Ex-MACHINE HEAD Drummer Slams Former Bandmates, Calls Them Trendy 'Nu Metal'

Ex-MACHINE HEAD drummer Chris Kontos has posted a lengthy message on a public message board explaining his side of his split with the group nearly 10 years ago and offering a scathingly negative opinion of the band's recent musical output.

In a posting that is believed to have been made late last year, Kontos — who is currently pounding the skins for the San Francisco Bay Area rockers THE SERVANTS — stated, "[MACHINE HEAD] is still a sore subject with me but I don't let it get in the way of my life.

"At the time I played on [MACHINE HEAD mainman] Robb [Flynn]'s demo in May of '92 — I was still in VERBAL ABUSE and a band called GRINCH. Robb Flynn was out to start a new band and had sought me out in the hardcore punk scene. The songs that Robb played me were raw and thick and downtuned and heavy as hell! He had just left VIO-LENCE and told me that they had been after that MTV 'Headbanger's Ball' sound and they thought his shit was too hard! Plus, they could not get the hang of the beats and riffs.

"So [Robb] got two fans of the band ([bassist] Adam Duce & [guitarist] Logan Mader) and started to jam at Robb's room. Now at some point Robb had a chance to be in MINISTRY and had to send in some of his stuff on tape, He did not want to send VIO-LENCE to them, so he asked me to jam out on the new songs he had. I was on my way to New York to the New Music Seminar to shop GRINCH and VERBAL ABUSE's new shit in two weeks (Jun. 22nd 1992). So we rocked out a fast demo and I was off. In the meantime, they got this lame ass to play drums and they got 3 or 4 more songs and did a gig that got a review in BAM (Jan 23rd 1993).

"I got home 7 months later... New York has a way of sucking you in! I saw this guy drumming in the band, and set out to take his job. And he made it easy, this guy didn't know how to act. So after I had some talks with Robb... 'I' was in, and 'he' was on a bus back to Las Vegas!

"Now at first it was cool, we got all the songs ready for the demo, and did some really cool shows and the buzz was out on the band.

"Once the demo was out, it hit us that we could make a run at some big labels and might get a deal! And right off we got a great deal on Roadrunner! We did one of the best metal records out the Bay [Area] in years! Shit...in the world!!!!! (Aug. 9th 1994) Right in the face off all the nay-sayers. Thanx to the hard work of our manager!!!. Then we jumped on a tour bus together with NAPALM DEATH FOR 3 MONTHS and did not ever really get to know who the fuck we were.

"I had been all over the world 3 times and small van tours in the U.S. and this was the first time out for the guys in the band. They did not act so nice on the road and got all rock-star on all the help! Every man for himself was the call of the day. 22 months later I was so over the small-man complex and the drug fights and spending all the $$$$ on bull shit and the backstabbing in the band, I was just over it.

"The last 5 months I was sick with some hardcore viral infection and had to come home for surgery from Japan. I got the operation and went on the South American tour and got sick once again. and I had to miss the Donington Fest. No one was more bummed out about that than me, trust me. Not only did I get no love from my band, I got kicked out!

"Now, we had fights over lame shit all the time, and that's Robb's big head with all the plans for the band made with him and our manager. We got left out of the mix all the time. Adam would take orders all day from Robb — just not having to help kept him happy, and Logan was lost half the time, so it was no big deal to him, but some of the shit that Robb wanted to do was wrong, flat out. So if I had something to say about it, that was a big deal. I just don't puppy up to you if you come at me all one-sided and shit, you have to ask us as a band if we should or not, but they just got hella bossy and that ain't me homie!

"Now it's all good, and it was the best thing to get out of the band because it is a lame NU-METAL band now, all trendy and shit. Robb kicked all the best heads in the band out, got dropped off Roadrunner and just lost all respect of the metalheads in the world and that's just a shame.

"I get much love from all the fans of 'Burn My Eyes' and I love that C.D. too, and love the folks that I got to know in that time on my tours with MACHINE HEAD. But… the shit-talking still goes on in the press with Robb to this day. And the next band he has beef with is…

"He got on the bad side of SLAYER last year! That is so lame to go off on the one band to give MACHINE HEAD a real chance to make it the biz!!!! And because Robb fired his first manager, and got with SLAYER's management, then got dropped by that guy and had to go back to the first manager, Robb has to talk shit about Kerry King!! Now MH is back on Roadrunner, yet low sales of the records, and no love from MTV (or any of the video shows for that matter) keep MACHINE HEAD LOW ON THE TOTEM POLL OF NU-METAL TO THIS DAY!!!! Bands that opened for us (COAL CHAMBER, DEFTONES, KORN, MESHUGGAH, DISTURBED) are big-time now, and sell millions of records and play to huge crowds. Sharon Osbourne called MACHINE HEAD a twenty-minute opener at best, and a stiff. Most of the bands that get to know Adam or Robb find out that they can be cool, but they spend so much time trippin' out on shit, that it gets in the way of progress.

"Now, I know it's all about Robb proving something to someone. Who that is, we will never know. All I hear from fans, or just from the guys that played in MACHINE HEAD after me, or worked for them is that they fake like they are all cool and tuff and party hard and get laid and got it like that. I like to be in rock bands for all types of reasons, but none of them are about getting back at the world, or some need to rule some small metal band from the Bay Area. In the end I have gone on to play with some of the best folks in the world and made a ton of new friends. I know that would not have happened in MACHINE HEAD, and I'm proud of the time I had but... I'M HAPPY TO BE A DRUM SLUT!!!!!! ROCK ON!!!!!"