Machine Head's Robb Flynn posted a tribute to his band on their 30th anniversary to his Instagram recently, and the story is nothing short of insane. The post details Machine Head's first-ever show at a house party that got a little out of control thanks to the hatred of a shitty landlord. Then the cops got involved and Flynn wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion.
“30 years ago today Machine Head played our first show at a house party on Woolsey Street in Oakland, CA. House party, Isn’t really the right word, our friend / man-of-many-hats Mike Scum was getting evicted, so as a fuck you to his landlord it was a ‘destroy-the-house-party’ with Machine Head as the soundtrack.
“House parties and kegger parties weren’t anything new to me at this point. Back when I was in Forbidden all the early shows we ever played were backyard parties, living room parties, community centers, VFW halls. There was always an insane vibe doing shows like that, and I wanted to recreate that feeling, especially since a couple of my guys were green AF and playing their very first shows ever. It was Tony Costanza on drums, Logan Mader on guitar, Adam Duce on bass.
"Can't remember the order, but set list would've been 'death church', 'a thousand lies', 'blood for blood', 'nation on fire' maybe 'rage to overcome'(?), 'fuck it all', and Cro Mags 'hard times', possibly Poison Idea 'Alan's on fire'. 'Davidian' wouldn't be written for almost another year.
"Across the street from Mike was an infamous punk rock house, called The Woolsey House, and all of them came over and gleefully took part in the destruction. Many a hammer was punched into the walls. We bought several kegs, and raged HARD. When the police eventually came, I proudly walked up to his glass front door sporting my 'fuck the police' shirt, and refused to let them in since they didn't have the authority to enter.
"It was a hell of a way to start this journey all that time ago… Kinda blown away that I'm about to drop a new album in 2 weeks, and that anybody still gives a shit about the band. If your still here all these decades later… thank you from the bottom of my blackened heart for going on this wild ride with me."
I think I can safely say that we all miss the house party days. They seem like a commodity these days, since there aren't as many bands as there were back then. Sigh.
