MACHINE HEAD Guitarist Talks About Death Of His Father, His Heart Condition; Video Available

Shannon's Bands conducted an interview with guitarist Phil Demmel of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD before the group's November 27, 2009 concert at Hard Rock Live in Orlando, California with MEGADETH. Watch the chat below.

In a recent interview with Full Metal Rock, Demmel stated about the band's plans to go back into the studio and write some new material, "We'll write in the spring when we get home from the tour. We'll be home in April, so I would imagine late April we will reconvene in the studio and start writing the follow-up [to 2007's 'The Blackening']. So I don't know when it will be ready and when we are going to record. We are not setting any time. When it's ready then we'll go in."

On the subject of his heart condition which has caused him to black out several times on stage, Phil said, "I can never be sure that it won't happen [again], because three out of the four times I was pretty surprised that it did. Health-wise, it's been better. It's more a head-space thing than anything else, you know, so it has a lot to do with depression and has a lot to do with stress. Ever since my father died two years ago — tomorrow is the anniversary — it's been tough, man. So it's hard to gather all those emotions and keep things in check. So I can't be sure. But I feel better these days, for sure."

When asked if MACHINE HEAD is going to release a DVD or live CD to document "The Blackening" tours, guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn recently told About.com, "We're doing a DVD. We've been filming this whole four-year period. It will come out next year, probably at the end of the summer. It's going to be the four-year journey of the band, from writing the record to recording to touring to all the ups and downs and everything in between."