Machine Head's Phil Demmel: Track-By-Track Breakdown of "Unto The Locust"

Machine Head have wrapped up the production of their seventh studio album titled "Unto the Locust" (to be released on September 26/27, 2011 via Roadrunner Records). The band is currently destroying stages at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. Recently, their guitar master Phil Demmel was interviewed by the Denver alt-weekly Westword and he was asked to give a track-by-track breakdown of "Unto The Locust". Here it is!

- "I Am Hell," the opener, is actually a sonata. It's a song in three parts, and it's a pyromaniac song. You know, it's the most brutal song Machine Head has ever written. It's got to at least be eight minutes long. So, it starts off with... you know, I'm not going to break down the music too much. I mean its still pretty early before the record comes out, but it's a three part tune.

- "Be Still in Now," which is, uh, kind of a few riffs that I threw together, that kind of got shelved for a minute, got put away, and got brought back from the dead when I came in one day and those guys were kind of jamming on it. It kind of got some chest compressions, and it got brought back to life. Epic jam. It's about struggle, and overcoming struggle, and knowing that the light at the end of the tunnel is only there if that light shines inside of you.

The title was... Like my grandmother handed down all of her grandchildren bible verses in all their Easter cards and Christmas cards. She used to sign one to each, and mine was Psalm 46, which is, "Be still, and know that I'm the Lord". Basically, be steadfast. Know that you will get through, and this shall pass. It kind of fit into the tune and kind of fit into the chorus. I mean, I got it tattooed on my arm around eight years ago. So, it's been kind of my mantra through my life. So, I'm really stoked that Rob chose to title the song that.

- "Locust" is a concept I came up with, based on a few people I have encountered in my life, just like everybody has: The type of person that just comes into your life under a different guise, under false pretenses, to befriend you, be your buddy, be your man, be on your team, or, you know, to be your lover or whatever. Their goal is just to soak up all your resources and just to drain you of all you've got, whatever you have to offer. Once they're discovered, they fly off into the next crop and drain that of everything. Yeah, it just feels like hell.

- "This is the End" is a burner, one of the faster Machine Head songs ever [laughter]. Rob and David got together, and we took a break from everything after touring for three years. We took about a six-month break, got back together and wrote this song. It's really fast. Kind of a Death Metal song, but it's got the classical sound like a Death Metal tune. The whole record has kind of neo-classical feel to it. The song, Rob's going to have to describe the lyrics. It's basically about people kind of living and not being able to accept present times and moving on to things.

- "Darkest of Day": this song is probably the biggest departure of our record, in terms of when we did on "Innocence Denied" on Through The Ashes. It's kind of a ballad, with acoustic guitars. This one I'm going to leave up to something of a surprise. All of my friends that aren't kind of into Metal say, "Damn, is that you guys?" It's a beautiful, beautiful song. Still heavy, but us growing as musicians. It has my favorite, the best solo I've ever done for this band, so far, dripping with emotion. I'll leave it at that.

- "Pearls Before Swine" is a song about addiction. It was a song without lyrics really for a while, without a concept. We kind of came up with an idea to write about addicts and addiction, when talking to each other and watching Breaking Bad episodes to kind of catch up and start again to see it. [laughter] It's not a song about hope. It's just a song about about being in the throes of addiction, in its claws, and a lot of my lyrics are in there. So, there's a lot of descriptive thoughts of addiction. It's not a song of hope for sure. It's not "Stairway to Heaven." It's not a song of hope for sure.

- And the last song is a song called "Who We Are," which is another song that Rob wrote. He and Dave kind of had it before I started writing for the record. I took some time off last year to deal with some personal stuff. This one and the other one I talked about earlier are the two that Rob had already written and brought. You know, he had all this music pouring out of him, and he had to get it out...so. Yeah, I don't know really how to describe those two, so I'm going to refrain from doing that.

