20 Years Ago Today, MACHINE HEAD Was Born

Guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"[20 years ago today] at 'Day On The Green' #19, featuring METALLICA, QUEENSRCHE, 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."

MACHINE HEAD's new album, "Unto The Locust", sold more
than 17,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 22 on The Billboard 200 chart putting MACHINE HEAD in the Top 25 for the first time in the band's 17-year history. Even more impressively, this is the third consecutive album to show at least a 20 percent increase in sales over its
predecessor, a virtually unprecedented feat for any band or artist, let alone a metal band in 2011. Add to that the fact that MACHINE HEAD's last CD came out four and a half years ago, a period of time that has seen the music market drop by more than 45 percent, and you're looking at something amazing.

Pictured below - MACHINE HEAD circa 1993 (left to right): Tony Costanza (drums),Logan Mader (guitar),Robb Flynn (guitar, vocals),Adam Duce (bass)