Robb Flynn vahvistaa Machine Headin uuden kappaleen viittaavan Phil Anselmon natsikohuun

Uutisoimme kesäkuun ensimmäisenä päivänä yhdysvaltalaisen Machine Headin julkaisseen uuden ”Is There Anybody Out There?” -kappaleen, jonka epäillään viittaavan Phil Anselmon hiljattaiseen natsikohuun. Yhtyeen keulahahmo Robb Flynn on nyt vahvistanut kirjoittaneensa kappaleeseen uuden säkeistön kertoakseen kyseisestä tapahtumasta. Alkuperäiset sanoitukset hän kirjoitti 2015 lopussa, mutta päätyi äänittämään kappaleen uudelleen, sillä alkuperäinen versio ei kuulostanut tarpeeksi vihaiselta. Mies kertoo seuraavaa uudessa kappaleen teosta kertovassa videossa:

”I went in two days later to take one more pass at the vocals and try and get a more pissed-off performance, and I started singing the words that I had on the second verse, and I just wasn’t… angry.”

”I wasn’t feeling it, and so I wrote a whole new second verse about how fucking appalled I was that he [Philip Anselmo] did that”

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Mainos päättyy

”One of the things [Anselmo] said to me [that night]…. He told us to shut up, stop playing. ’I told you to stop.’ I made a little noise and he went, ’You don’t know me.’

”No, I don’t know you. Not anymore. I don’t know you. I don’t get it.”

”I haven’t felt connected to the metal community for some time now. I don’t get where things are going. And part of this song is about that: that I don’t get where it’s going. And him doing that shit again — and this is again; this has been happening for twenty fucking years now, but I never had to stand on stage with the dude. But, you know, I sang some pretty pissed-off lyrics for that second verse. And everybody wanted [the vocals to sound] more pissed; they got more pissed.”

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Mainos päättyy

Flynn kertoo yhtyeen harkinneen tarkkaan, sopivatko arkaluonteiset lyriikat kappaleeseen, jolla se tavoittaisi potentiaalisia uusia faneja:

”[We had] a huge discussion [about] ’Does it need to be said? It’s gonna turn off people in the Midwest and the South. And that’s where all the radio play is gonna be that matters. We’re gonna polarize people.”

”And we are. Those aren’t invalid arguments; they’re all true. We run the risk of not getting any airplay because of it. Hopefully the catchiness of the song can override that, because it’s a really catchy fucking song. But it may not. It may start a bunch of shit and then not even do anything. But that’s how I felt.”

Hän toteaa rehellisyyden olevan suosiota tärkeämpää:

”Music is about passion and about believing the words that you’re saying, and making the listener believe that you’re angry or happy or sad or whatever about what you’re singing about.”

”And there’s no question: the previous lyrics I sang were good, but I don’t know if you’re gonna believe ’em, and you’re gonna believe this. Some of you guys might not even like it. Some of you watching this right now might be offended by the shit I’m saying in this song, and I don’t care.”

”We’ve talked about how, ’Does it belong in there? Does it need to be said?’ I don’t know. Does it need to be said? You know, this is a commercial song. We’re trying to get on radio with it. Is this gonna just negate our chances, because now it’s saying something, and God forbid we say something anymore, because that might offend listeners in the Midwest and that might offend listeners in the South, and that’s where we need to get inroads in America if we wanna do something, and we’ve just gotta say what they want. And do they want that? I don’t think so. I don’t think the majority of the people who live in the Midwest and the South wanna hear white-power shit, and I don’t think they’re gonna be offended by me saying otherwise, by me saying, ’Fuck those people!’ Because, really, that is what ’Is There Anybody Out There?’ [is] about. Does anybody feel lonely? Do you feel fucking lost? Do you feel… scared? And I do. I do feel scared. I’m scared to say this, ’cause I know it’s gonna start a war with them. I’m scared to sing it. And that’s one of the lines in the chorus: ’Is anybody else scared? The paranoia drops me to my knees.’ But does it need to be said? Yes. Fuck! Absolutely. Now more than ever.”

Voit katsoa uuden videon kappaleen teosta alta, kun taas aiemmin julkaistun videon löydät täältä.