Here is a video of Machine Head performing "Locust" at these years Mayhem Fest:



ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL TOUR DATES:

7/19 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - Maryland Heights, MO (St. Louis, MO)
7/20 - Riverbend Music Center - Cincinnati, OH
7/22 - Comcast Center - Mansfield, MA (Boston, MA)
7/23 - Parc Jean-Drapeau - (Heavy MTL) - Montreal, QC
7/24 - Comcast Theatre - Hartford, CT
7/26 - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center - Darien Center, NY
7/27 - PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ
7/29 - First Niagara Pavilion - Burgettstown, PA (Pittsburgh, PA)
7/30 - Jiffy Lube Live - Bristow, VA (Washington DC)
7/31 - Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ
8/2 – Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach - Virginia Beach, VA
8/3 - Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek - Raleigh, NC
8/5 - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre - Tinley Park, IL (Chicago IL)
8/6 - DTE Energy Music Theatre - Clarkston, MI (Detroit, MI)
8/7 - Verizon Wireless Music Center - Noblesville, IN (Indianapolis, IN)
8/9 - Zoo Amphitheatre - Oklahoma City, OK
8/10 – Gexa Energy Pavilion - Dallas, TX
8/12 - Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood - Atlanta, GA
8/13 - 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre - Tampa, FL
8/14 - Cruzan Amphitheatre - West Palm Beach, FL

Soundwave Revolution 2011 with VAN HALEN / ALICE COOPER / BAD RELIGION / HOLE / MACHINE HEAD & MORE!
09.24 - Brisbane, QLD - RNA Showgrounds
09.25 - Sydney, NSW - Old Kings Oval, Parramatta Park
09.30 - Melbourne, VIC - Tabcorp Park, Melton
10.01 - Adelaide, SA - Showgrounds
10.03 - Perth, WA - Arena, Joondalup

South American Tour-Dates with Sepultura:
10/14 - Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Citibank Hall
10/15 - Curitiba, Brazil @ Master Hall
10/16 - Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Casa de Gaucho
10/21 - Buenos Aires, Argentina @ El Teatro Flores
10/23 - Santiago, Chile @ Teatro Caupolican

European Tour Dates:
- 02-Nov Wed: Norway, Oslo - Sentrum
- 03-Nov Thu: Sweden, Stockholm - Aren
- 05-Nov Sat: Finland, Tampere - Sorsapuisto-Sali
- 06-Nov Sun: Finland, Helsinki - Circus
- 08-Nov Tue: Denmark, Copenhagen - KB Halle
- 09-Nov Wed: Germany, Hamburg - Grosse Freiheit 36
- 10-Nov Thu: Germany, Dresden - Alter Schlachthof
- 12-Nov Sat: Austria, Vienna - Gasomter
- 13-Nov Sun: Italy, Milan - Alcatraz
- 15-Nov Tue: Spain, Barcelona - Razzmatazz
- 16-Nov Wed: Spain, Madrid - Riviera
- 17-Nov Thu: Portugal, Lisbon - Coliseum
- 18-Nov Fri: Portugal, Oporto - Coliseum
- 19-Nov Sat: Spain, Bilbao - Rockitar
- 21-Nov Mon: Switzerland, Zurich - Volkshaus
- 23-Nov Wed: France, Paris - Zenith
- 24-Nov Thu: Germany, Neu-Isenburg - Hugenottenhalle
- 25-Nov Fri: Germany, Munich - Tonhalle
- 26-Nov Sat: Germany, Ludwigsburg - Arena
- 28-Nov Mon: Holland, Eindhoven - Klokgebown
- 29-Nov Tue: Belgium, Brussels - Forest
- 30-Nov Wed: Germany, Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle
- 01-Dec Thu: Luxembourg - Rockhal
- 03-Dec Sat: UK, London - Wembley Arena
- 04-Dec Sun: UK, Birmingham - NIA
- 05-Dec Mon: UK, Glasgow - SECC
- 06-Dec Tue: UK, Manchester - Central

Related links:
Machine Head
Purchase Locust on Amazon
Purchase Locust on Itunes
Full interview with Phil Demmel by the Denver Westword