Thrash Hits

There are two sides to every story….and neither one leaves any of the participants in this one looking that good, to be honest. Machine Head have pulled out of the UK leg of Sonisphere Festival after getting into a spat with the promoters over their slot on the bill - specifically, it seems, because Limp Bizkit have stolen their spot on the Main Stage.

Earlier this evening, Machine Head issued the following statement:

In a turn of events that has left us absolutely baffled, the promoter of the U.K. Sonisphere festival recently placed, unbeknownst to us, Limp Bizkit in our 3rd slot on the festival. Seeing as the running order was a significant part of the negotiation and agreement between us and the promoter, and the fact that we had been advertised in that slot since the festival’s announcement, you can imagine our surprise when we were “told” that we would now be playing in the 4th slot, under Limp Bizkit, and bizarrely, it was actually expected that we would quietly move down the bill without issue. We will not.

Grrr indeed. Machine Head then then go on to criticise Sonisphere’s promoters:

We have regrettably been left with no choice but to cancel our appearance rather than stand for the disrespect and indignity offered by a promoter who won’t honor our agreement. While we know that our fans will be furious about this situation - as are we, beyond words - we trust that you will all understand our position, and we encourage you to voice your opinion about it as loud and clear as possible.

Machine Head’s painting of the promoters as unprofession seems somewhat disingenous - they haven’t pulled out of the remaining European legs of Sonisphere, after all. The official statment from Sonisphere doesn’t exactly go out of its to discourage the idea that maybe Robb Flynn and co are throwing their toys out of the pram either:

We have spent close to two weeks talking to Machine Head to try and keep them on the festival including offering them higher billing on the Saturn Stage, so that they would be performing immediately after Limp Bizkit and before NIN. They would also get a longer time slot and were offered an increase in fee. Unfortunately the band did not find this agreeable.

Do Machine Head playing for the fans - as they so regularly claim - or do they just play for themselves? True, the ‘Saturn’ stage (aka The Second Stage) they’ve been offered isn’t quite as big as the ‘Apollo’ (Main) stage, but the staggered Sonisphere schedule would’ve still meant they wouldn’t be playing against anyone who would threaten their draw. If Machine Head really are in it for the fans, then surely playing a bigger set for more moolah should almost seem like a win-win result?

Watch Machine Head play ‘Davidian’ live at Download Festival 2007

On the other hand, we can understand Machine Head’s position - having blown out Download Festival 2009 to play Sonisphere, they now find themselves being gazumped by the Fred Durst money train. Machine Head, who’ve sweated and bled and passed out onstage in order to claw their cred back from the dark days of The Burning Red, who’ve been onboard the good ship Sonisphere from the start, suddenly see themselves betrayed. Side-tracked. Pushed to one side to make way for a dumpy clown in baggy jeans and a man dressed like Papa Shango’s toilet brush.

Thrash Hits is pretty pissed that we won’t be seeing Machine-fucking-Head tear through The Blackening again in just over 3 weeks time, but who exactly do you think we should be pissed off at? Let us know by answering our poll:

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You know what’s more exciting than the fact the Bloodstock Open Air 2009 being less than six weeks away? The fact that seminal German thrash legends, Sodom, have been added to the bill, that’s what. For their first gig on UK soil in over 20 years, no less. Bloody hell.

Along with Kreator, Sodom led the Teutonic Thrash movement throughout the 1980s, with 1989’s Agent Orange being beyond badass. Like many of their contemporaries, Sodom had a pretty rough time of it in the 90s, with most of their output during that decade (bar Code Red in 1999) being a steaming pile of scheiße. After some ups and downs, the band finally started getting it back together with their self-titled Sodom album in 2006. With their Bloodstock performance and a new album rumoured to be out by the end of year, Sodom look like they could be ending their third decade of thrashing on a high note.

Watch the video to ‘City of God’ by Sodom

Bloodstock tickets are still sale now through the official Bloodstock website for the reasonable price of £99.95 (+ booking fees and all that nonsense). Day tickets are also now on sale for £49.95. Once again, the festival is taking place at Catton Hall in Derbyshire, this year from August 14-16.

Yes, Hayley from Paramore is singing the words to yet another song trying to justify herself and probably her band / every teen in the world’s existence. It’s called ‘This Instant’ and it’s pretty good. Especially when she growls a bit.

No butterflies died when they took the photo for the artwork. Hayley said this in an interview:

“The cover is actually a butterfly I found in my driveway one day, and it was huge and really gorgeous and we clipped its wings off and pinned its body and its wings up to the fence in my backyard. I’ve had it forever in this box in my mom’s house. And we all liked the idea of ripping the wings off a butterfly, because it’s in the lyrics of Brick By Boring Brick.”

Creepy.

You’ll have to go to Paramore’s official website to listen to the first song to be taken from Brand New Eyes. When you do get to hear ‘This Instant’, you’ll probably like it. It sounds a bit Billy Talent-y.