perception is reality? bad experiences meeting bands...

I was really into mushroomhead around 2003.
when we got lined up to play with them i was thrilled.


they were the biggest bunch of douche-bags ive ever had the displeasure to meet.

bleached-hair surfer boys in hemp necklaces.... bitching and complaining about EVERY SINGLE THING.


spoiled rich kids.....




oh yeah and we got into a physical fist-fight with ill nino... on stage.
at that same venue as a matter of fact. but those guys are cool. =)

ROTFLOL!!! GOOD TIMES....GOOD TIMES!

My first encounter with any band member from a band that I like was with a certain lead singer from a certain thrash band on another forum. I made the mistake of putting my two cents in on how Guy Ritter left and what not.....WOW, he was all over me like a buck on freshly sprayed doe estro!!!!! MY BAD!!!!!!

The only band member I've ever met who was a jerk-off was Ace Frehley. I still listen to his music though.
Everyone else I've been lucky enough to meet has been very cool.

I've had mostly good experiences with bands. But Trent Reznor was a total prick, and this was back when Pretty Hate Machine had just come out. I didn't even know who he was, but a friend of mine had the NIN album and loved it. She went up to him and he totally blew her off. He almost got beat down. Haha.

Then there was Quiet Riot in Korea, total douchebags. And as I mentioned in the other thread, we covered and butchered their song before they played. It was awesome!

Not metal related at all but...

In college I was a good friend of the woman who booked the concerts that came through. Since I wasn't much of a fan of most of the stuff, she always had me work the backstage. One time Matthew Sweet with the Jayhawks as openers played. Despite having the flu and looking ready to die, Matthew Sweet was beyond cool to everyone. This was at the height of his popularity too. The Jayhawks on the other hand.... their rider called for some obscure Texas beer which couldn't be found. They were irrationally upset about it. Of couse the rider also stated an agreed substitute would be okay. They were more interested in throwing a massive temper tantrum, while everyone thought to themselves "who are these guys?".

On another occasion 10,000 Maniacs played. Natalie Merchant refused to leave the tour bus until everyone was cleared away from the door to the arena. By cleared away I mean no one was to be in her sight. Needless to say this was by a walkway near a dining hall and Ms. Merchant had a very keen sense of spotting people or the potential for there to be people. I loss count hiding behind the bus how many attempts were made to get her into the building. Also backstage no one was to look at her. Keep in mind this was about a year before they became a "hit" band, can't imagine how bad it got after that and Natalie's solo career.

Big lesson I learned was - you couldn't pay me enough to be a tour manager.

It wasn't a BAD experience persay, just humorous.

I saw Danzig on the first Ozzfest tour in Charleston WV back in I think 1996. We were hanging out in the CD store before the show and Glenn Danzig walked in. This was my honest first thought. "Who is that little kid dressed up like Danzig?" The guy was like 4 feet tall in heels. Talk about having your perceptions shattered!

Most of my life, John Sykes has been my fav guitarist. Me n Auntie went to see Thin Lizzy a few years ago at the famous Surf Ballroom in Iowa. A guy named Eric Sardinas opened. TOTALLY AND UTTERLY BLEW US AWAY (I now have a shrine to him in my music room)!!! He stayed after talking to everyone until there was no one left. Sykes came on, put on a half-ass show, complained alot, etc. Went out back to the bus after to get my Nuclear Cowboy disc signed. Gorham was out there in -10 degree weather chatting (he was super cool!). I asked if we could get a minute with Sykes, and Scott said "He ain't getting off the bus" and rolled his eyes. Well, needless to say I have a new fav guitarist. Still love Sykes music and always will, but that "perception" has definately changed!

Quote :

The Jayhawks on the other hand.... their rider
called for some obscure Texas beer which couldn't be found. They were
irrationally upset about it. Of couse the rider also stated an agreed
substitute would be okay. They were more interested in throwing a
massive temper tantrum, while everyone thought to themselves "who are
these guys?".

