Machine Head is kicking off the weekend with a new single and video.
The band debuted its new single ‘My Hands Are Empty‘ and its companion video Friday. The song is a powerful, heavy composition whose chants and distant drum beats in its opening set a foreboding tone for what is to come. What does come after is a composition that is classic Machine Head with its razor sharp guitar work and growling yet controlled vocals from front man Robb Flynn.
In the case of this song, the noted drums that open the song are performed by Navene Koperweis (Animals as Leaders, Whitechapel, Entheos). Koperweis also handled the drum duties on Machine Head’s latest single, ‘Circling the Drain.’ Flynn and bassist Jared MacEachern provided the foreboding choral vocals in the opening bars of ‘My Hands Are Empty.’
The song’s video features the band’s current lineup — Flynn, Logan Mader (guitar), Chris Kontos (drums), and MacEachern (bass) — in a barn/cabin type setting, shot in black and white. They are accompanied by imagery that is used to help illustrate the song’s lyrical message, which according to Flynn deals with the matter of battling opioid addiction.
Flynn talked about the song’s lyrical theme in a recent interview.
“I have some family members who have beaten their opioid addiction, and have some still in the throes of addiction,” he said. “It is painful to watch, and I deal with it with great difficulty. It is a song of sadness, but there is hope as well. I have beaten my own drug addictions and we can fight through this, together, and share our pain with the world.”
Flynn continued, “Musically I wanted to go for a bit of a “Through The Ashes Of Empires” vibe, and it had a grandiose vibe from the beginning, something about that vocal melody haunted me day and night. I sent it off to one of our collaborators, Joel Wanasek, and he came back with a whole depth and dimension with strings and keys that really made the song come alive. I added the guitar harmony in the chorus soon after and I knew we were on to something special.
On the recent “Burn My Eyes 25th Anniversary Tour” I mentioned to Logan about needing a riff or two for a new song, he was excited to collaborate, I sent him the song and the next day he sent me back the heavy riff in the bridge and I was floored,” Flynn added. “It fit perfectly, and felt really cool to be writing together 24 years later. Jared came up with the rhythm under the lead section and the song really locked into place.”
Mader, in his own comments, confirmed Flynn’s comment about Flynn reaching out to him for the song.
“During pre-pro for the BME anniversary tour last year, I had a special opportunity to collaborate with Machine Head for the first time in over 20 years,” he said. “This is a big milestone for me, to circle back on a massive orbit around life and end up doing new music with MH is epic and unexpected. The song, “My Hands Are Empty” was almost completed but needed a riff or two. Robb sent it to me, so I jumped in and added a section which ended up in the master after some arrangement tweaks by Robb. The song is amazing. It was a great feeling to be in the studio with Robb after all these years and I hope to do it again!”
‘My Hands Are Empty’ was co-produced by Flynn and Zack Ohren, and mixed by Colin Richardson (Devildriver, Fear Factory, Overkill, etc.). The song’s video was directed by Mike Sloat for Roaring Mouse Productions.
More information on ‘My Hands Are Empty’ is available online now along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Website: http://www.machinehead1.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MachineHead
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MfnH
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