Band Members: Who's Nice and Who's a Dick to Meet

[MPF]

Originally Posted by Fates Guardian

This is my first post here, so hello everybody.

The awesome:

King FUCKING Fowley, from Deceased. I met him this year at MDF, as he was carrying around a bag of his new (and excellent) album 'Surreal Overdose'. I was with my old friend Ryan Ganley, who has known King for years, and that made for an easy introduction. King's an extremely nice dude, and he's genuine. Everything he does is out of sincere love of metal and its fans. Plus, he complimented my Fates Warning shirt, so I knew he had to be all right. We've kept in touch ever since, usually via Facebook. How many people from great (and classic) bands routinely chat with their fans? King gets an A+.

Anders Nystrom from Katatonia. I met him the first time I saw Katatonia in 2006 (and the rest of the band too, but I talked to Anders mostly). I've been a very enthusiastic Katatonia fan for years, and I've collected a pretty sizable collection of their stuff. I brought a lot of it with me to that show, and he agreed to sign 'some stuff' and I started taking out stacks of liners notes and even their demo tape (which, incidentally, I had purchased from him on eBay years prior to this) from my various pockets, his eyes widened. He was truly honored that someone would invest so much in the music he and the other guys make, and he was very humble about it. And I was delighted to know that one of my favorite musicians of all time was such a levelheaded, unpretentious human being.

Bobbie Wright and Jack Hays from Brocas Helm. I saw them play at Thrash Against Cancer in San Fransisco in... 2005, I believe. My friends and I went absolutely fucking insane during their set, while everyone else in the audience were being lame, picking their asses and wondering, 'Who the hell's Brocas Helm?' Well, BH took notice of our madness, and we hung out with them for a while after they got done playing. We had driven up from Monterey to attend Thrash Against Cancer, and they seemed really surprised and honored by our enthusiasm for their music. They gave us some Brocas Helm poker chips, but sadly, they didn't have any shirts in our size. I was disappointed to see that they broke up this year, because they were true metal champions, and lamentably unheralded ones at that. Too bad we couldn't meet Jim Schumacher too.

Steveggs from Schnauzer and... well, lots of weird shit. At last year's MDF, we shared a hotel room with this guy, and he was hilarious. One night after the day's show was over, he vanished for a while, then turned up at the room hours later, having wandered around Baltimore and snorted coke with a homeless guy (yeah, he actually did that). He then regaled us with hilarious anecdotes and various bitchings about Jim Sadist (of Nunslaughter, Schnauzer, etc.).

Jim Sadist. I've met him a couple of times now, and each time he's been a really cool guy. I don't really know his music all that well (I can say that Nunslaughter kicks ass live), but he's definitely friendly and down-to-earth (although Steveggs says otherwise, haha).

George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher. Another guy I met at MDF. I have to say upfront I don't listen to Cannibal Corpse. No particular reason why, I just don't. But he had to be one of the friendliest dudes I've ever met, musician or otherwise. Seriously, he acted like my friend and I were the celebrities and he was the fan. He shook our hands like 15 times each, and every time he initiated it. When he learned that we had traveled a ways to come to MDF he said, 'That's what I love about metal, people come from all over the world just to get together and support it and have fun.' And I said, 'Man, heavy metal is not just a kind of music; it's a way of life.' And he stopped, looked at me, and said, 'That's the best thing I've ever heard anyone say.' And then he shook my hand a bunch.

Slutti666 from Impaled Nazarene. He was completely wasted on alcohol and/or other things when we met him, and he was just outrageous. When my friend Frost (no, not that Frost) asked him what Finns things of Estonians, he exclaimed in drunken, broken English, 'Estonians... are our BROTHERS!' And when asked who else besides ImpNaz is the most important band from Finland, he looked disgusted/surprised, and said, 'We are the ONLY band from Finland!' And when we were getting our picture with him, we all started to throw up the horns, and he said, 'No! Middle finger! Show your HATE!' We had no choice but to obey.

Michael Lepond from Symphony X. No funny stories about him, just a quiet, friendly guy who was more than happy to hang out with a few fans, chat, and sign stuff.

