MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn is featured in a new interview with Toby Cook at The Quietus. An excerpt is available below:

The Queitus: It seems that, certainly over here in recent times, especially with The Blackening, your popularity has grown as you’ve started creating longer, more diverse music – the opener on Unto The Locust is split into three parts for example. Does that surprise you? Normally kids want something of three minutes that they can download in seconds.

RF: "I’m not sure if I’m surprised, I think that people are willing to go on a journey. I think that there may well be a lot of people out there – whether they’re in the record industry or not – who think people need these short songs. But I think that there’s a whole massive audience out there that can take longer songs, that can take the journey. And for us, our songs are still songs in the classic, pop sense of what a song is where it’s got a verse and a chorus; and a pre-chorus and a bridge, it’s just that in the middle of that, or leading up to that, we create this rollercoaster effect and let the listener go on a journey."

The Quietus: So do you purposefully intend for it to be a more immersive experience for the listener, rather than it being something to just listen to?

RF: "Well, we’re not really writing for a listener, or writing for a record company, radio, MTV, we’re writing for the four of us; if the four of us get goose bumps in the jam room, that’s all that matters. To us that’s the only honest means you can use as an artist. If you’re writing for somebody else, and what you think they might like, then it’s not a good place to write from. People's tastes change, things change, and in our case we’re 17 years deep into our career and we’re having the most success we’ve ever had – Metallica tours, Grammy nominations – it’s not the normal trajectory of a band in their 17th year. We know that we’re really fortunate and very lucky and we just try and write from as honest a place as we can. And it seems to work."

The Quietus: The UK’s always had a good relationship with Machine Head and you’re about to embark on an arena tour playing places like Wembley Arena - is it a challenge to maintain that sense of intimacy and connection for which you’ve become known?

RF: "We always make an effort to bring out a big show but you have to remember that within that big show there’s still four people playing music, and that ultimately we’re all there not to watch TV or pyro’ or fucking chicks dancing or whatever, we’re all there because of this music. And as long as you remember that the connection that is there is because of that, I think that’s how you can keep that intimacy. Never let the show, or the effects or whatever, overshadow the fact that we’re all here because we love music – even in big venue."

Click here for the complete interview.

Machine Head recently announced their upcoming North American headline tour in support of their new album, Unto The Locust, with support acts SUICIDE SILENCE, DARKEST HOUR and RISE TO REMAIN. The tour kicks off on January 15th in Denver, CO and will close on February 18th in the band’s hometown area of San Francisco, CA.

Tour dates include:

January

15 - Denver, CO - Summit Music Hall
17 - Sauget, IL - Pop’s
19 - St. Paul, MN - Station 4
20 - Milwaukee, WI - Rave Ballroom
21 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
22 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
24 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
26 - Portland, ME - State Theatre
27 - Montreal, QC - Metropolis
28 - Toronto, ON - The Sound Academy
29 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
31 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE

February

1 - Baltimore, MD - Ram’s Head Live
2 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
3 - New York, NY - Best Buy Theatre
4 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
6 - Norfolk, VA - NorVA Theatre
7 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore
8 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
10 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
11 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
12 - San Antonio, TX - Backstage Live
13 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
15 - Farmington, NM - Top Deck
16 - Tuscon, AZ - Rialto Theatre
17 - Hollywood, CA - Avalon
18 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield

Unto The Locust tracklistings:

Standard CD:

'I Am Hell (Sonata In C#)'

I) 'Sangre Sani'

II) 'I Am Hell'

III) 'Ashes To The Sky'

'Be Still And Know'

'Locust'

'This Is The End'

'Darkness Within'

'Pearls Before The Swine'

'Who We Are'

Special Edition CD+DVD:

'I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)'

I) 'Sangre Sani'

II) 'I Am Hell'

III) 'Ashes To The Sky'

'Be Still And Know'

'Locust'

'This Is The End'

'Darkness Within'

'Pearls Before The Swine'

'Who We Are'

'The Sentinel' *

'Witch Hunt' *

'Darkness Within' (Acoustic) *

* Bonus tracks

DVD:

- The Making Of Unto The Locust Documentary