MACHINE HEAD's DEMMEL Doesn't Believe Latest Collapse Was Caused By His Medical Condition

July 28, 2009

MACHINE HEAD guitarist Phil Demmel has commented on his most recent onstage collapse, which happened this past Saturday (July 25) during the band's set at the Sonisphere festival in Pori, Finland.

Phil — who suffers from a rare condition called cardiogenic syncope (which means that the heart sometimes fails to pump enough blood to the brain, resulting in the sufferer blacking out) — wrote in a July 27 message, "Saturday's episode was different than the previous. I felt it before we went on and probably should've gotten oxygen before 'Halo'. Three of the four [onstage] collapses have happened during that song.

"This run has been the most grueling traveling that we've done in a looooong time and I'm fairly confident that my condition had nothing to do with this [most recent collapse].

"Looking forward to a killer headline show [Monday night in Århus, Denmark] and the rest of our scheduled appearances.

"I sincerely apologize for cutting the show short as it pains me severely."

Video footage of Demmel collapsing on stage on at the Sonisphere festival in Pori, Finland can be viewed below.

MACHINE HEAD was forced to cancel the last two shows of its European tour with SLIPKNOT last December after Demmel blacked out during the second-to-last song of the band's set in Sheffield, England.

In a February 2009 interview with HeadbangersBlog.com, MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn stated about Demmel's previous collapses, "It had been happening a bit on this last tour, most dramatically in Paris where, for no apparent reason, at one in the afternoon, he collapsed face first into a wooden table and broke two glass ashtrays on his chest and had to go to the hospital. For the most part, none were public or onstage, so they weren't publicized, but we're very concerned, worried, and a little scared about what's going on. It's confusing. And because it's so random, frankly, it seems dangerous. The doctors he's been seeing, in my opinion, haven't been doing enough, and the advice they've given him is ridiculous. But he seems to be feeling good, and it hasn't happened since then, which is a great sign. He's working to change his habits and to be a little healthier (eating, exercise, stretching) but other than the first few days out, his habits haven't really changed much."

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