Gene FUCKING Hoglan from Dark FUCKING Angel, Death, Strapping... -- wait, you should know who the fuck Gene Hoglan is. Met him at an SYL show in 2005. I was eating a hamburger and not paying attention during the opening bands when my friend nudged me and went, 'Dude, it's Gene Hoglan.' And sure enough, he was walking in our direction, just hanging out in the audience, and NOBODY FUCKING RECOGNIZED HIM except for us. (There was a lot of scenester '-core' kids there just to see the first few bands.) Anyway, he stopped and chatted with us for a couple of minutes, signed some stuff, left a good impression, and wandered off somewhere (backstage, I'm guessing).

Eli Santana and Alex Lee from Holy Grail. Also very nice and sociable guys, truly appreciative of their supporters. I ran into them again at ProgPower a few weeks ago, and they even recognized me.

Jesse Haff from Daylight Dies. I talk to him for a few minutes after DD's set opening for Katatonia. I had had some interaction with him online before that, buying shirts and whatnot, and he was just as cool in person as he seemed to be on the internet.

Orphaned Land, all of them. Humblest guys you could imagine. Don't know what else to say, they were just friendly and unassuming, and seemed honestly interested in talking to their fans.


Other nice musicians I've met briefly who were cool:

Hansi Kursch and Andre Olbrich from Blind Guardian, my favorite band.
Matt Harvey from Exhumed, Dekapitator, etc. I've actually met him two or three times, but never for very long.
Martin van Drunen from Asphyx, Hail of Bullets, and a few others. We ran into him walking back to our hotel at this year's MDF. He was pretty funny, trying to find a place to change out his currency for dollars, and I think he also said something about wanting to find some girls. (Memory's fuzzy; I was rather messed up at that point.)

And... I think that's about it. I've never met anyone who acted like a dick to me, I'm happy to say.

WELCOME!

You have met a ton of really cool people!

[Addicted2metal]

Five Finger Death Punch

Ivan was very nice he took my poster over to the bus and have Zoltan sign it.

Chris gave me a sharpie because mine was going low

Jeremy and Jason were walking around the venue they both autographed my poster.

some of the nicest people I've ever met.

[GarageMetal468]

Met Robert Vigna and Ross Dolan from Immolation last weekend. They are SO nice! They were selling merch, saying hi to everyone, autographing, taking pictures, very, very cool guys! I remember meeting Steve Shalaty (drummer of Immolation) last year and he was very nice as well.

[ravenheart]

Should be finding out what Russell Allen is like next week

[MPF]

Nick and Brandon of Arsis- 2 of the coolest dudes in Metal!

[ravenheart]

Originally Posted by MPF

Nick and Brandon of Arsis- 2 of the coolest dudes in Metal!

If everyone people said were the "coolest dudes in metal" actually were, basically every musician playing today would be the coolest

[MPF]

Originally Posted by ravenheart

If everyone people said were the "coolest dudes in metal" actually were, basically every musician playing today would be the coolest

Touche'

But at least in my case. Only Devin Townsend and Ryan Van Poderooyen, Brandon & Nick from Arsis, Chris From Scale Summit, and Drew From Dredg are the only musicians that have not only been cool to me, but went out of their way to be cool to me. Not to say that I've met any dicks (Except for Every Time I die, who might have just had a shitty day when I saw them) or even anyone who didn't want to talk, but those guys have been the most genuine in person, to me, so far.

[Epidemic Reign]

Dick Valentine of Electric Six - He didn't seem particularly interested in me, though I told him I thought he was the epitome of the mad genius. I assume he wasn't interested because he's probably used to being hailed a genius on a daily basis I wouldn't rate him as a dick just for that.



Here's a picture of Dick with my sister, Abigail, where he is actually smiling... I assume he just prefers petite blondes to fat, sweaty dudes (as do I).




Johnny Na$hinal (Electric Six) - John Nash, the longtime guitarist and as of recent, producer, of Electric Six, is one of the most humble and awesome fellows I've ever met. He was clearly enjoying spending time with the fans.

[ravenheart]

Mike LePond from Symphony X. Very pleasant guy.

[Maiden33]

Originally Posted by ravenheart

Mike LePond from Symphony X. Very pleasant guy.

Yeah, really, really down to earth guy, I've met him a few times over the years at all kinds of stuff. Gonna most likely be hanging out with him when he's here to play with Seven Witches opening for Armored Saint on Dec. 2nd.