MACHINE HEAD NEWS!

November 22, 2011, posted by Crumbs.

Phil Demmel Interviewed By RIFF Magazine

Machine Head's guitarist Phil Demmel sat down with RIFF Magazine just before going on stage to their concert in Lisbon, Portugal. Here's the exclusive interview brought to you by RIFF Magazine where Demmel tackles such themes as the current tour, the new record "Unto the Locust", lyrical concepts, the recording of Judas Priest and Rush covers and also his view on "LULU".


So, you're beginning a new tour with Devildriver and Bring Me the Horizon,how's it going so far?

The tour is going excellent! We’re taking eleven shows deep into this. Things are going great, all the shows have been awesome, we´re looking forward to one of the better shows tonight, we love Portugal and the fans are crazy, so… things are awesome!

Let's talk about "Unto the Locust", your new record. How was the recording process?

It was good. Robb (Flynn) was producing, kind of family of the band and we tried a lot of different stuff, you know? Robb was a busy guy, wore a bunch of different hats. It was a good process. We recorded in JingleTown studios, where Green Day owns a studio in Oakland, it was kind of close, we felt like we’re at home and it was really comfortable, really good vibe. We were able to try different things, do a lot of different stuffs… we were excited with it.

How do you compare it to other previous works, especially your last album, "The Blackening" which was also a monumental hit?

I think it’s most comparable to The Blackening because they were written in the closest proximity, but I think it’s the next step from The Blackening. I can’t compare to any other records, ‘cause all records sound different, we’re a different band now. In the sense they all sound different, it’s my favorite record, I think it’s the most complete Machine Head record.

With 7 tracks only, do you have other material already recorded for release? Can we expect another album really soon?

We had a couple of other songs; we’re working it on the studio, besides the seven and the covers, that didn’t work out for this record. We felt that they weren’t right, I think one of them might make it on a future Machine Head record, the other one just didn’t kind of pan out. We haven’t start writing for the next record, we take a long time in between records and we write when we’re at home. Maybe a riff, one or two riffs will come up here and there, but for the most part we write when we’re at home, so…

Sometimes we had a riff or two, that survives our little jam sessions or our little sound check sessions on the road, but for the most part everything is kind of taking care at the writing jam pad.

What are Machine Head's plans for 2012?

We’ll start a tour of the United States in January/February, then we go right to Australia in March, we’re gonna probably pick up back in April / May, try to make some more stages in the States, some markets that we miss, maybe!...This is all tenuous right now, then we’re going to some festivals in June and July in Europe. Maybe a year from now, do another round or something, we’re gonna cover the globe again, you know?!

You guys are known to be Metallica fans, so what are your views on the Metallica & Lou Reed collaboration?

You know, I love Metallica, I like the last record. I don’t see this like a Metallica record; I think is collaboration with somebody that I’m not really familiar with, I don’t understand… there’s a band called The Mentors, kind of rape rock, and the way he talks it kind of reminds me of El Duce, the singer from The Mentors, not really on time and weird... I just don’t get it I’m a Metallica fan; I listen to Metallica, not Metallica with Lou Reed.

Read the full interview with pictures here >>

Source: RIFF Magazine