Firing bassist has left me in tears

Sick move: Machine Head with Duce, left

Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn says he’s been in tears since sacking Adam Duce.

The band dismissed the bassist after 21 years on February 11 and made the news public at the weekend – but Flynn says the emotional turmoil is yet to leave him.

He writes in a blog entry: “I had to tell Adam that after 21 years of being in a band together, I just couldn’t take it any more. I said, ‘My hope is that this can be amicable.’ The words sounded like someone else had spoken them – but I was saying it. And we all said it.”

Duce’s sacking took place in Machine Head’s rehearsal space in Oakland, California. Flynn says he’d tried to avoid kicking the bassist out, and had spent years hoping he’d resign instead. “We may have fired Adam, but Adam quit well over a decade ago – he just never bothered to tell anyone,” says the frontman.

“Adam hasn’t been happy in this band for a long time. But how do you leave? To a guy like Adam everything is either winning or losing. While that sounds great for a TV show or an interview, life just isn’t like that.

“Truth be told, he was sick of it: sick of touring, recording, practising, looking at album artwork, sick of being on a team but never getting the ball. Sick of never quite hitting the big-time, sick of caring. I don’t blame him – but he just wouldn’t quit.”

And Flynn says the act of dismissing Duce has left him feeling sick himself. “I’ve cried every day since – I’ve been an emotional wreck. I was sick the day we announced it, walking around about to vomit for two hours.”

He met with his ex-colleague last week and describes the encounter as “civil,” adding: “I’m not going to tell you everything is going to be alright. It sucks. It sucks for everyone who tried to save this. It’s a horrible relief.”