MACHINE HEAD NEWS!

August 7, 2008, posted by Crumbs.

A New Dave McClain Interview Posted Online!

A member of the MachineHead1.com official forums "The Frontlines" with the nick "WTF D00D", has posted a interview with Machine Head drummer Dave McClain:

Q- Was there any particular event in the 90's that swayed you guys into writing with a more political content?

A – To be honest with you when George Bushes son got into office things kind of went to shit for everybody you know, the biggest problem we had back with Clinton was sex in the white house. We had this huge surplus of money and now it's pretty much gone to shit. Everybody's involved in this war that most people don't agree with. I think in the beginning they were kind of like gung ho, like go fucking kill whoever did whatever or thought they did whatever you know almost brain washing to a point. We've never been really a political band, we've always written songs about conflicts going on in the world but as far as like really getting into it we've never really been that band. That was the kind of shit that would piss us off all the time we'd talk about at practice like "What's he doing now?" and "WTF is going on?" it just didn't seem right. I don't know, maybe we're shedding some light to people who weren't aware of stuff like that before but just for ourselves and to get it out of our systems it's a good thing.


Q - Do you agree with either of the Bushes, be it the Gulf War or the most recent conflict?

A – Absolutely not, I think there's a little hidden agenda going on there with oil, I know it sounds cliché that were over there for oil but you've got to protect your family's interest. My dad was in the service, he was in the air force, I absolutely understand people going into the service, people have to provide for their family's, people want to go into the service. I don't look at it as a fucking bad thing you know, the people that go into it have to do what they are told to do. I disagree pretty much 100% with everything the guy does. Even fucking giving everybody $600 in tax refunds, I plan on sending it back to him with a note that says "Stick it up your fucking ass".



Q- How do you feel about active duty military and veterans; do you feel they are responsible as the government for what's happening?

A – Not at all, I think there's good and bad people in everything. I'm sure there's people over there that are just like "Fuck ya, lets go fuck shit up" or whatever but that's the nature of the beast you know. I think for the most part people over are fucking fed up with it and we're gong to hear about it a lot when the whole things finally done and people start coming home and expressing their feelings about having to go back tour after tour after tour for something they're probably going like "What the fuck are we doing?" they're probably getting so frustrated. It's horrible the way Bush will say all day how they're heroes and this and that but the way they're treated and the care that they get, it's almost a fucking disgrace, it is a fucking disgrace.


Q - Do you like either of the presidential candidates?

A - You know at one point I liked and respected McCain because he was going after Bush, him and Colon Powell at one point, I looked at it as the rebels of the Republican Party and I thought it was cool. Obama hasn't really proven himself either way but the idea of having somebody that wants the war to be over and wants some kind of change is definitely better then what we have. I think if McCain gets in there he's just going to be a fucking parrot to what Bush has been doing. He's totally done a 180 on everything he was about.


Q – Do any of the band members have any tattoos dedicated or in honor of dime bag?

A – No tattoos, I've was thinking at one time about getting one for him, a Japanese type of thing with a silhouette of a guitar.


Q – Any US tours in 09?

A – Yes, nothings booked yet but we want to do a full world tour with us headlining. We'd love to get out there and play a 2 hour set, play songs that maybe we could let people vote on that they'd like to hear that we haven't played in forever. On this tour we're trying to add like a song every set, we played "Struck a Nerve" a few times and we haven't played that in forever, we also did Blood for Blood that we haven't played in forever. Its fun for us, and it's cool for our fans especially the ones that have been coming out year after year, month after month to see us. Last year I went to go see Rush, they busted out Witch Hunt, for me being a die hard rush fan it was amazing seeing that.


Q – Will you guys ever play Blood of the Zodiac live?

A – That's another one, that would probably be another that we'd dust off


Q - What's the actual meaning of burn my eyes?

A – Ahhhhh shit, I don't know.


Q - Will you be playing Download next year?

A - We've talked about it; we want to play a whole bunch of festivals next year. Download for us is one of the festival of festivals. If we can make it good and be where we want to be on the bill, up towards the top or the top, we'd definitely do it.


Q – Why did Robb loose the nose ring?

A - I think he actually lost it, I think it was during a show and it got hooked on something like his guitar strap or something and yanked it out. He couldn't put it back in his nose for a little while. I don't know if it closed up or what.


Q - Will the Black Metal venom cover ever come out?

A - Shit, did we record that? I think we did record that. That's right; I forgot that we even recorded that. We did it when we were dong that Sabbath thing, I think Burning Red era. I don't know, good question.


Comment - everyone on the board wants you to start playing the intro to Davidian….

Response – Davidian? Oh ya, that's the first part of Desire to fire (as he taps on the table with the beat).


And one more…

Q - WTF was Robb thinking when he dyed his hair blond and started bouncing around like Zoolander?

A – I think the question should be asked, what the fuck were we all thinking at certain periods of our careers? It is what it is, you know, and ya…People could ask WTF were you thinking with the goggles on playing drums? I don't know, I saw them at a truck stop one night and started to wear them.

Source: The Frontlines