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| 3/9/2007 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PHIL DEMMEL OF MACHINE HEAD |
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Interview by: Anthony
(I recently managed to sit down with Phil Demmel for a few minutes during the bands stop in Santa Cruz, CA as part of the current Lamb of God tour. Here's what Phil had to say about the tour, the new album, the bands tour plans, and all things Machine Head related)
Loudside.com: OK, so how has the crowd response been for you guys so far on this particular tour?
Phil: It's been, ya know....we're playing to alot of people that have never seen Machine Head before. So initially, it's kinda like they're taking us in, and by the end of the show we've got them roped in pretty good.
Loudside.com: Now for this tour in particular, I noticed on the Official Machine Head forum as well as other forums that the die hard Machine Head fans had some issues with the way the line up was rounded out for this tour. How do you guys feel about that?
Phil: Well I think that, this tour was already set up before we were on it. It was a Lamb Of God/Trivium tour, and they asked us if we wanted to go on second and we said "Yeah, we'll go on second." I mean you can't say "Oh no, you have to push them down to get us on there." We're not gonna do that. So we accepted the spot, and it's sold out for the first three weeks. So I mean, we're playing to the same crowd that everybody is, and we're playing the same set time as Trivium. So we're fine with it.
Loudside.com: That's cool. I mean, I guess there was just some confusion about it, and some sites had it listed as Machine Head over Trivium.
Phil: It's a little weird. Ya know, people weren't expecting it, but I mean that's just the way it is.
Loudside.com: That's the business side of it....
Phil: Yeah
Loudside.com: Ok,now I know you guys have been playing some of the new tracks live. As far as that goes, are you rotating the set list with new songs at all, maybe showcasing different new songs at all?
Phil: No we're playing the same set list for this whole tour. We had two warm up shows before we started the Lamb Of God dates, and we played four new ones. Those were just warm up shows, and they ended up almost selling out. So we were like "Damn, we gotta be GOOD now." (laughs) But yeah, the same set list for this whole run.
Loudside.com: And does that include any new songs at all?
Phil: Yeah, two new songs.
Loudside.com: Cool. Ok, now I know you guys just recorded a last minute bonus track for the new album. Is that going to make it onto the U.S. release?
Phil: Nope. It's going to be up on some internet sites, and possibly on the international release. That and "Battery". We recorded....it's about a nine and a half minute song.
Loudside.com: Oh Damn!! (both laughing) So it will only be available to us online then, or through import, correct?
Phil: Umm, yeah. And I'm sure you'll be able to...somebody's bound to put it up there. (smiles).....or off Amazon or the international whatever.
Loudside.com: So what is the status for the 'Best Of' album that was slated for release last year?
Phil: I never heard of that at all. (laughing) They're going to re-release 'Burn My Eyes'. And that's gonna be probably around December of this year. But I've never heard anything about a 'Best Of' Record.
Loudside.com: Cool. I was aware of the 'Burn My Eyes' re-release, and then there was supposedly a 'Best Of', from what I read somewhere.
Phil: Maybe, I haven't heard about it. But just because I haven't heard about it, doesn't mean it's not gonna happen. (laughs)
Loudside.com: Now I know you guys just put out the 'Elegies' dvd last year, but as far as videos go are there any plans to release the older videos like "Davidian" and "Old" on a dvd?
Phil: Nope. No plans to. I don't think so. I mean, I don't know what's really going on with this 'Burn My Eyes' re-release because it's Adam and Rob's thing. They were involved with it, so all the packaging has gone through them. So I don't know if they plan on releasing them on that, but not that I know of. I don't have alot of information on that, sorry. (laughing)
Loudside.com: That's cool man. Just thought I'd ask about it. (laughing) I know that "Davidian" was released years ago on the Roadrunner "Evolution" VHS compilation. But I thought it would be cool to have that available on a dvd, ya know.
Phil: Right. For sure. Well, you can always download it off youtube and put it on a disc. (laughing)
Loudside.com: Now on the subject of videos, you guys just shot a video for the track "Now I Lay Thee Down". How did that go, and where was it filmed?
