I've met Sven and Ken from Aborted, Krimh and Rafal from Decapitated, all of The Black Dahlia Murder, Anaal Nathrakh, Testament, Paul and McDibet from Cerebral Bore, CJ from Thy Art Is Murder and Sonik from As Blood Runs Black. They've all been lovely dudes.

Can we count Facebook encounters? I've spoken to Ross "The Boss" Friedman, one of the original members of ManoWar and the Dictators, and he's a total right wing nutjob douche. Pretty disappointing as The Dictators were one of the bands that got me into punk and ManoWar is, well, ManoWar.

Most recently, I met Bill Robinson from Decrepit Birth. He seemed like a pretty cool dude. We bought each-other a beer and chatted for a bit.

I also went down to Atlanta not too long ago for ProgPower. I live in Canada, and I only really went for Solution .45. Little did I know, later that night I'd be trashing a crappy hotel room and singing Mama, I'm Coming Home with the full band drunk off our asses. I told Alvestam I came down from Canada to see them play live. He put me and my buddy in this big bear hug and started blushing. It totally wasn't metal, but it was still really awesome.

Not surprised to hear that about Alvestam, as everyone I know who has met him has said that he was one of the nicest dudes you could ever hope to meet.

met Erik Rutan couple of months back when they were in southeast asia for the Hate Eternal tour, he and the band were tired as hell but remained extremely friendly throughout, and even did 2 interviews back to back with my zine and another group. recently met Decapitated and Nervecell as well when they played over here, and both the bands were very nice as well. Decapitated's bassist was pretty amused to see himself on the front of our magazine, and Rafal and James (Nervecell) were horseplaying around backstage, it was quite funny haha.

He was, bar none. I was expecting him to be a nice guy, but not anywhere near as humble as he was. Aside from the fact that he refers to himself as 'Overlord Hellvestam' of course

Immolation are professional and great guys. Always down to sign stuff and have chats

Matt mcgarchy of Cryptopsy basically runs the merch table before they play. He is also nice and friendly.

And as of last night, i have changed my opinion on Dark Funeral. After the show the whole band stood by the exit and shook everyone's hands and thanked them for coming to the show. Class act.

I haven't met any who were douchebags. Nicest ones were George Fisher and Jeff Loomis. Everyone in Goatwhore is cool, too.

I take that back; John Kevill from Warbringer is probably the nicest. I stood next to Erik from Watain in the crowd during another band's set, but I didn't bother to talk to him. I assumed he'd be a douche.

James Malone from Arsis was really nice.

Paul Allender from Cradle of Filth was kinda a dick but who knows maybe he was just having a rough day.

The guys from Fallujah and Enfold Darkness are really chill as well.

Oh and the dudes from Powerglove are really awesome too!

Dave Chandler of Saint Vitus was pretty cool. I hated to interrupt him in a conversation to have him sign my Born Too Late booklet but he was nice enough to do it.

Sounds like a douche-y assumption to make.

The Watain guys have a reputation for being unpleasant to be around, so it's a reasonable assumption to make.

In terms of Facebook encounters, the dudes from Goemagot, Revocation, and Arkaik have all been extremely nice and fun to joke around with; also, I'm friends with Sven (yes, that Sven), and his posts are a goddamn riot.

I've talked to Sorceron on Facebook before. Interestingly he ragged on Samus Paulicelli, calling him an asshole who thinks his shit doesn't stink just because he can blast fast. He said they never really got along when Samus was in Abigail Williams. Overall he was nice and didn't seem distant or uninterested.

In terms of Facebook encounters, my favorite was easily on a status posted by some jerk from Eternium about Fleshgod Apocalypse. I and some other dude were talking about how Agony was decent but Paolo Rossi's clean vocals could use some work. I say something about how they sound too strained, whereas the other dude says he should be chopped in the throat. Paolo Rossi himself then pops in and is like "Whoa whoa whoa, you don't have to like it but let's not hope I get my neck sliced". The other dude immediately panics and starts backpedaling like a maniac, it was hilarious. He was very cool and talked about the motivation behind his performances, and was very receptive and appreciative of the feedback, even if it was negative.

