"Circle The Drain" was inspired by an acquaintance of mine who returned from Afghanistan only to have his relationship fall apart with his girl.  She had messed around on him, then got paranoid about him messing around on her, and drove him crazy.

It was a strange parallel with my life at the time, having just had two band members quit, and even more bizarrely two long-time couple friends of my wife and I also divorce.

It was break-up season...

...and it played out with friends taking sides, people not being invited to certain events anymore, social and emotional pressure, and all the typical stuff that happens when a relationship goes bad.  Watching this guy pull through it, helped me pull through my own upheaval.

The lyrics to “Circle The Drain” came out of that frustrating time.

It's a sad song about relationships gone bad, but accepting that it’s over, and making yourself move on.

      - Robb Flynn  (Machine Head)