Machine Head vocalist and guitarist Robb Flynn doesn't see life returning to normal anytime soon. Flynn originally said in April he didn't see life coming back to normal until 2022, but has since changed his tune to an even worse one. In an interview with Loudwire, Flynn said he expects COVID-19 and the ensuing damage to last for "at least four years." Which at this rate might not be that far off.
"I really can't wait until the day then when we can all get a Machine Head show — it is like a religious experience. It's so much of a community — the crowd singing along — it's such a big part of the show.
"I talked to people in the industry and many of the venues are talking about opening up and they're only going to be able to be 25 percent capacity. And I'm like 25 percent? That sucks. Everybody mashed up against each other and sweating on each other in a single row. That connection of people that makes it so much fun."
"I've been saying this for a while and I said it back in March and it didn't get a very welcome response from the people at large, but I know a lot of people appreciate my honesty about it now. This [coronavirus] is going to go on for two to probably four years. I don't think it's going to be back to normal, whatever that is for at least four years.
"I think it's going to be very much like the Spanish flu of 1918, where it went on for a couple years and it is going to come in waves and then it's going to die down and another wave is going to come. By the time everybody's done with it, we're all going to be so shell-shocked and probably financially devastated that it's going to take what happened in 1918 where it took another two years for people to just feel safe to go back out.
"We're in for a long haul. I know that that's not what people want to hear. People want to hear that it's going to be back to normal by March of next year. If anything, for me, just the way that my mind works, knowing that touring is off the table for that long actually puts me more at ease. It puts my mind more at ease, like, "Okay, I've got to really figure out something to navigate this as a band and as the band leader — me and my guys have got to figure out ways to get around this because there's just no way that people are going to be able to coagulate in groups that make sense for promoters to make money for venues to make money for bands to make money.
"It is expensive to tour. Nobody realizes how expensive it is to tour. Tickets for metal shows have been relatively unchanged for almost 15 years. I don't know what the answer is, but it's certainly not going to be raising the prices on what is traditionally a very blue collar, working class fan base. There's a lot to figure out still and we're just gonna have to get through it and see where we end up."
The United States currently have about 5.4 million COVID-19 cases and over 170,000 deaths. This is thanks to idiots who still think they can attend things like giant festivals and underground shows. Shout out to those folks for making things worse and being generally selfish pieces of garbage.