Yeah, I've heard that about Samus. He was apparently okay when I saw Decrepit Birth (I didn't speak to him, but some of my friends did), so maybe time has tempered his ego, but the people who have known him back from when he was in AW have all said the same thing: rude, self-aggrandizing little prick.

met Chuck Keller recently (Order From Chaos & Ares Kingdom) at Noctis, actually had a couple conversations with the guy....just seems too cool and fuckin level headed, had a sweet WWII tanker jacket too-coolest of the fest i thought

also had a fan-chat with Luc Lemay (Gorguts) and Chronos and they were both legit and funny dudes, put up with me & many other fanboys with humble coolness.

just heard nothing but good shit about the Manilla Road guys and the Nunslaughter frontman from my friends too

to be honest, i've met a decent handful of Metal Musicians and i can't think of one that was even a little standoff-ish, it's all been smiles and laughs really.....can't say it's disappointing but even after all these years, it's still a bit surprising.....if only for just HOW NICE all these people have been

I talked to him at a show. He was cool.

Based upon numerous interviews they didn't seem like they'd be very accessible, so I left them all alone. Great show they put on, though. It was them, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, Exhumed, In Solitude, Devil's Blood and the rest of the Cannibal/Decibel tour. The tours intersected in my city so they all "joined forces" for one big supershow. It was incredible.

Awesome guys:
I met all the guys from Blind Guardian, they are probably some of the nicest guys ever. Marcus threw me all his picks and Hansi gave me nods and whatnot throughout the whole show. Apparently I was the sole reason as to why they played in Alberta because of a dumb petition I made on facebook, and they talked about it during the Edmonton show.

Phil from All That Remains was really cool too.

Douches:
In Flames. Jesus Christ these guys are assholes to everyone they meet.
Comeback Kid: Really standoffish.
This Is Hell: I remember the lead singer intentionally spitting on some kid in the front row.
The Chariot: Lead singer and bassist would step on peoples arms and shoulders and stuff on purposely, as well as aim stage dives to intentionally hurt people.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone here met Tim Yeung? He seems like he'd be an asshole with a Malmsteen-level ego, but appearances can be misleading.

I haven't, but the drummer of my band did. His old band played a show with Vital Remains back when Tim was their drummer, and my drummer was only 15 or 16 (this was his first show, too). Apparently my friend was warming up before the show (because obviously his band was opening), and as soon as he started to play, Tim ran from the bar and jumped behind his drumkit (because Vital were backlining), and starts blasting and such, to show off to my friend how much better of a drummer he was, and try to make him feel self-conscious about his drumming.

So basically what I expected, then. The dude even looks like a douchebag; his stupid fucking permasneer makes me want to knock his goddamn teeth out.

How do you guys talk to these dudes on facebook? Do you guys stalk their personal facebook profiles, or do you guys send the bands messages?

They frequently post on official band pages, and every now and then you'll wind up messaging or being messaged by smaller bands who need help setting up shows or getting promoted. I know several people who book shows in my general area and have helped them here and there, which often involves my talking to bands.

Some band members added me.

I've only met members from local bands, though I can't help but to feel a little tinge of jealous when I see pics of them with guys like Max Cavalera haha. A buddy of mine says that Max was a really cool guy, even though he hadn't had much sleep the day before the gig.

I once sent a message to Hasselvander (Ex-Pentagram), but he never answered

It wasn't about Pentagram, was it? From what I hear, he isn't exactly happy with Bobby these days...

I'm only friends with the personal Facebooks of Konrad from Diamond Plate and Mirai and Mikannibal from Sigh. The Sigh folk was because I noticed I had a few mutual friends with Mirai and he seemed to be really open with fans so I decided "Eh, why not?". Konrad actually added me after some banter on Diamond Plate's wall. I don't know if he recognized me from shows (he's spotted me walking in before and left his conversation to come say hi to me, so he at least knows my face as one of the guys who's at every damn show they play) or what, but either way, it was a really cool moment to get that friend request. Konrad doesn't use his much, Mirai links to interviews occasionally, and Mikannibal seems to exclusively post instagram pictures of her food and her dog. Why, why is instagrammed food a trend? It's so fucking bizarre, everybody with an instagram account constantly posts pictures of sepia tinted food and I just don't fucking get it. One of my friends posted a bowl of Cheerios once, he wasn't making a joke.

Uh, kinda lost my train of thought there...

