It is the 12 months of anniversaries for bands, apparently – and whereas Machine Head might have celebrated their thirtieth anniversary final 12 months, they’re nonetheless reminiscing on simply how far they’ve come.
When speaking to Steel Hammer earlier this week, guitarist and vocalist of Machine Head Robb Flynn took a visit down reminiscence lane, recounting what it was like for the band once they first began 30 years in the past, “It is nonetheless a fairly rough-and-tumble city. Folks assume like, ‘Oh, it is California.’ I am like, ‘Yeah, but it surely’s Oakland.'”
Machine Head began off taking part in off within the Bay Space within the early 90s, when the world was battling rising inequalities as a consequence of fast city progress and financial booms and homelessness began turning into a extra outstanding situation within the space – an impact of the fast gentrification city areas have been seeing.
Flynn was born in an space the place now buildings lay both boarded-up or untouched, “There is a bar named Product owner’s Saloon that has been round for over 100 years with ‘No Nazis’ and ‘Fuck Off’ stickers within the window, “It has been right here since 1916. It is a legit dive bar. It is obtained a latrine that goes across the bar, so individuals might pee on the bar and it will drain out into the road. That is how OG it’s.”
That form of historical past? “It retains you humble.”
Performing in backyards at keggers, church halls, and group centres, Machine Head ultimately graduated to a thrash nightclub earlier than the remaining was historical past, however not earlier than some gigs that hardly paid in some lower than ideally suited areas. When Flynn had began taking part in within the 90s, he was additionally labored for a live performance promoter as a caterer, a job wherein Flynn even admitted that, “I dealt medication for some time,” on the aspect as properly. Assumingly, simply to make ends meet.
And it is a humble historical past, for fairly a humble band that blew up into one of many largest heavy metallic bands to come back out of California.
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