MACHINE HEAD Frontman Suffering From Flu And Viral Throat Infection

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robert Flynn is suffering from flu and a severe viral throat infection and as such, the band were unable to perform Thursday night (May 12) in Cleveland, OH. "Despite strict doctors orders to rest his voice completely for four straight days, the band are doing everything they can to get back on track as soon as possible, hopefully in time for Friday's show in Edgerton, WI," reads a posting on the group's web site. "Worst-case scenario, Robert expects to be ready to go for Saturday's show in Chicago. Either way, [opening acts] DEVILDRIVER and IT DIES TODAY will still be playing both shows."

In other news, MACHINE HEAD drummer Dave McClain recently spoke to HitThePit.com about the group's upcoming DVD, "Elegies". Asked to provide some details on the disc, McClain said, "Well, it was recorded on our last European tour. It was done at Brixton Academy in London. I don't know if you've ever seen any videos from Brixton Academy but it's this huge 5,000-seat place and it's got this vibe to it, like this really dark, crazy 'Phantom of the Opera' vibe to it. London's like our home away from home, so we really wanted to do it there, and it was killer. We brought in extra stuff, brought in fire, and had the whole KISS stage show going on, explosions going on, so we're rushing to finish it up. I don't think it's going to come out now until August. We had some problems with the German people who filmed it. We just figured out that Germans are good for about making beer and that's about it, but it is coming along. We have Mike Sloat, who did our two videos for 'Through the Ashes', and he's doing it up right now, editing it, and getting all our stupid drunk footage on there."

HitThePit.com: What's your favorite moment on the DVD?

Dave McClain: "I just saw one the other night that got emailed to us. It was me and Robb one night. Sometimes we'll go and end up drinking until like eight in the morning. It was me and him, and we were basically at the blackout stage. I had this Viking helmet on, and we're sitting there singing something. I don't remember what song we were singing, but I'm biting his head. Robb has this thing when he's drunk; he likes to bite people's heads, so I got to him before he got to me. It's ridiculous when you watch it. It's like 'Holy shit.' Sometimes you just don't know how stupid you get when you're drunk."

HitThePit.com: I read in an online interview that it has a movie aspect to it in a way. It's filmed with a bunch of stops instead of just one, and it makes it feel like it's a movie more than a DVD with a bunch of tour footage thrown together.

Dave McClain: "Yeah, the main concert footage is of Brixton. Some of the shots that are in there are awesome. I mean, everyone and their brother has a DVD out these days and it's like one guy out in the crowd with a video camera filming, so we really wanted it to be special. You'll go from the concert and the concert footage to us being idiots backstage, or showing how boring it is backstage with us just sitting there. Some people have an idea that there's always groupies and stuff going on backstage and it's just us sitting back on a couch in the dressing room, laying around. We really haven't seen any rough cuts of the stuff either. We're just trusting our guy Mike to go through it. We really don't know what to expect. We know all the footage we have. We just don't know how it's tying together right now, but it'll be cool."

Read the entire interview at HitThePit.com.