Jamie - Fuck you, too.
It was awesome to meet you and your friends and hang all night. It was also fun to see how you can talk to Syn like he's nobody, but then TOTALLY fanboy over Brooks.
What I found interesting to observe, as far as the band was concerned, was the "wattage," the star power. Brooks was definitely "most likely to not be noticed," which is not an insult - he's cool as hell and I enjoyed talking with him immensely.
Johnny and Zach stood out, but not too much. Syn and ESPECIALLY Matt, were fucking brand new 1,000 watt bulbs. Matt walks into ANY room, he IS the room. It was interesting to watch - he is a commanding presence. Syn has a similar wattage, but seems more approachable, but that could just be because of the working relationship some of us have with him. I met Matt, but didn't really talk to him.
Obviously, we spent some time with Syn, but his focus was drifting between meeting and talking to as many fans as he could, and cutting the line at the liquor bar to invite everyone for shots. The Syntourage was in full force! And when a fan in a wheelchair who had written a book gave Syn a copy, Syn blocked out everyone and everything in the room to talk to this guy about his journey and listen and care and, in short, live up to every hope you'd have about him not being a dick.
The wives and the kids were there, but I didn't really talk to any of them. I say hi to Val, but she turned and told me she was Michelle, so I blew that, but she was wearing a platinum blonde wig or something, that made her look a lot more like Van than herself.
And again,
EVERYTHING was 100% free. Some food, a LOT of drinks, and direct access to every member of the band. This, again, is the band putting their money where their mouths are - owning a Deathbat has real world perks and experiences with real world VALUE.
Met a ton of great fans and had a great time.
The tats... For the first three of us - me, Jamie, and Alex Cain (in that order, as decided by Syn for unknown reasons) - I could tell him WHERE to put it, but he wouldn't tell any of us what he was gonna ink. I suspect he knew, at least for Jamie and I, what he was gonna do (given the chance) before the night even started. They were both personal messages. Syn is absolutely not a tattoo artist, but we knew that going in. I have no regrets, and one of my nephews saw one of the shitzine articles and called it "The most metal shit I've ever seen!" Good stuff.
Syn not wearing gloves - that really kind of exposed HIM to Hep more than any of us. The needles were fresh, the ink tanks were fresh, and a licensed artist was doing the wiping and overseeing.
I asked Syn if I'd caused him some trouble by coming up with the #DrunkInk hash tag, and his response was pure Syn - "Haha no worries! No hiding it anyways and I wouldn't try to. Great night, don't give a fuck about anything shitzines say."
That sums it up.
Great time, well worth the 14 hours of driving round-trip, and the guys are all solid, gracious people.
live.audent.io
Y’all are always live when I’m working. I can’t wait to watch this one though !
