ROBB FLYNN On MACHINE HEAD's Longevity: 'We Don't Really Know Anything Else'

Loudwire recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Loudwire: What are your feelings on "Unto the Locust" and how have your fans been reacting?

Flynn: We're all just super proud. I mean we worked our butts off. I feel like we delivered something really special something the metal world needed. We just did a bunch of listening parties in L.A., New York, Chicago and Oakland and got to get some first-hand fan reactions sitting there in the same room as them and talking to them. People seem to be really stoked.

Loudwire: What was the creative process like with this album and did you take a different approach to recording it?

Flynn: With recording it, not really. I mean, we went to a new place. We went to Jingletown studios, which is GREEN DAY's place. They just had a cool vibe. I produced it again, got a new engineer. For the most part, we recorded it the way we did the last few. We got a new jam room, which was cool. During "The Blackening", we moved jam rooms so we decked it out and made it more like a clubhouse than a jam room. We put up posters like PINK FLOYD"The Wall", MAIDEN and SABBATH more the album art than pictures of bandmembers. It just gave it a vibe and made it a cool place for inspiration.

Loudwire: You guys have been around for nearly 20 years and your music continues to sound really fresh. How do you compare the amount of thought and energy you put into your music now compared to when you were just getting started?

Flynn: It was a different time. Going back to when we started, we were four long-haired white dudes living in a predominantly black neighborhood. [laughs] We were sharing a rehearsal studio with four punk rock bands. It was a different vibe; it was a different mindset, too. I think that we were still figuring out where we wanted to go back then as well and along the line we found our lane and we've been riding that lane. We've been able to block the outside world out and just continue to do our thing, which is a really good place to be.

Loudwire: What's been the secret for MACHINE HEAD's longevity? How do you keep it going?

Flynn: We don't really know anything else. [laughs] I've been playing in bands since I was 15 years old. I've been on tour since I was 18. I don't really know anything else, so I've never had a Plan B this kind of had to work. I think when you try and tackle something with that much tenacity, you make it work. A lot of people told me how I should get a Plan B, but I don't want a Plan B; this is what I want to do.

Read the entire interview from Loudwire.