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MACHINE HEAD recruits HAVOK guitarist REECE ALAN SCRUGGS for fall 2022 U.S. tour

07-11-2022

MACHINE HEAD has recruited HAVOK‘s Reece Alan Scruggs to play second guitar on the “Electric Happy Hour (Live)” fall 2022 tour. Scruggs is filling in for MACHINE HEAD‘s Polish guitarist Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka, who is unable to make the trek due to his touring commitments with his longtime band DECAPITATED.

Scruggs  made his live debut with MACHINE HEAD last week  (Thursday, November 3) at Strummer’s in Fresno, California at the opening show of the “Electric Happy Hour (Live)” tour. Fan-filmed video is available below.

Scruggs took to his Facebook to share the article and he included the following message: “Well man, it’s officially out there. Played the first show last night. My performance wasn’t close to perfect but the vibe was really awesome. I’m just here to help and I’m gonna ride this wave.

Vogg joined MACHINE HEAD‘s touring lineup prior to the launch of the band’s “Burn My Eyes” 25th-anniversary tour in late 2019.

Back in November 2019, MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn said that Vogg‘s audition for the band “just fucking blew” his “mind — it was so fucking tight and fucking accurate,” Robb said. “He sent over a recording of ‘Imperium’ as his first song just as a test. We always had all the dudes do a sound test, just to make sure the levels are good and stuff. I was, like, ‘Oh my God! This dude is playing ‘Imperium’ better than I can right now.’ (Laughs) It was crazy. And we ended up talking. Super-nice guy.”

In May 2021, Vogg told Finland’s Kaaos TV that his addition to MACHINE HEAD‘s touring lineup was “a big surprise” for him, because he “didn’t plan” to play with the band. “It kind of accidentally happened,” he said.

“In 2019, when we started the summer festivals with DECAPITATED, I sent an e-mail to Robb Flynn about congratulations, because I heard about the upcoming ‘Burn My Eyes’ tour,” he explained. “Because I’m still a huge fan of the first album, I just wanted to share my happiness about that with Robb. So I sent a message to him. And he replied, saying, ‘Thanks, man.’ And, ‘Maybe you can play with us one song as a guest in Warsaw,’ because they planned a Warsaw show. So we started to talk. And then it became a serious talking about the guitar player they were looking for, and I was sending my proposition that maybe I can help with that. So I did an audition. They sent me song requests for the audition, so I did it. And in a few days, I became a new guitar player of MACHINE HEAD. It was really fast. Because I didn’t hear about that they were looking for a guitar player. I heard about Phil Demmel, the issues with Phil and the rest of the guys; they quit the band before. But I thought that the ‘Burn My Eyes’ anniversary tour was only the ‘Burn My Eyes’ lineup, and then I found out that it’s also a second lineup to play the other songs. So, it was cool. It was such a positive shock for me.”

Vogg went on to say that he was “so happy” to have been part of the “Burn My Eyes” anniversary tour “because I’m a huge fan of MACHINE HEAD since I was a kid. And to have the opportunity to go with them as a guitar player on tour which celebrates my favorite MACHINE HEAD album, which is probably one of my favorite ten albums ever, it was unbelievable,” he said. “And it was such a great experience for me seeing a really big band on tour and seeing the pre-production process and traveling with all this huge crew and a few buses and trucks and all this equipment. It was really something new for me. Even though I’m an experienced musician, I had a big lesson from those guys and from the crew. It was such a great experience. It was such a great feeling being on stage in front of thousands of people every night. And then, after I finished my set, which includes the best songs from MACHINE HEAD — it takes two hours — then I go to change my clothes and come back to the side of the stage to see ‘Burn My Eyes’, the whole album, played by the original lineup. It was amazing. I have to say it was one of the best life experiences I had.”

MACHINE HEAD‘s tenth studio album, “Of Kingdom And Crown”, was released on August 26 via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings. The follow-up to 2018’s “Catharsis”“Of Kingdom And Crown” includes the three songs that were featured on last year’s “Arrows In Words From The Sky” single: “Become The Firestorm”“Rotten” and “Arrows In Words From The Sky”. Much of the new MACHINE HEAD album was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/producer Zack Ohren.

‘ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN’ is a 13 track concept album set in a decimated futuristic wasteland where the sky is stained crimson red. The crux of the story is based on 2 main characters:
 
Character #1 Ares: (pronounced Aries), our main, who loses the love of his life (Amethyst) and goes on a murderous rampage against the vile sect responsible for her murder.
 
Character #2 Eros: (pronounced Arrows) the perpetrator, who loses his mother to a drug overdose and becomes radicalized in the aftermath. Eros goes off the deep end manifesting his own killing spree.
 
The lyrics detail how their lives intertwine.
 
MACHINE HEAD founder Robb Flynn comments:
“Thanks to my 2 teenage boys my family has become obsessed with this awesome Japanese anime series called “Attack On Titan.” The album’s concept was loosely inspired by the series in the sense that in the storyline, there is no “good” or “bad” guy, both characters believe they’re doing the right thing as it applies to their being, but make no mistake, both are committing acts of pure atrocity and evil. The opening track “SLAUGHTER THE MARTYR” is basically our character #1’s origin story.”
 
The colossal concept comes with a list of equally colossal packaging for various physical formats including 16 different worldwide vinyl formats, deluxe vinyl box set (with bonus tracks), CDs (both old-school longbox and jewel box options), multi-color cassettes, and a limited-edition Digipak with bonus tracks.
 
CDs, Digipak, cassettes, and all digital formats will be available on Aug 26th, with all vinyl formats arriving on Nov 25th.

ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN
MACHINE HEAD
Track Listing:
1. SLAUGHTER THE MARTYR
2. CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE
3. BECØME THE FIRESTØRM
4. ØVERDØSE
5. MY HANDS ARE EMPTY
6. UNHALLØWED
7. ASSIMILATE
8. KILL THY ENEMIES
9. NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS
10. BLØØDSHØT
11. RØTTEN
12. TERMINUS
13. ARRØWS IN WØRDS FRØM THE SKY

ORDER MACHINE HEAD’S NEW ALBUM “ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN” AT THIS LOCATION.

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