Nope, I am not spreading the vibes this Sunday or maybe I am sort of. The reason is I am a little under the weather, I am having a visit from Mr. Kidneystone these last couple of days, but during the hours the pain is still manageable I can write. Although maybe not as elaborate as I might do under normal circumstances.
Hence I had to choose, as I was tagged in a post about the Meeting your favorite musician challenge I really wanted to contribute or write an STV.
As it is my musical response to a post I guess this episode can fit in the #Spreadthevibes on Sunday category, but why try to stuff stuff in boxes and label it, right? So it is what it is.
Now first of all 
So how to go about this challenge?
Well first of all I am a lucky guy when it comes to meeting artists. Often they came to me instead of me coming to them. Sounds weird, well you know what is weird talking to a guy from a freak show all night.
That guy was the first in a long line of famous and semi-famous people I met while working in the alternative rock and dance club.
At the time he was part of Jim Rose´s Sideshow circus and after spending a whole night talking I have to admit, he was quite normal.
Just take a look yourself.
Local Heroes
Thanks to Tilburg having the Rock Academy we had a lot of upcoming stars visiting.
These guys (and girls) probably were the biggest and I have seen that singer lady so drunk..... and dancing on top of the bar, which was not normal at this club, but it made great memories.
These guys also were there almost every night. It started with this guy being part of the first-ever Idols.
He left the program as he did not want to sign the horrible contract they offered him. But he made it big by himself, well, and his band Intwine.
Still love this song btw
But by far the coolest local band that visited were these guys
Compared to the other bands they lacked arrogance and were just fun to hang out with.
Let´s leave the locals behind
Okay let´s jump ahead to international bands, my personal favorite was meeting this whole band on a rainy Sunday Afternoon and I can tell you they dress the same on and off stage.
Because last Friday was loud enough I wiil offer you two options, the original loud one and the acoustic version.
Loud Version
Acoustic Version
Now they were not the most famous band, I think that honor would go to these guys. They were probably the biggest band that I have not met.
I was so close, but it was so busy that I could see them from the DJ booth without being able to leave. I did not get a chance to say hi and they didn´t drop by the booth to request this song.
There I stood alone, looking at Billy Joe just 10 feet away and they left without saying hi.
Another famous band that I did meet were these guys and they did not set the roof on fire.
They were the only band ever to have a VIP area in our club, an area we did not have but that was created just for them.
We all wondered how a band that wanted their own VIP area would behave, well they behave much better in person than they do in their songs.
I had time to take a shot with, not at, Jimmy Pop and he is a very nice white guy. They were so chill and left the team the biggest tip we ever got.
Unfortunately, not all bands are that nice, I even ended up having a fight with the drummer of a really famous band.
The band from Ace of Spades, yes indeed I had a fight with the drummer of Motorhead. And the guy can count his blessings that it did not get physical because first of all he is a tiny guy, and secondly the bouncers would have really hurt his drunken ass.
What Happened?
I was taking care of the coatroom that night and this guy wanted to put up his jacket for free. Because "you know who I am. I am the drummer of Fuckin Motorhead."
"Well in that case you must make enough money to pay 50 cents to put up your leather jacket," I replied.
If he would not have been such a little drama queen I would have put up his jacket for free, but his attitude got in the way.
Lenny the singer btw was so drunk that the bouncers did not even let him in. Same happened to Shane MacGowan from The Popes and earlier The Pogues, now for Shane that was clearly not a first.
That must be enough name-dropping I don´t want to go make you all drooling jealous. Let´s get to the point, my favorite artist.
Meeting My Favorit Artist
I must have seen her over twenty times, in two bands, and believe it or not she is not the lead singer. She was just the Soprano.
For over 10 years she sang in the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth after being introduced to Dani Filth via mutual friends. If after last Friday this is a bit too much for you, you can click here to skip to her part.
I only saw her 4 times with cradle the other 15 times she was part of the best symphonic metal band ever, she is the lady in black.... of course.
I love to watch her all night, that voice ....that voice came with an attitude. I don´t think I even saw her smile during a show, what I did see was how she always had to coach the sound engineer to get it the way she wanted.
The not smiling part must have been her stage face because that 20th time I saw her she was smiling. Smiling and drinking, on a quiet night in the club. Smiling, drinking, and talking to Angle, yes the Angle from my unbelievable true story.
And it was Dani, from that same story that told me that Sarah Jezebel Deva was in da house. I did not know how quickly I needed to get to the bar. The Club had a bar in the front, then a corridor and through the corridor, you got to the dancefloor in the back.
Angle and I knew each other pretty well, but we were no friends, although there was some mutual respect. But it was Sarah, so I set aside my decency and joined their table. The third guy was the bass player from Therion, but who cares I was standing next to Sarah.
I said Hi to Angle first and then turned to Sarah
"Sorry for interrupting but can I get you a drink?"
She looked a bit startled, "Yeah, sorry for being that direct but I am such a fan and now you are here."
She smiled, again; "Well, you could get me another beer."
I got them all another beer, and then I had nothing else to say. I stood there for another minute and felt like I interrupted something.
"Gotta get back to work, have a great night," I turned around and walked back to the dancefloor.
I felt stupid for not getting any conversation started, but I had talked to Sarah, and I even bought her a drink.
I guess the lesson learned here was that some things are better from afar.
