MACHINE HEAD To Play First Three Shows Of Australian Tour As Three-Piece

MACHINE HEAD will play the first three shows of its previously announced November/December 2025 Australian tour as a three-piece after the guitarist the band had hired for the run was forced to pull out of the trek due to a "family emergency".

On Wednesday (November 26),MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn released a video message in which he explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "These are gonna be some pretty unique shows that we're doing for the first three [Good Things festival] side shows in Australia because the guitar player that we had hired to do these six dates ended up having a family emergency. And so, as you know from before, Reece's [Alan Scruggs, former MACHINE HEAD touring guitarist] father was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, and so he's staying home. [MACHINE HEAD producer] Zack [Ohren], who fills in [on guitar] for us sometimes, couldn't make it out because he had a health issue. And then this guy had something going on. So these first three Good Things festival side shows that MACHINE HEAD are doing are going to be played as a three-piece. It's gonna be myself, Jared [MacEachern, bass] and Matt [Alston, drums]. And it's gonna be basically 'Electric Happy Hour' style, which is how Jared and I have been doing the livestreams for five years now. In fact, this isn't the first time at all that we've played as a three-piece. The first time we did a secret show at Bloodstock [Open Air] festival, we played as a three-piece. It was just myself, Jared and Matt. Reece's first tour that he did with us, he had been given a very bizarre setlist, and we ended up playing about six or seven songs a night for the first two weeks as a three-piece, and it worked out cool."

Flynn continued: "So, I'm actually looking forward to it because it's still gonna be 'An Evening With' show where we've got a lot of songs to pull from. We're gonna do some deep cuts, some fun stuff. And if you're coming out to either Perth or Sunshine Coast or Canberra, you're gonna get a pretty, pretty unique, pretty once-in-a-lifetime viewing of MACHINE HEAD shows.

"So come on out, come hang Saturday, Monday and then Wednesday — Perth, Sunshine Coast and Canberra. And we're gonna be jamming. So check it out."

The following MACHINE HEAD Australian shows will be played as a three-piece:

Nov. 29 - Astor Theater, Perth
Dec. 01 - The Station, Sunshine Coast
Dec. 03 - UC Refectory, Canberra

MACHINE HEAD will also perform at the Good Things festival, which will take place at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne on December 5, Sydney Showground, Sydney on December 6 and Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane on December 7.

It is not presently clear who will play second guitar for MACHINE HEAD at the Good Things shows.

Earlier this week, MACHINE HEAD announced a European headlining tour for the spring of 2026. Dubbed "An Evening With…", the trek will see the Flynn-fronted outfit revive its three-hour show format, performing without support acts to deliver an exhaustive set of anthems, deep cuts and fan favorites.

This past June, Scruggs announced that he would sit out MACHINE HEAD's summer 2025 European tour in order to stay home with his father, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Playing guitar for MACHINE HEAD at various shows on the trek were Ohren and DECAPITATED's Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka.

Kiełtyka, who joined MACHINE HEAD's lineup prior to the launch of the band's "Burn My Eyes" 25th-anniversary tour in late 2019, left the Flynn-fronted act in February 2024 and was replaced by Scruggs, who has previously filled in for Vogg on a couple of tours.

Reece made his live debut with MACHINE HEAD in November 2022 at Strummer's in Fresno, California at the opening show of the "Electric Happy Hour (Live)" tour.

MACHINE HEAD's eleventh studio album, "Unatoned", came out in April 2025 via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings.

Press photo courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records