ROBERT FLYNN: "KERRY KING's Eaten So Many Cheeseburgers His Brain's Starting To Clog Up"

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robert Flynn has slammed SLAYER guitarist Kerry King over the latter's incessant public criticisms of MACHINE HEAD's recent recorded output during various interviews conducted by King over the last several months. In the latest diary entry posted at the group's official web site (www.machinehead1.com),Flynn makes it clear that whatever friendship may have existed between him and the portly SLAYER axeman during MACHINE HEAD's earliest days has been replaced by a gamut of emotions, ranging from mild amusement to not-so-thinly-veiled resentment.

"The other day, someone asked me what I think of Kerry King from SLAYER always trashing MACHINE HEAD and me," Flynn stated. "You want to know what I think? I think the guy's a jerk. I think the guy's a lard ass. I think the guy's eaten so many cheeseburgers lately his brain is starting to clog up, and he can't think straight anymore. And, I think it's really hard to get offended when the guy who's talking trash about you looks like RIGHT SAID FRED with a beard, and wears ass-less leather chaps. I mean, c'mon!? The guy wears ass-less leather chaps!!!? Where I live in San Francisco, that'd be Kerry Queen. Make no mistake about it, I am a huge SLAYER fan. Not a Kerry fan. But hell,.. The way I look at it, I take pleasure in knowing that by doing absolutely nothing, we can be such a source of irritation to one man."

In the same posting, Flynn addressed the recent departure of guitarist Ahrue Luster and the group's upcoming activities, including the imminent European mini-tour, which is likely to mark the last live appearances by MACHINE HEAD for a long time to come. Here is the rest of Robert's message as it appears on the site:

"The more things change, the more they stay the same right? Yeah they do. One change that happened in MACHINE HEAD recently is that our guitar player Ahrue left. Is it a bad thing? Well, I guess it depends on who you ask. What happened? Well, the guy really wanted to take MACHINE HEAD in a mellower direction, we weren't into it. He wanted to do a mellow side project, we wouldn't take a back seat for that. His heart wasn't into playing heavy music anymore, and he wanted to leave. Whether it was now, or a year from now, he was going to leave, and we didn't feel that attitude could work in the band, so we went our separate ways.

"That's really about it. I wish I had more to tell you, some drama that would make it more exciting, but I don't. We wish him the best for the future.

"In the mean time, the HEAD will remain a three piece. A power threeo!!!, (which is how it's pronounced after about 8 beers). We plan to write, and record the next album as a three piece, and are not actively seeking a permanent replacement, until we tour again.

"Are we still doing the European shows? HELL YES we are!! Filling in the vacated guitar spot we have good friend, and my former band mate Phil Demmel. He's a good dude, monster guitar player, and easily fills the shoes left before him. Phil is in a band called TECHNOCRACY and is just helping us out for the tour. Again, we have no plans to seek a permanent replacement yet.

"Unfortunately, this will be the last tour that MACHINE HEAD does for a very long, long time. I can't really see us touring again until possibly early 2004 — the HEAD are going on hiatus for a while, not an indefinite hiatus, but a definite hiatus. Taking some time to regroup, decide where we want things to go, which at this point seems unclear to some.

"We're really looking forward to seeing all you drunken MACHINE HEAD maniacs on tour, so come on out! Head Headz, The Head-o-philes (who came up with that, that's messed up ),The Frontliners, all of you lunatics. We're rolling out some hella old songs, stuff we haven't played in years, since the Burn My Eyes tour. It's fun, and it's definitely lit a fire under our asses, so get the hell out of the house. We also plan on doing a secret show at an undisclosed location, around the beginning of July, so keep your ear to the street Headerz.

"What's up with the live album? Don't really know. Ask the warm, lovely, and caring folks over at Roadrunner Records America, gosh they're just swell.

"Got any new songs? Yep, 5 or 6 of 'em, no song titles yet. What's the new stuff sound like? Heavy. Full-on molten metal, with patented MACHINE HEAD Harmonics™ and Low String Bends™. Little more aggro than Supercharger. A different kind of heavy compared to Burn My Eyes. Melodically similar to The Burning Red, but alot more riff-y. And just...weird...in a good way, kind of unexpected, things I don't hear other bands doing, . No mellow songs yet, all fairly raging so far.

"Someone recently told me that they thought MACHINE HEAD were limited because we couldn't ever make a record in the vein of INCUBUS, or DEFTONES...which I completely agreed with. I also pointed out that DEFTONES and INCUBUS are just as limited, because they couldn't ever make an album in the vein of MACHINE HEAD.

"It's kind of dumb, if you think about it. We offer one thing to the world, they offer something else, Duh!? I firmly believe that no one can offer the world what MACHINE HEAD can, because there's only one MACHINE HEAD. Just as no one else can offer the world, what both of those incredible bands do. The world of music is a better place, because of those limitations, not in spite of them. Our limitations force us to be the best ...at what 'we' do."