MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn has issued a new diary entry, entitled Demos And Desert Roads:

"(Dave) McClain (drums) and I had a really good jam session on Monday. It was one of those jam-days where you feel a breakthrough happen, a day where for no apparent reason several things fall into place and start to make sense. It is an amazing yet hard to explain feeling, but you know that a huge chunk of progress just happened!

New riffs flowed, new ideas materialized and new concepts explored. It was definitely one of “those” days. We had one more day of rehearsals yesterday and we'll start demoing the new tunes today with my trusty engineer Juan from Trident Studios manning Da Tools.

Phil (Demmel, guitar) begins his Jackson Guitars - Official! Clinic Tour overseas for a couple weeks, so it’s a perfect time to demo. I tend to take over the jam room when demoing, so rehearsals fall by the wayside as I track and experiment with a million different ideas. Europeans interested in checking out any of Phil's clinics, dates below."

Meet Phil Demmel at the following European Jackson Guitars Clinics throughout April:

April

11 - Musikmesse - Frankfurt, Germany
12 - Musikmesse - Frankfurt, Germany
13 - Musikmesse - Frankfurt, Germany
14 - Music Academy 2000's Theatre - Bologna, Italy
15 - Lucky Music Store - Milan, Italy
16 - DLX Musikki - Helsinki, Finland
17 - 4Sound - Gothenburg, Sweden
18 - Music Essonne - Paris, France
19 - Steel Music - La Garde, France
20 - Gak - Brighton, England
21 - Guitar Guitar - Glasgow, Scotland

In the video footage posted below, Flynn discusses the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival past and present:

Musicians Institute and the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival have partnered up in 2013 to bring something for both students and fans. This is a competition for original artists who want to improve their skills in songwriting, recording, music business, and so much more This scholarship fully covers tuition and material fees for a two quarter IAP certificate (Room, Boarding and Travel are not included.) The application period runs from now until June 1, 2013. Applicants must visit www.mi.edu/mayhem-rock-festival-scholarship to enter!

“We are so very excited about being able to give back to the vocation of music by offering this unique scholarship opportunity,” states Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival co-creator John Reese. “We strongly believe in the work that Musician’s Institute does and we’re pleased to have them teaming up with us for this year’s festival and this competition.”

Musicians Institute offers unique, hands-on education focused on the modern music industry with programs in guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keyboard, audio engineering, Independent Artist, Music Business, Film and Guitar Craft. Students have 24/7 access to the most up-to-date facilities, gear and resources and MI's location in the heart of Hollywood, California places students on the front-lines of the business, facilitating the transition from school to profession.

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, the world’s biggest hard and heavy music touring festival, recently announced its electrifying sixth-year lineup. A new trailer video, which can be seen below, includes footage from the press conference announcing the event:

Artists performing on the 2013 fest include main stage metal and horror legend, festival closer, ROB ZOMBIE, plus, the triple gold certified FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and a monster lineup that includes additional main stage bands MASTODON and AMON AMARTH. The festival area is led by stage closers CHILDREN OF BODOM and MACHINE HEAD as well as BEHEMOTH, JOB FOR A COWBOY, EMMURE, BORN OF OSIRIS, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, BUTCHER BABIES, BATTLECROSS, HUNTRESS, THROWN INTO EXILE and CITY IN THE SEA.

Four stages will be presented this year for the first time ever, and the stages include: the Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage, the Jagermeister Stage, Musicians Institute Stage, as well as, the Sumerian Records / Headbang For The Highway Concourse Stage, (local bands performing on the Sumerian Records/Headbang for the Highway Stage will be announced in June).

All tickets go on sale March 22nd at 12:00 Noon local venue time via RockstarMayhemFest.com or LiveNation.com. This year once again Mayhem is offering the Get Off Your Ass 72-Hour $20 Lawn Ticket Offer from 12 Noon local time on Friday March 22nd through Monday March 25th, while supplies last. The tour will stop in 26 cities across the United States and Canada; dates and venues are as follows:

June

29 San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheater

30 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre

July

2 - Boise, ID - Idaho Center Amphitheatre
3 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheater
5 - Phoenix, AZ - Desert Sky Pavilion
6 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheatre
7 - Denver, CO - Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
10 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
12 - Burgettstown, PA - First Niagara Pavilion
13 - Scranton, PA - Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
14 - Darien Center, NY - Darien Lake PAC
16 - Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center
17 - Bangor, ME - Bangor Waterfront
19 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
20 - Saratoga Springs, NY - SPAC
21 - Hartford, CT - The Comcast Theatre
23 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
24 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
26 - Noblesville, IN - Klipsch Music Center
27 - Tinley Park, IL - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
28 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
30 - Atlanta, GA - Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
31 - Tampa, FL - Live Nation Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds

August

2 - Austin, TX - Austin360 Amphitheater
3 - The Woodlands, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
4 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion

A brand new video announcing the official 2013 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival lineup can be seen below:

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival Stages and Artists:

Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage

Rob Zombie

Five Finger Death Punch

Mastodon

Amon Amarth

Musicians Institute Stage

Children Of Bodom

Behemoth

Emmure

Born Of Osiris

Motionless In White

Thrown Into Exile

Jagermeister Stage

Machine Head

Job For A Cowboy

Butcher Babies

Battlecross

Huntress

Sumerian Records/Headbang For The Highway Stage

City In The Sea

3 Local Openers