The Machine Head lineup has just been reduced by (at least) half.
Congrats to any fans who managed to catch the metal legends performing live down under earlier this year on their Catharsis tour — it looks like you may have witnessed the last ever Aussie shows that guitarist Phil Demmel and drummer Dave McClain will ever play with the band.
Frontman Robb Flynn has taken to Facebook Live to announce that both longtime members are walking out the door after the band’s next US tour wraps.
“We have grown apart as people. Musically we’ve grown apart. I have held onto too tight to the reins of this band and I have suffocated those guys,” Flynn confessed in a brutally honest video message.
“I’m kind a barnacle,” the singer continued. “And those rough edges have given us the success we have, but they’ve also hurt the people around me. I’ve got a lot of drive, but I’ve got a lot of anger and rage. And that drive of mine has alienated folks in the band.”
Flynn also stated that bassist Jared MacEachern “kind of quit” too, but that he now “wasn’t sure if he’s quitting for good”.
To Flynn’s credit, he was nothing but complimentary of his bandmates in the video, noting that any other band would be lucky to have them.
The future of Machine Head itself now seems to be under a bit of a cloud, with the band leader admitting that he needs to do a bit of soul searching.
But he’s confirmed that their forthcoming US tour, which is scheduled to kick off next week, will still go ahead, and serve as a “Farewell Tour” for the band’s current lineup, which Flynn says “may be the best era of Machine Head ever, and may be the best line-up that this band ever had”.
Watch his big announcement in the Facebook Live video below.
