Oakland, San Francisco CA, United States (1992 – present)
Machine Head is an American metal band, formed in 1992 in Oakland, California. Founded by former Vio-Lence guitarist Robert Flynn and Adam Duce, and has had 4 personnel changes since its inception. The current lineup of the band comprises of Robb Flynn (vocals, guitar), Jared MacEachern (bass), Phil Demmel (guitar, ex-Vio-lence), and Dave McClain (drums, ex-Sacred Reich). Machine Head is one of the pioneering bands in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.
The song Davidian of their debut album Burn My Eyes, features the lyrics “Let freedom ring / with a shotgun blast”. Subsequently the video was banned from MTV due to its release date being very soon after the Waco Siege which it was apparently describing. Robb Flynn has since said that the song was not written about the Waco Siege but added that line to get people thinking.
After their debut album Chris Kontos left to work with Testament and a stand in drummer (Chris Konstanza) was used for Machine Head’s Donington slot in 1995. After this, the drumming services of Dave McClain were acquired. They then released the follow-up album, The More Things Change in 1997, after which guitarist Logan Mader unexpectedly left in the spring of 1998. He was then replaced by Ahrue Luster (now of [artistIll Niño[/artist) who worked with the band on the third album The Burning Red (1999).
