MACHINE HEAD Frontman Issues Post-ROCKSTAR ENERGY MAYHEM Update

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn has posted the following entry in his online "diary" at the band's official web site:

"Kicking it here in The Bay once again after wrapping up the last day of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. I am downright shocked at how fast this tour went by. I guess the saying's true, time definitely flies when you're having fun. Hell, fun doesn't even begin to describe it! That tour was incredible! Hands down the best American festival tour we have ever done. Not to say the others were bad or anything, 'cause they weren't, but these guys have really got it down. It was well-organized/planned, very artist-friendly, with super chill vibe, they let bands host BBQs every few days and paid for some food and booze, and as a result of all of the sponsorships there was a ton of money to go around to take care of shit for the bands. We could not have done anything better right now; without a doubt, this tour was MASSIVE for us.

"The crowds themselves were phenomenal, and if I do say so myself, we absolutely KILLED it on this tour!!! We OWNED the side stage!!! Seriously, some of those shows were just plain ridiculous. We had 5,000 kids making 6 pits in Albuquerque... SIX FUCKING PITS!!! It was retarded! And we aren't sittin' there tellin' 'em to open up the pit for 5 minutes between songs, Head Cases just DO that shit!!! Hell, we usually had no less than 2 pits going at any given time, and even on a 'slow' day we played to 3,000 people, it was crazy. On a good day like Mountain View, or Los Angeles, we played to 10,000 people, easily. And to tell you the truth, there wasn't even really a 'slow' day, but if I had to mention some standouts, highlights for sure included San Francisco (FUCKING BRUTAL!!!!!!),Los Angeles (SICK!!!),Dallas (AMAZING!),Chicago was nothing short of mind-boggling, sing-a-longs from hell... they fucking love their metal in Chicago, that is for DAMN SURE! Detroit, West Palm Beach, Pittsburgh... Toronto was FUCKING ABSURD!!!! Camden... oh my GOD!!! Uniondale, Atlanta had 3,000 kids raging in the pouring, POURING rain our entire set, it was just... MAN!?! And though this sounds kinda hippie-dippie, a couple of times it had been raining all day... but as soon as we got to 'Halo' the sun came out. It was fuckin' goose-bump kinda shit, let me tell ya! The kinda shit you read about.

"Definitely a HUGE thanks to John Reese, Mayhem, and all the Rockstar Energy Drink crew for going way above and beyond. We also want to thank the Jägermeister crew, Rob and Co. for being so amazing and on the ball, and Jägermeister for giving us endless supplies of Jäger!!! All the bands on this tour have been so fucking amazing, such a rad vibe backstage, and awesome to make so many cool, funny, and genuinely good people as new friends. And a big shout out to Strati and the Metal Mulisha dudes for being so cool. Hopefully you got a chance to check out the Metal Mulisha guys... they're fucking UNREAL!!!

"Immediately before this run, we did a show in Moscow, the With Full Force festival, and Wacken Seaside. Moscow was fucking incredible. What a great experience. It was actually quite the thriving city, I was thinking it would be all breadlines and cardboard boxes, but much to my surprise, we saw Prada stores and bling! Everyone spoke English pretty well and the show was sincerely amazing. Those people are soooooo into music, it's in their soul. As Dave [McClain, drums] mentioned in the Mayhem video diary, when we played 'Descend' the entire crowd sat down on the floor, and then shot up and sang, it was so friggin' rad. After that was the With Full Force festival, which we headlined again, always a huge honor for us. I'm not gonna say it was our most flawless performance... *cough* ...both Phil [Demmel, guitar] and I were pretty hammered when we played, but man, there was something magical about this show. We were so on fire as a band, it wasn't even funny. We had fuckin' telepathy going and the four of us just locked in so friggin' hard, it was an unbelievable feeling. It was a sloppy sort of perfection, drunk and sweaty, spontaneous and reckless, beautiful and dangerous, just when it felt like it might fall apart we pulled it back together and killed it all over again. For me, it was one of the greatest shows this band has ever played, and as I watched it back on the DVD they gave us, I gotta say, it was everything I've ever wanted in a metal show. We owned With Full Force.

"Here's some pics from the Moscow, WFF, and Mayhem insanity."

MACHINE HEAD's latest video, "Halo", can be viewed at this location. The clip, which was filmed on April 3 in San Francisco with director Mike Sloat ("Aesthetics of Hate", "Imperium", "Days Turn Blue to Gray"),was shot entirely in front of a green screen, and the footage was all digitally manipulated to mimic the style of the artwork from the packaging for MACHINE HEAD's new album "The Blackening".

MACHINE HEAD garnered the first Grammy nomination of its career for "Aesthetics of Hate", a monstrous track from the critically hailed album "The Blackening", released in March 2007. The song was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" (SLAYER eventually won the award for "The Final Six").

MACHINE HEAD will support SLIPKNOT on a European tour this fall. Also scheduled to appear on the bill is CHILDREN OF BODOM.