That guy who was playing guitar for Deicide about 5-6 years ago....umm Joe...wog dude...santora or whatever the hell his name is - Ralph Santolla? good guitarist, disappointingly rude in person. Of course I may have just caught him on a bad day, but he was giving off negative vibes and thus falls into the douchebag category.

Ralph Santolla? Pretty sure that having to deal with Glen Benton for any length of time would put someone into a sour mood. A friend of mine had a few beers with him late last year and said he was a cool guy; when asked about why he left Deicide, his response was almost instant: "Because Glen's a fucking psychopath". He was apparently pretty laid-back and fun to talk to in general.

I've heard an awful lot about Santolla being a prick and a drunk, actually. And regarding Deicide, the dude is a Catholic, there's no way that was going to turn out well for anybody.

Met Chris Reifert of Autopsy when I was helping Tomas Stench of Morbosidad with merch one night. He was one of the coolest guys I've met.

Met all of Archgoat, which kind of made me nervous considering at the time I heard a rumor of them being stuck up, but they actually were very cool and talked to me about releases over a Spliff. It was really an honor to meet one of my all time favorite bands.

Met the vocalist of Black Dahlia Murder, and overall a really cool dude, didn't talk much due to him having to leave.

Met Glen Benton at a Deicide/Vital Remains gig and he didn't seem bothered about me going to shake his hand.

Kerry King was a cool guy when I met him at a restaurant but the second time I saw him, he was avoiding any metalhead that he saw, while wearing a Du-Rag.

Joel Grind.......two words....stuck up.

I had the same experience than tronics: Glen was actually cool ; he had no problems with shaking hands and changing a couple of words, he also said: thanx for coming! in a very friendly and honest way, while Ralph didn't want to talk to anybody - I didn't tried but some friends did and he even shouted a 'fuck off' to a guy. Steve Asheim was unusually 'upbeat', both times I've seen the band, Dave Suzuki just rocked.

From what I'm seeing here, Glen seems to shift wildly in terms of behavior, which is the same thing that multiple people have told me. It seems like he can be friendly and outgoing one night and incredibly rude and obnoxious the next. It might have something to do with substance usage, as Bill mentioned that he's a heavy drinker with a cocaine problem (and a pathological liar who gets most of his drug money by tricking people into giving it to him for gas and whatnot). Which is pretty much the same as Phil Fasciana, only not quite as overt these days. Yeah, Bill had a few war stories involving Phil and Jason, both of whom sounded like really, really nasty pieces of work. Including the "fuck you nigger bands" incident with Ben Orum of ASP.

Derek from Begrime Exemious is such a nice guy; he also moderated the Nexopia metal forum (maybe he still does?) which is where I first really delved in to black/death metal and grind... So after seeing his band, I noticed he was at the merch table and chatted him up for a bit just to say thanks for guiding me to a world of awesome music. He was really cool about it and chatted with me about how the tour was going. Also, he is an awesome live performer.

I'm surprised to hear this. The guy who runs the label my band is on (and produced our newest album) is currently the bass player for Manitoba - which is basically the current version of The Dictators (Handsome Dick, Ross the Boss and J.P. Patterson are all in the band - and Daniel Rey and my buddy Dean Rispler round out the line-up)....and he swears by Ross the Boss as being one of the coolest people on the planet. Handsome Dick was awesome.....Dean introduced me and he took a photo with my wife & I.

The coolest rock stars I've ever met.....and this is far outside the metal world, but so be it.....was Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz from the Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club.

I met them at CBGB several years back.....their kid was the singer in some band who was opening up for Slaughter & the Dogs (I think)....and they were both there - just being proud parents.

Both were absolutely awesome.....Tina was a little drunk - but super friendly.

If these two people who are in the RnR Hall of Fame can be as down-to-earth as anyone.....there's no excuse for anyone else to act like an asshole to their fans.

That's funny because when I think of douche, he's the only one that comes immediately to mind. To be fair, I've never talked to him face to face, but he was making some really douchey comments while on stage between songs. I can't call him an arrogant douche fairly because I don't know him at all, but he came off that way on stage is all.

Anyways, I don't care either way, I'm at a show for music not to meet bands necessarily. If I talk to them and they're cool, all the better, but I don't care either way, they're just like the rest of us.