MACHINE HEAD's ROBB FLYNN Says He Quit The Band On Last European Tour

Guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD has issued the following update:

"Sippin' on some Sizzurp, sip-sippin'-on-some-sip, sippin' on some Sizzurp, sip-sippin'-on-some-sip...

"We're out with METALLICA right now in America (that's right bitches!!... main support to METALL-I-FUCKIN'-CA in America!!!) and we're super stoked about it! Most of those shows have been pretty sweet, so far Washington D.C. was hands-down the rowdiest crowd, with Milwaukee and Newark #2 a close second. They usually let all the MetClub people in early and they have been treating us really well; very receptive to what we're doing, and it was cool starting to get to see and know some of them after a while. Tons of them went to multiple shows and manned the same spot on the barrier night after night. The stage is cool too. Having played in the corner of a room for over half of my life, it took some getting used to playing in-the-round, or 'in-the-rectangle,' if you wanna get technical. First night in L.A. was a disaster, but after that we got it down. We definitely command it now, and we *have* to COMMAND it. If we don't, it's so easy to just get lost up on that giant stage, and lose the attention of an audience who, for the most part, have never even heard of us. THE SWORD dudes are cool, had a couple good hang nights with them. Kind of a weird vibe on the tour as a whole though, but stage crew and METALLI-camp is totally fuckin' cool.

"After this we're off to Europe to with METALLICA until May which is gonna be face-melting!

"SLIPKNOT tour was amazing! I really can't go on enough about it. 10 1/2 weeks with SLIPKNOT. Man, I've wanted kill some bands after two weeks, but after 10 weeks with them, I miss all those dudes already. Japan fucking ruled!!! Eight truly amazing shows!!! The crowds there are out of their fucking MINDS!!! And despite the Loud Park festival being a technical nightmare of biblical proportions for us (I played the majority of the show without a guitar),the crowd was jaw-droppingly brutal!!! They chanted 'Machine Fucking Head' for 15 minutes after we left the stage!!!??? Scotland, Manchester and New York City, you better watch your backs, you have new rival in the circle pit department, and they may have already stolen the crown...

"First time in New Zealand was killer, and Australia was incredible, as always, with Brisbane setting the bar impossibly high for the rest of the country. The fuckin' hillbillies in Adelaide KILLED it though... you hillbillies are awesome! Perth was pure drunken Halloween insanity with girls onstage dressed as witches rockin', showin' us a thing or two on the Git-Fiddle, and stagediving! Fuckin' blast!!!

"And Europe was equally amazing!!! Our good friend Henning Gulli was there to document all the shenanigans in both Oz and Europe; he has a really cool site with about a hundred shots compiled from each city to check out when you have a minute.

"SLIPKNOT dudes were great to hang with, had some fine drinking nights with Joey [Jordison, drums], and a couple of really good ones with Mick [Thomson, guitar]. Corey's [Taylor, vocals] birthday was a blast, and it's just gotta be said, Jim Root [guitar] is the fucking MAN! Their crew was awesome, solid dudes all around, and really went out of their way to take care of our crew. The CHILDREN OF BODOM dudes RULE!!! Those dudes had it rough opening up some nights, but they went out and KILLED it every night man! Awesome band, Phil [Demmel, MACHINE HEAD guitarist] and I had a couple of unforgettable drinking nights with them blasting N.W.A. and ICE CUBE until ungodly hours of the night drinking Jameson's whiskey and Grey Goose vodka. Alexi [Laiho, CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist/vocalist] and I visited the Marshall Amplification factory to meet Paul Marshall and Co., and got to try out their latest amps. The Kerry King one really stood out to me. Great distortion, great definition, it's a good fuckin' amp.

"The tour ended a little abruptly, as we reported Phil collapsed again, this time in Sheffield. 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. *ahem! cough!*

"Adam [Duce, MACHINE HEAD bassist] and I have been going to therapy. Yep... going to therapy, to work out our bullshit. And oh how we *needed* to do this... lemme tell ya, after 17 years of being in a band together, touring together for a large majority of that time, we've accumulated a lot of shit between the two of us that's either been put off or swept under the rug, and frankly, it all reached a boiling point on the first night in Paris on the SLIPKNOT tour. To summarize briefly, after a massive two-day-long fight, I quit the band. I was gonna be on a plane the next day and as far as I was concerned, I was never gonna see the dude again for the rest of my life. That next day he came by, and we agreed to try and sort it out... to try therapy before it all fell apart. Because it was falling apart. We agreed that the band meant more to us, that our friendship meant more to us, and that neither was something the two of us (four of us, for that matter) wanted to lose. All in all, it's going okay. We both bring a LOT of baggage to the table, as, frankly, we're both pretty fucked up. While it isn't new for me (I did two years of fairly intensive therapy back '98, and more before 'The Blackening'),it is new to him, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.... but, we're working at it. We don't want to lose this, and after all we've been through, to lose this band, our friendship, now, would seem like the hugest of failures.

"On a lighter note... this February 12 marks the the two-year anniversary of touring behind 'The Blackening', and this August 8 marks our 15th anniversary as a recording artist. Wow! It's amazing that we've survived this long. That we've prospered this long, making this kind of music, on our own terms, on our own [often lonely] path. We've watched three musical trends come and go, and for some reason we weathered all of them only to come out stronger. It's incredible when I really sit back and think about it.

"As a man named Dickens once wrote, 'It was the worst of times, it was the best of times'...

"Ain't that the fuckin' truth."

Sweden's Metal-TV.com conducted an interview with Robb Flynn in November 2008 when MACHINE HEAD played Hovet in Stockholm with SLIPKNOT and CHILDREN OF BODOM. Watch the four-minute chat below.

(Thanks: Crumbs / TakeMyScars.com)