Three decades into his career, founding Machine Head member Robb Flynn remains firm that he’ll decide when – and how – he bows out.
In an interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ backstage at Good Things 2025 in Melbourne, Flynn was open about a reality where the band might call time on their career.
“I don’t want this to go on forever, it shouldn’t go on forever,” he said. “It needs to end. Things end. I don’t know when that is for us… I’m always thinking in the back of my head like, ‘It should probably end soon…?’ Just so we can have an exclamation point on it.
“You don’t want to be the old guys still hanging around at the party when the party ends. Like Stranger Things! It’s a phenomenon, right? But it’s ending. I hope I reach the point where, when the time comes, we step away gracefully.”
Flynn has a unique boast about him – he is the only founding member of Machine Head to feature on every single album, including 1994’s Burn My Eyes, 2007’s The Blackening, and their latest release, 2025’s UNATØNED.
Aware of how the different eras of Machine Head are likely going to appeal to different fans for different reasons, UNATØNED is an album Flynn proudly stands beside. For him, this difference shows the power of music – it’s going to hit when it needs to.
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“A perfect example for me is Disintegration by the Cure,” Flynn explained. “My roommate loved the Cure, would play it constantly and I always thought it sucked, I was not into it at all.
“It wasn’t even five years later that I heard that record, I heard those songs; I just needed to hear them at that time. It hit me like a tonne of bricks and I just went down the rabbit hole. Now, I’m the biggest Cure fan. My friend always makes fun of me now!”
