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American Head Charge are survivors. Despite lineup changes, the tragic death of guitarist Bryan Ottoson and leaving labels that either abandon them when heavy rock falls out of favor or rape them of deserved money, the band is still creating music and decimating crowds across the globe. Their first DVD aptly-titled Can’t Stop the Machine chronicles their rollercoaster career. Guitarist Benji Hellberg sums up the DVD best. “I want fans to be able to feel like they’re getting to see inside the band members’ souls. The story is completely out of control and unbelievable, and the music is just as out of control and unbelievable.” With numerous extras, music videos and unreleased tracks, fans are granted all access to the enigmatic band like never before. The DVD's centerpiece is the 75-minute documentary with tour and studio footage from the last five years, as well as jarring and honest interviews with members both past and present. Holding nothing back, the film captures the darkness and genius inherent within American Head Charge.
The documentary reveals the Minneapolis band’s whole history. Footage begins when the band burst onto the national scene in 2001 with their Rick Rubin produced American Recordings/Universal Records debut The War of Art. The release immediately separated them from the metal pack. Violent, strange, cathartic, dangerous and utterly groundbreaking, they blended the industrial grind of Ministry and Marilyn Manson with the tripped-out melodic experimentation of Faith No More. OZZfest 2001 introduced AHC to America, and worldwide tours (including Japan) with Slipknot, Slayer, and System of a Down followed, with the film encapsulating the madness onstage and off. During that time, The War of Art went on to sell in excess of 250,000 units, and it propelled the band to international acclaim with the singles “All Wrapped Up” and “Just So You Know.”
Tape keeps rolling as the band creates their sophomore record entitled The Feeding in 2005. More riff-oriented than its predecessor, this batch of tunes engaged a full-force guitar assault driven by late axe-slinger Ottoson. Despite selling more than 100,000 copies of their second offering, tragedy befell the band when Ottoson’s heart stopped while on tour with Mudvayne. The guitarist unknowingly had walking pneumonia in addition to severe strep throat and a (unbeknownst to the band) congenital heart murmur, and after 3 drinks (his first in 2 weeks due to having been on antibiotics) and prescribed pain killers, he passed away in his sleep. Bryan was and is far from forgotten. In one of the documentary’s most intense and moving moments, the band plays the UK's 2005 Download festival, and the entire crowd of 15,000+ begins chanting Bryan’s name. It’s unsettling yet beautiful as the band claps along to the deafening screams. However, with Cameron Heacock’s entrancing and brutal vocals, General Banks' agile yet Godzilla-like bass, Justin Fowler’s haunting keyboards and Dane Tuders’s pummeling percussion, the band are reborn in 2007 with Can’t Stop the Machine. “The DVD is a good segue to the next record, because the band has been through so much. 99 percent of the bands out there would’ve broken up. For the band to even still be kicking is amazing to me,” says Hellberg.
Ultimately, the DVD captures the essence of American Head Charge. Hellberg continues, “When you listen to American Head Charge, you get the real story, you get a real feeling for what’s going on inside of the minds, the heads and the lives of every member. It’s taken from extreme beauty to extreme chaos, and that’s exactly how life is for us.” - Rick Florino
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