NO FUCKING REGRETS
“we’d been touring for over a year. And then, as the British say, things went tits up!” 2018 was a rather eventful year in the life of Machine Head. Despite a history that’s had no shortage of drama, the news that guitarist Phil Demmel and drummer Dave McClain were quitting the band took everyone by surprise. Announced by frontman Robb Flynn in a very raw and emotional Facebook Live post last September, the split occurred just before the band were to embark on a major tour in support of latest album Catharsis. Machine Head completed the tour, using the last dates to celebrate Phil and Dave’s contribution to the band and bring that era to a close in the right spirit. Nonetheless, the future for Robb’s band – now reduced to him and bassist Jared MacEachern, who joined in 2013 – looked uncertain.
“The world got to watch me get divorced on the world wide web,” Robb notes with a weary chuckle. “That’s the price of living your life in public. Sure, you get to share your travels around the world and all the high points, but you also get to share all the bad points, too. I didn’t want to pretend it wasn’t happening and then, at the end of the tour, announce that they were leaving. We’ve had a honest relationship with our fans and that’s been an amazing thing. It’s really created an incredible bond. We’ve gone on this journey together
