"It is with the utmost disappointment that we must announce that Machine Head will not be playing the Sonisphere date at Knebworth in the U.K. on August 2.

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 third 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 fourth slot, under Limp Bizkit, and bizarrely, it was actually expected that we would quietly move down the bill without issue. We will not.

Machine Head turned down the U.K.'s Download festival, a festival we are very fond of — which, incidentally, had us above Limp Bizkit — to commit to the Knebworth festival, as we felt a closer kinship to the bands performing this year. In an effort to make this situation in Knebworth work, we have spent more than a week striving to resolve this issue in a proper manner. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

So 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.

The rest of our festival dates across Europe, including the other Sonisphere dates, as well as our headline of the Wacken festival remain unchanged."

I for one am all in support of Machine Head. After all, this is a band that stands for pride and dignity. One look through their past reveals that they've always stuck to their guns no matter wh...

Oh hang on. I appear to be talking bollocks.

Let's remind people about Machine Head... _The Burning Red_? _Supercharger_? Rapping? Spiky bleached hair? Tracksuit? And then all of a sudden when nu-metal wasn't fashionable anymore they make a triumphant return to 'proper' metal? Is this getting your cynical glands frothing?

Yarp. Machine Head have about as much integrity as a bichon frisé pooping itself.

Having said that, I think they're missing a trick here. Nu-metal seems to be making a comeback, so Machine Head have the perfect opportunity to ditch all their shitboring attempts at 'proper' metal and return to the ghastly rap-rock stuff they adopted in their useless attempts to hog some cash. It's every bit as rubbish as their other stuff, but at least it's a bit fucking funny. They would have 'begged' to support Limp Bizkit back in the day.

And they never wrote a song as good as "Break Stuff". That is an undeniable fact.