Machine Head has announced the second European leg of their 25th Anniversary tour for Burn My Eyes. Just like the first run, the shows will be an “Evening with..” format lasting for about 3 hours. The first part of the show will feature classic Machine Head hits, like “Halo,” “Imperium,” etc, as the second part will feature Burn My Eyes played in it’s entirety. As of now, it has not been revealed who will be filling in on guitar and drums for the first half, but the second half will star drummer Chris Kontos and guitarist Logan Mader.
Frontman Robb Flynn was recently on Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta’s podcast and spoke about assembling the Burn My Eyes lineup:
“I talked to Chris, and he was, like, ‘I haven’t played drums for five years.’ And he started doing BMX and then he got a shoulder injury and got into a wreck. So he hadn’t been doing anything. And so I was, like, ‘Are you sure you can do it?’ And he was just, like, ‘I can do it.’ I’m, like, ‘Are you sure-sure you can do it?’ Dude, I take five weeks off and I’m shot; I’m back to square one, practically.
“When he came into the jam room, hearing those songs with him playing it… And it’s the same beat that had been played all these years — all the same details — but just with this fucking groove and this swagger,” Flynn explained. “I was, like, ‘Oh, shit! That’s what it’s supposed to sound like’ — the push and the pulls. It was a trip, man — it was really a trip. It was so fucking cool. I’ve been playing the fuckings songs — he remembered them better than I did. It was cool. It was really fucking cool. And then Logan came in. Logan didn’t remember the songs as good as Chris did. The first day, we were just kind of looking over there, like, ‘What’s going on over there?’ He hadn’t been doing his homework. We joked around. It was funny. And he actually got everything down. By the time we got into the studio, which was only a week or two later, we went int and we just re-recorded it. And we were having fun.”
Flynn also explained his reasoning for re-recording Burn My Eyes and how it won’t replace the original album.
“A lot of people are, like, ‘Oh…’ Because Exodus re-recorded ‘Bonded By Blood’; [Suicidal Tendencies] recorded the first record, and it’s, like, not better versions of the other records,” he said. “Like, why would you do this to such a classic? This is literally us live in the studio. All of the banter you hear between songs, that’s all the shit — we were just joking around and laughing and goofing off. We left all the fuck-ups. Jared kept on forgetting little bits. And I’d be, like, ‘Jared, you fucked…’ So it’s a different thing — it’s not, like, ‘Hey, we’re trying to recreate this thing that we did 25 years ago.’ It was just, ‘Here’s us in this moment.’ This is us enjoying this moment, having fun playing these songs for the first time in, in those two’s cases, a really long time. And it was just a fucking blast. And it turned out really good, we started putting ’em out, and it was, like, ‘Let’s fucking do this, man.'”
You can check out the full conversation below:
Tickets for these shows go on general sale at 9 a.m. on Friday (20th) with various pre-sales available from 9 a.m. on Tuesday, September 17. A very limited amount of VIP packages per show will be available from 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 18.
04/19 Spain, Zaragoza @ Teatro De Las Esquinas
04/21 Spain, Santiago @ De Compostela, Capitol
04/23 Portugal, Oporto @ Coliseu De Porto
04/24 Portugal, Lisbon @ Coliseu De Lisboa
04/25 Spain, Madrid @ La Riviera
04/27 Spain, Malaga @ Paris 15
04/28 Spain, Murcia @ Gamma
04/29 Spain, Valencia @ Republicca
05/01 Spain, Barcelona @ Razzmatazz
05/02 France, Toulouse @ Le Bikini
05/05 Germany, Ludwigsburg @ Mhp Arena
05/06 Germany, Wiesbaden @ Schlachthof
05/08 Germany, Hannover @ Swiss Life Hall
05/09 Czech Republic, Prague @ Forum Karlin
05/10 Slovakia, Bratislava @ Refinery Gallery
05/12 Romania, Bucharest @ Quantic Club
05/13 Bulgaria, Sofia @ Universiada Hall
05/15 Greece, Thessaloniki @ Fix Factory Of Sound
05/16 Greece, Athens @ Piraeus Academy
05/20 Ukraine, Kiev @ Stereoplaza
05/22 Russia, Moscow @ 1930 Moscow
05/23 Russia, St Petersburg @ A2
05/25 Finland, Helsinki @ The Circus
05/28 Sweden, Stockholm @ Fryhuset Arenan
05/29 Norway, Oslo @ Sentrum Scene
05/30 Denmark, Aarhus @ Train
06/01 Germany, Hamburg @ Grosse Freiheit 36
06/02 Netherlands, Utrecht @ Tivoliredenburg
06/03 France, Lille @ L’aeronef
06/05 UK, London @ Alexandra Palace
06/06 UK, Birmingham @ O2 Academy