That's too bad. Those guys are from my back yard. See 'em all over town and they are always friendly. Tour stress?

glad to hear matthew sweet is cool, always liked him.


i used to write for a college paper and do interviews and such at ozzfest... by chance i was in the back yard as this HUGE tour bus pulled up right in fornt of me.

the doors opened, and it was ozzy... being carried out by some guys. he was taking little baby steps as if he was like a 90 year old man, to make things worse he had a bunch of dried up food on his face.
it seriously looked like he was a geriatric, i just felt sorry for him.

i met Motley Crue back in 1990 on the Feelgood tour. they were all complete douche bag prima donnas with the exception of Mick Mars, who was totally down to earth & humble. he was the only one who took the time to chat with us & treat us as people. Nikki rarely spoke, acted like he had better things to do, & had his body guard make sure you stayed at a distance. Tommy & Vince were only interested in the female fans.

I've met hundreds of musicians over the years. I've only had a few bad experiences where the artist acted like I was annoying them with my presence. One was Mark Soloman of The Crucified. You can read that story on my Crucified page on NLTM. I still like the band a lot, but I do think that the experience knocked them down a bit on how much I liked them.

I won passes to meet Dokken, Slaughter, Poison and Cinderella several years ago when they were touring. Slaughter were the coolest bunch of guys. Very personable and walked around and signed autographs and just had good attitudes. Cinderella were cool, although Tom Keiffer didn't come out. Dokken were ok. Wild Mick Brown was very down to earth. Even Don Dokken seemed ok. I've heard a lot of bad things about him, but he was friendly as could be expected. Poison refused to even come out to meet the people, not that I really care. I'm not really a Poison fan, so it was no biggie for me but there were several big Poison fans that were really disappointed.

I just remembered another one. I've met Stryper several times. I am a big 'ol cheesy Stryper fan. The first time I met them was when Ultimatum opened for them at the Stryper Expo in California. They were all relatively nice, but Oz Fox came off as a prick. However, I have met them several times since then and he's been much nicer, so maybe he was just having a bad day or something. I think I've met Oz some 10-15 times over the years. I ran into him again when Ultimatum was playing Cornerstone California this past Sept. He was cool again and signed my vinyl copy of "Reborn" and took a photo with me.

if i had a perm like that, i'd be having a bad day too.

I'M DYING! I was thinking the same thing!

mc666 wrote:

if i had a perm like that, i'd be having a bad day too.

/served

spectrefate wrote:

It wasn't a BAD experience persay, just humorous.

I saw Danzig on the first Ozzfest tour in Charleston WV back in I think 1996. We were hanging out in the CD store before the show and Glenn Danzig walked in. This was my honest first thought. "Who is that little kid dressed up like Danzig?" The guy was like 4 feet tall in heels. Talk about having your perceptions shattered!

Imagine if you said something like, "You're the gayest-looking Danzig wannabe I've ever seen!" Haha.

mc666 wrote:

if i had a perm like that, i'd be having a bad day too.

Apparently it scared the hell out of Scott, too.

I gotta say, I won't go into detail here since it's not the right thread, but Mike Ness (Social Distortion) was hands down the greatest experience I've ever had when meeting someone. A really awesome guy. And he did a great thing for a friend of mine.

I met the guys of Metal Church, and they were probably some of the nicest guys I've met in a long time. We joked around about bands like Nelson and Jeff Plate helps my friend out with drums from time to time.

ultmetal wrote:

DANG... If you hadn't identified that guy as Oz Fox I never would've recognized him!! Time has NOT been kind to that dude.

Eyesore wrote:

I gotta say, I won't go into detail here since it's not the right thread, but Mike Ness (Social Distortion) was hands down the greatest experience I've ever had when meeting someone. A really awesome guy. And he did a great thing for a friend of mine.

officially jealous.

Fat Freddy wrote:

The only band member I've ever met who was a jerk-off was Ace Frehley. I still listen to his music though.
Everyone else I've been lucky enough to meet has been very cool.

Really? I was thinking he was a nice guy...