Phil Demmel spoke about his departure from Machine Head and his relationship with Robb Flynn.
Guitarist Phil Demmel recently opened up about leaving Machine Head . He said that for some years, he and vocalist Robb Flynn "no longer worked as people." He also added that the band had become "Robb Flynn's solo project."
Demmel explained in an interview why he left the band after 15 years. "I'm not going to speak ill of the separation or of Robb," he said. "I think he's a great musician and the time I spent in Machine Head was wonderful. The last few years weren't. We didn't function as people anymore."
The guitarist continued: “I think Robb strayed from the path of being a band. He stayed on his own path. Instead of us being on the same path, or asking to be, it just became 'This is what we're going to do'.”
Demmel said he wasn't fully involved in the creative process of the 2018 Catharsis Dave McClain talked about it. Like, 'Damn, I wish I had my riffs back.' 'No, that's not how we want them used.' So, in that sense, I think it became a Robb Flynn solo project. And that's not what I signed the contract for. The last few years have just been about collecting the check and I haven't been able to do that. All the stress and the conversations. And 'you can't do this', 'don't do that', 'don't stand there', 'don't say that', 'don't sing to the audience', 'don't point'.”
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