T
ool & D
ie page 36
N
o
F
ear.
N
o
L
oathing.
J
ust pure fukin'
M
etal.
BY
S
TEVE
T
ODD
My Adventures with Hatebreed,
Type O Negative, 3 Inches Of
Blood, STEMM and Jagermeister.
It's not everyday that you get to see a
band of hardworking people that built
their rig from the ground up with a street
team, determination and raw talent, start
to hit their stride, get bigger with better
gigs and culminate with sharing the stage
with the metal legends.
From the moment the show appeared on
my radar I knew I was going and I knew I
was going to have a great time. The only
thing that worried me
was the Jagermeister.
There's nothing more
helpless, depraved and
irresponsible than a man
in the depths of a Jager
binge. And I knew we'd
get into that rotten stu
soon. Hell man, it's the
fuckin JagerMusic Tour
and the JagerMusic Tour Bus was the rst
thing you saw when you hit the parking
lot.
Boy did that turn out to be the mother of
all underestimations. Here's what hap-
pened when STEMM opened the Johnson
City stop on the JagerMusic Tour featuring
Hatebreed, Type O Negative and 3 Inches
of Blood.
It's a Small World or I Just know A
fuckload of People.
Like I said, I knew I was going as soon as
the show was announced. After running a
rock club for 4 years I really underestimat-
ed the number of old friends and in some
cases family that I'd get to spend time with
at the show.
The King Snyder crew, my brother Darrell
and my other brother Dale from Bone Jar
and a whole host of people from The AMP.
And of course, BLONDIEROCKS was there.
Note the all caps. However, I didn't know
that I'd get to see my brothers Joe and
Chucky Luv from BNS and meet a bunch
of his of crew from the `Cuse until the day
before the show.
I planned on grabbin my buddy Vinny
from WiNGZ 104.9, grillin some steaks and
then riding together from Elmira, stopping
at his cousin's in Bing town for a quick pre-
game and then heading to the venue.
I get to Magic City around 4, doors are
at 6 and the guest list is nowhere to be
found at the ticket o ce, yet. Ah well,
shit happens. It's a long way to the top if
you wanna rock n' roll. Besides, that's not
gonna stop me from getting where I need to
be. After all, I am a professional.
I call Joe Altier and nd out where he is on the
property and I walk around the side of the ven-
ue and make my way to the back alley where
I nd him with Chucky Luv and a coupla guys
that look vaguely familiar. Joe immediately
introduces me to Mike Ra erty, BNS's original
drummer and the only past member of the
band I hadn't yet met. Mike in turn introduces
me to Marcus, his brother and the guitar tech
for Hatebreed. I later nd out he also plays in
From Ruins and I realize I saw him play the Lost
in Syracuse back in April one night when I was
there and lost on Jager. Thanks again Nikki
Ferroni!
The JagerMusic train has been pluggin' along
for months and this is the last show for Hate-
breed on the tour and it's little more than an
hour from where he grew up.
Time to BBQ...Hatebreed style.
Hellyeah I'll Have A Bratwurst.
So, it's becoming clearly evident that even
at the tender young age of 24, Marcus ain't a
virgin to the road. I can tell by how he carries
himself and the way he cooks. He's focused on
creating the perfect beer basted cheddar brat
and taking very good care of his friends and
family that made the trip down from Syracuse,
and his family from the last coupla months of
being on the road. A man after my own heart
when it comes to those things.
It seems that Marcus has indeed lost his cherry
somewhere along the way. Perhaps when he
was teching for Hellyeah, Trivium, Nothingface,
going on Family Values and Korn's last tour or
maybe it was when he played in Silent Civilian
(a band I almost booked at The AMP).
However, I'm thinking it was when Vinnie Paul
asked him to sit in on Gasoline's private New
Years Eve gig at Big Vin's house. I know that for
most of the people, ok all but maybe one, you
know exactly who Big Vin is. So, for that one
douche bag that's scratching his head right
now, I'm talking about the drummer for Pan-
tera and Hellyeah, you know Dime Bag Darrell's
brother. It's not everyday that you get to play
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride & Joy with Vinny
Fucking Paul in Vinny Fucking Paul's house.
So, we're gathered around the tailgate of an
F-150 crew cab, watching the DVD of said New
Year's Eve performance on the truck's screen,
the cooler's full of beer, the music's pumpin',
the brats are grillin' and everyone has that
"I got nothin to do all day but get fucked up
and listen to music" vibe goin. This is like
my third weekend in a row of that feeling.
I'm starting to wonder when my friends and
family have the intervention planned for.
Ahh fuck `em. All's right in my world.
For the next two hours we're hangin' out
drinkin' and eatin' as guys from Hatebreed,
Sean, Matt, Frank 3 Gun and Jamie wander
in, grab a beer and a brat and relax before
the show. The guys from 3 Inches of Blood,
Shane, Cam Pipes and Justin show up and
turn out to be some of the nicest guys I've
met in hardcore metal.
I mean, honestly, I was a little scared about
their set just from their fuckin' name alone.
But after meeting them I
was pleasantly surprised.
Must be cause they're
from Canada? I sit with
Shane and hear about the
time that they raped and
pillaged Trivium's dressing
room, stole their beer, ate
their catering and I'm think-
ing probably absconded with a couple of
their groupies, when Trivium played on their
home turf out in BC. Good stu Shane, good
stu . With the pre-party winding down I
decide it's time to go check on my tickets
and passes.
Look `Em Dead-in The Eye And
Walk Right Thru.
I make my way back to the front of the
venue, beer in hand and head to the ticket
window to see about my passes. I'm not sure
I'm allowed to have an open container and
I haven't picked up my pass yet, so I'm not
positive that I can get back to the BBQ where
life was good.
And of course, I walk out from the side of the
venue and right into the pre-show security
sta meeting. All 15 security guys standing
in a circle, that I have to walk through to get
to the ticket booth, all discussing the night
ahead and what to watch for. I'm hoping
they haven't already covered the passes of
the day part of the meeting yet.
Oh well, might as well make friends early. I
walk through, look em in the eye, say "hello"
and continue on my way to the window
waiting for that voice from behind to say,
`hold it, get yer ass back here'...nope noth-
ing.
I get to the window, he crosses my name o
and hands me a ticket. I look at it and think
uh-oh, something's missing. `Dude, you
should have a backstage pass for me there
somewhere.' `Sorry man I don't have anything
else under your name.' He turns and walks
away.
There's nothing more helpless, depraved
and irresponsible than a man in the depths
of a Jager binge.