How Machine Head’s Robb Flynn Learned to Scream

Machine Head‘s Robb Flynn is the latest guest on Loudwire ‘How I Learned to Scream’ video series.

Of Kingdom and Crown is the 10th studio album from the veteran group led by Flynn and the first since rebuilding the group in the wake of the departures of two longtime members, supercharged with aggression, bountifully dynamic and conceptually inspired by hit anime series, the ultra violent Attack on Titan.

In 2022, Machine Head are ambitious as ever and at age 55, Flynn hasn’t lost any of the edge possessed by his younger self. Vocally, he’s in tremendous shape and, as we learn in this episode, his voice seems to fair better as time goes on. The band is known for performing “evening with” styled shows, playing two sets for upward of three hours, which sounds pretty taxing on the throat. Not for Flynn though, who reveals, “I want to say an hour into the show my voice opens up even more… and then it opens up to another thing,” and that’s after doing a time-intensive warmup before the gig.

Vocally, Flynn’s career differs from many of our previous ‘How I Learned to Scream’ guests in that he wasn’t a professional vocalist in a band until launching Machine Head. He talks about once being tapped to sing in his earliest band, but after being in an early version of Bay Area thrash group Forbidden (then known as Forbidden Evil), Flynn gained notoriety playing guitar in fellow thrashers Vio-Lence.

By the time it came to front Machine Head, he was taking in vocal influences from death metal, hardcore and crossover thrash, which helped to create the unique style he’s known for today.

We get into a lot more in this episode and you can watch it in full directly below.

Get your copy of Machine Head’s Of Kingdom and Crown here.