You sure had a lot of questions for awesome Machine Head drummer Dave McClain. A helluva lot. Here’s a couple more of his answers for ya. This is not a question, I just wanted to contact a member of Machine Head. I’m in the military and am stationed in Japan. I just wanted to let you guys know that when your new album came out I played it for the metal heads in my flight and we ended up pissing some of the higher ups off. They told us to turn it down, but of course we played it to the end. This is by far one of your best albums and it keeps us going during these difficult times in war. Every song from the album we can relate to our military life. You guys fucking rock and it is a damn shame you had to leave the United States, but I’m glad to see that you’re still ripping through the metal scene and I believe you just raised the bar. I don’t expect you to reply, just as long as you read my message and know that you are giving us in the military a release of stress and aggression. Keep fucking shit up and maybe I can CATCH UP ON THE FLIPSIDE!! Todd “Thank you! That means a lot. I was raised on military bases as a kid, so keep on pissing off those uptight higher ups! See ya in Japan soon.” Hi Dave, what prompted you to switch from a single kick drum to a double set up? I noticed this when you first joined Machine Head on The More Things Change tour. Simon “I switched from playing two kick drums to a double pedal for a few years but went back to playing two kick drums again cause it’s fucking metal!!”

Nickelback have confirmed the support band for their 3 UK shows, kicking off Sunday night at London’s Brixton Academy, will be Hurricane Party. Please note, if you are going to the Nickelback Brixton show on MONDAY, there is a go-slow in effect on the Underground. Tubes will go at no more than 20mph, and consequently it is likely less tubes will be running. It is also the day of the Rugby parade in the centre of London, so please allow extra time to get to the venue so you don’t miss anything!

If you noticed our Slipknot news yesterday, we spoke about a cover feature on Joey Jordison in Drummer magazine. Cat kindly emailed us and pointed out that this issue is no longer at newsagents! The shock, the horror. If you want to pick up this issue still, we suggest you email the mag at info@drummer-mag.com and pester them to sell you the back issue. Thanks for the email Cat.

Machine Head @ Bristol Academy – 1/12/03 A review of the night from teamer and fan Simon Robinson… thanks for the review dude… yet another cool night at MH. “OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!!! It’s the day after Machine Head and I’m covered in cuts and bruises from one of the most brutal mosh pits I’ve ever seen. But hell yes it was worth it!! The first band on were Breed 77. They had the hard task of getting the crowd up for the night ahead, and they did succeed in this. Next on were Sikth. They were a lot heavier and faster than Breed 77 so people we getting a lot more active, especially in the fierce circle pits at the front! When they finished everyone started to move closer to the stage, ready for the madness that is Machine Head. It was quite a long wait until they came onstage, but when they appeared the place hit the roof. They kicked off their set with their current single ‘Imperium’ and everyone went nuts! The playlist was a mixture of new and old, ‘Left Unfinished’ and ‘Imperium’ among others from the new album, and such greats as ‘The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears’ and ‘Ten Ton Hammer’ from their extensive back catalogue. Throughout the nights the pits were insane, people flying everywhere, it was brutal to say the least! Towards the end they even managed to squeeze an Iron Maiden and Metallica cover. All in all, an awesome night was had by all, and a triumphant return to English shores for the power that is Machine Head.” Simon Robinson

If you picked last week’s Kerrang!, besides the redesign, you’ll have spotted a ‘Hangin’ With’ feature right at the back with Chimaira’s vocalist Mark Hunter. Hanging out in the children’s section of London bookstore Foyles no less, reading Mr Lazy while sitting on a small fluffy pink chair, Mark adorned in black leather and metal spikes. We kid you not.

Following on from our earlier news story about your 10 questions we put to Dave McClain of Machine Head (& his answers), as promised here are a couple more… How long have you been playing drums, and what rudiments and techniques helped you the most? Mortimer. “I’ve been playing drums for over 25 years!! Paradiddles are a great rudiment to mess around with because there are so many variations and ways to incorporate them on the drumset. Lately I’ve been teaching myself to play double stroke rolls on the kicks.” Just to clarify and put a long-standing debate (on the Frontlines) to rest, exactly how many t-shirts do you own? DevyMetal “I own two shirts now. I retired my metal shirt, got tired of dry cleaning it.” more to come…

The very first issue of new magazine Drummer has hit the streets, claiming to be the loudest drum mag out there! Featuring a huge pic of Slipknot’s Joey Jordison on the front cover, you can’t miss it! A whole 4 pages inside on him too… pick it up.

Machine Head @ Nottingham Rock City, 02/12/03 Review posted by BlisterednRaw from www.MachineHead1.com messageboard. “Jesus H fucking Christ was that good! Imperium is absolutely amazing live, as were the other additions to the live set dual acoustic guitars on Descend The Shades Of Night, Blood For Blood, Block, and Trephination in particular. I thought Trephination was the best song on Supercharger by about 1000000 miles, and it gets even better live. During the encore, and before Descend, Rob seemed to be getting a bit emotional, and then on returning for the encore he apologised for this and was back on top form by the end of the show. Oh yeah – THE ENCORE! First off we got Davidian, before Robb got the crowd to vote (by screaming) between “the band that wrote Number Of The Beast” and “the band that wrote Ride The Lightning” – Metallica won clearly so they broke straight into Creeping Death. Amazing – a hell of a lot better than the modern Metallica live version with clean vocals etc etc. This is where we got something a little special i.e. a shitload of covers…..the guys proceeded to play part of an Iron Maiden song (22 Acacia Avenue), Dave did the drum intro to Territory, we got a jumbled lyrics version of Walk, and another 2-3 tracks I didn’t recognise/don’t remember. Some of the crowd were chanting “Slayer!”, to which Phil responded with the SoH intro, and Robb responded with the line “On The Catwalk…….” from I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred. Nuff said. Highlight of the encore had to be when, halfway through Walk, the entire venue filled in with the “What did you say?!” bit of the 1st chorus……Robb was so surprised he burst out laughing! They closed with Block abso-fucking-lutely brilliant. Robb got all the old-school MH fans to educate the young’uns in the way of the circle pit!” Machine Head play Birmingham tonight.

36 Crazyfists – the band’s upcoming second release – A Snow Capped Romance – is complete, as you all should know. But did you know? The band recorded three b-sides for this release, one of which is actually a Cat Stevens cover. True. In fact, at least one of these b-sides will appear on the most honourable Japanese release of the album. (A Snow Capped Romance coming early 2003) Killswitch Engage – the band is currently winding down their run on the first ever US MTV2 Headbangers Ball Tour with Lamb Of God and Shadows Fall (tour ends Dec 4). After that, it is to the studio. The band is expected to start the recording of their 2nd Roadrunner Records release on Dec 8. Slipknot – still out in LA in the Houdini mansion, Slipknot is currently laying down vocals for their upcoming 2004 release. Actually, they have 3 studios running all over the mansion simultaneously. Literally, just going at it, enjoying writing crazy shit… Soulfly – just in time for Thanksgiving, Terry Date finished the mixing of Max’s 4th album in the world of Soulfly. Yes, it is complete. Word is there are 11 tracks in total, one of which that was recorded in Serbia with gypsies. True. THIS, is The Production Gospel According To Dave…

Amongst your internet travels, make sure to check out the following link at KNAC.com for an interview with Ill Nino drummer Dave Chavarri.