine Head. Yesterday afternoon, Dave MacLean quit Machine Head. And Jared… kinda quit… but didn’t know if he was quitting for sure.”
Thus begins a very surprising announcement from Machine Head’s Robb Flynn which you can watch in full below or on the band’s facebook page.
The current tour cycle will be completed as a celebration of “this era of the band”, but otherwise it sounds like this could well be the end of the road for Machine Head. Flynn seems to be accepting the blame for the break-up, saying that he’s been too driven regarding the band to the point of alienating the other members. Though this hardly sounds like an amicable end, Flynn asks that the other members’ decisions are respected.
From our point of view – mine in particular as a massive fan of the band – this is a huge musical blow as it perhaps means that the last show I saw them play was the last show I by them I ever will see. Machine Head have produced some incredible albums throughout their history, generating a lot of haters along the way for some reason, and have put on a brilliant live show every time I’ve seen them.
While Flynn stops completely short of saying this is the end of the band as a whole (focussing on using terms such as “this era”), it certainly doesn’t look rosey in the MH camp at present.
UPDATE (30th Sept):
An email was sent out from MH central this evening to clarify matters further:
The upcoming Freaks & Zeroes Tour of North America (that starts this Thursday in Sacramento, CA) is still happening, and will be a celebration of the music that the line-up have created throughout the years. The split is amicable, and the guys are looking forward to playing these very special shows for the Head Cases of North America and ending this era on a positive and classy note.
To clarify: this is the Farewell Tour of this line-up of Machine Head, not the Farewell Tour of Machine Head, as has been reported in the media.
Machine Head wish to thank Phil and Dave for their significant contributions to the band, both musically and lyrically, as well for the spirit, genuine passion they infused into the music, and legendary live performances brought along the way.
omg!!! im so upset over this. machine head are my all time fav band. words cant describe how much this is going to upset metal heads all around the world.
MACHINE FUCKIN HEAD.
The band will continue once Robb drafts in a couple of replacements (though they will be difficult shoes to fill). The last performance with the current line-up was earlier this week. I’ll be interested to see how /if the Machine Head “sound” changes with the introduction of new blood.