Phil: It was a....Mike Sloat, who's done the videos for "Imperium," "Days Turn Blue To Gray"....he did alot of work on 'Elegies', he did "Seasons Wither". So he's done alot of...he's pretty much our guy right now. The video was shot in San Francisco in this old theater, and we're all done up in 1600 era clothes, ya know with poofy shirts. It's a dramatic piece, it's kind of a Romeo and Juliet except we did kind of an elephant man twist on it where this deformed guy is deemed a freak, and this girls that he loves (that's what the songs about)......He asks her to kill him, and she does and then she's like "why'd I do this" and she kills herself. And then at the end everyone takes a bow so it doesn't look like we're showing any kind of suicide on our videos. (laughs)
Loudside.com: Cool. Now in regards to the new album and the lyrical content, I noticed that some of it was leaning toward a political slant. What's the whole deal with the lyrical content on 'The Blackening'?
Phil: Yeah, I mean...I think that Rob with his lyrics has gone back to the 'Burn My Eyes' era, dealing with socially relevant issues and stuff like that. We're not a political band, and we're not on any soap box but it's obvious to all of us and we all agree that this Iraq war is bullshit. And there's definitely something wrong with who's heading the country right now, so this is a big...shout at that. But we deal with alot of other stuff as well. The whole religious right going on right now too, which is what "Halo" is about. He's tended on the previous couple of records to write about more personal stuff that he's gone through, and now it's more spread out and more generalized.
Loudside.com: And what exactly is "Slanderous" about?
Phil: (smiling) "Slanderous" is kind of personal with Rob. These are all....I don't know if you've read the lyrics or not, because he drops the "N-bomb" and "wetbacks" and "Faggot's" and "Fairies" ya know. But it's not....these are all names that he's been called. Ya know "I've been....", "I'm a...." whatever, so it's actually more about unity and like "Do I hate myself" or why do I hate my brother type of deal.
Loudside.com: Yeah, I didn't have the lyrics, but I did catch some of the words that were being thrown out there, and I was wondering why he was using them, so that makes alot more sense.
Loudside.com: Now as far as the video for "Now I Lay Thee Down", is that going to be added to the cd as enhanced media or something like that?
Phil: Nope. It's gonna have just the two b-sides that we just talked about, and that's only on the international one. AND I think like a DVD of the "Making of" the record or something like that. I don't know for sure.
Loudside.com: And the extended booklet, correct?
Phil: Yes
Loudside.com: Now in regards to you personally, I know you've done some guest guitarwork for bands like Re:Ignition and The Dublin Death Patrol, and in the past you also had Torque going. Do you still have any projects going on outside of Machine Head?
Phil: No. When I joined the band I was still doing Technocracy, and the Vio-lence reunion stuff. And once we hit Easter of 2002...Geez it was almost 5 years ago. No wait, it was 2003. Yeah, that's when I dropped all projects like that. All I do is like, I'll throw down a solo for a band, or throw down a couple of leads on this or that, but as far as writing, I don't do any of that. It's kind of a Machine Head mandate, no side projects.
Loudside.com: So individuals just ask you to drop a lead or somethin...
Phil: Depending on the timing and who it is. I usually just do it for friends. I mean, the projects I've done them for, Re:Ignition is probably the most popular thing I've done. The Dublin Death Patrol thing might blow up a little bit just because of Zet and Chuck. But I've done a Something Must Die solo, and a Skitzo solo. So it's not huge things by any stretch.
Loudside.com: ok, so what are Machine Head's tour plans following this and for the rest of the year, and are there any offers or plans to do any U.S. festivals this summer?
Phil: Ok here's what we're doing, this will take us through april. Two weeks after that, we're going on a very very cool landmark tour that I can't say anything about until they announce it (*Heaven and Hell/Megadeth), but once you see it you're gonna say "Ahhhh, that's why he couldn't say". (laughs) It will be a U.S. tour, that will be about a month long and take us to the end of May. Then we're gonna do the June festivals over in Europe, ya know doing Download, Rock Am Ring, Rock Am Park and playing with fuckin Maiden, playing with Sabbath, and all the heavy hitters over there. And then come July/August, we're up for Sounds or Ozzfest or whatever here. Then September/October, possibly November will be our full European Headlining deal. So hopefully maybe early '08 headlining America. (laughs) It's gonna be a while, but that will let the album build ya know. Cause we got work to do here, that's what were doing with this ya know. We're out there pounding the pavement, and knocking on doors....
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