The very latest Machine Head update from the man himself…… What up Fuckers?!?!?!?! Motherfuck, motherfuck, Noich, Noich, Noich….. Smoking weed, doing coke, smoking blunts, who smokes the blunts, we smokes the blunts, who drinks the Brown Eyes, we drinks the Brown Eyes…. And I drank A LOT of Brown Eyes the other night. Whe-he-he-hew. Cuh-lord have mercy. Went to the Kerrang Awards, and had fuckin blast. The host / and editor Ashley Bird was fuckin’ hysterical. Every Rock, Metal, Punk, and Emo-core band you’ve ever / never heard of was there. Hung out with Cristian and Laz from Ill Nino all night. Acey from the Murderdolls. Met, and got d-ru-huh-huh-unk with a really good emo-core (?) band called Funeral For a Friend, who won Best British Newcomer and are super cool guys. Met the singer for Killing Joke. The singer for The Used (who I don’t really like, but was a really nice guy). Kicked it with Shavo from System for days, Nick from Dimmu. As well as hung with all my record company people who were cool enough to get me the hottest ticket in town at the last minute. The Kerrang awards were a charming mix of rock-n-rollerz, and incredibly snobby, British music biz-ers who would start off conversations like… “Hey Robb nice to meet you, it’s a shame your band never made it…” No class man. No class. Hung out with Lars from Metallica (who were there to pick up a Kerrang Hall of Fame award). And I gotta say, he was a cool fuckin’ dude. Never really hung out with him before other than, “Hi… bye… thanx for Donington”. But the guy definitely gets a bad rap man. VERY down to earth, funny. He took, and still takes, an unbelievable amount of shit for the whole Napster thing. He was the figurehead. Everyone basically blamed “him” for it, even though the “band” made the decision. Yet he still gets out there, and does his thing. Regardless of where you, or I stand on that issue, “he” took a stand for something “his band” believed in, took a firestorm of shit for it, and still keeps going. I think it would be tough to even show your face after all that. It must have been. Think about it. Could you do the same? Put yourself in his shoes. Would you want to go on as the Metallica mouthpiece after that? Could you take a stand for something you believed in, (whatever it is), and take THAT much shit, and still do what you do? I don’t know if I could. I think I could, but I’m sure it’d be pretty fuckin’ brutal. Don’t really know where I’m going with this, just some random thoughts I had after meeting him. As you may have noticed, I’m still in England. Still wrapping up a couple of songs. We went a little over time on the mixing *cough*, in no small part because of me *cough, cough*, and Colin *cough, cough, cough*. Not to worry my Metal Maniacs, the metal is flowing like molten hot lava. We wrap up in a few days, and Master on the 31st of August. For sure! WOO-HOO!!! An 8 song advance went out to journalists the other day, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before…*ahem*. Now I ain’t saying that every journalist is gonna do that, but you know… The folks at our record company had a good idea, though – they suggested putting different mixes for different versions of each CD that’s sent out, which we did. There are guitar up mixes, guitar down mixes, alternate vocal mixes, even no swearing versions floating around out there, that way, if it gets out, it’ll make it easier to trace who leaked it. So, we’ll see. The feedback to TTAOE has been really positive so far. Did a playback session for the press, and everyone was really stoked, calling it a comeback and shit. Did another playback for press, RR street team-ers, and contest winners at a rad Metal club in London called The Intrepid Fox. People were pretty much freaking, really good reaction. Hollerin’ that it sounds like (as we say in MH) the B-word. I chock that up to the free drinks at the open bar… you know… the more you drink, the less we stink. LOL The coolest comment I heard, was from a kid who, when talking about the melodic stuff on the record said, “I never doubted that you we’re capable of making a record like this, I just never thought you would”. Thanx!… er… Actually I thought it was a great, incredibly honest comment, and it meant a lot. Start the press tour next Monday. Shooting a video for “Imperium” when I return mid-Sept. Brand new MP3’s coming to the site soon. Week 2 of the video diary comin’. More Euro tour dates comin’, plus Support bands to be announced… keepin’ our fingers crossed. Album cover to be up very soon. New photos. New merch in production. Track listing is finalized: 01. Imperium 02. Bite The Bullet 03. Left Unfinished 04. Elegy 05. In The Presence Of My Enemies 06. Days Turn Blue To Gray 07. Vim 08. All Fall Down 09. Wipe The Tears 10. Descend The Shades Of Night Bonus version of TTAOE that will include a bunch o’ shit that only “hardcore” MH fans will appreciate. In other words… don’t buy it if you’re not!! It will also include 5 unreleased demo versions of the TTAOE songs. Full lyrics included with CD, as well as song titles “on” the CD, as per your request, MH1erz. EEEEEEeeeeeeeee. Motherfuck, motherfuck, Noich, Noich, Noich….. Smoking weed, doing coke, smoking blunts, who smokes the blunts, we smokes the blunts, who drinks the Brown Eyes, we drinks the Brown Eyes…. Over and out. -Flynn