Ok guys, the other day, I realised, as small as the local metal scene in my area is, there's always one or two, or maybe a few guys who you can almost guarantee you will see at the next local gig. They're the ones who keep you looking forward to going to the next gig because you know 'that one guy' is going to be there. Whether he plays in a band or not, is older or younger, long hair, short hair, you know that if there was a big conferance of local metal scenes around the world, you'd all vote for 'that one guy' to represent your area.

Ours is the 6'7" giant who's been involved in the local scene, friendly to every single person no matter they're age, genre preferences etc, and he also has a tremendous habit of saying '... LEVELED THE JOINT'

So please everyone, discuss the one guy in your area and what makes him iconic in your local scene.

In Chicago thrash, we have Alex. The short haired retro-trash maniac who stomps like a gorilla when moshing, has an unhealthy fondness for circle pits, and is never sober. I remember one show where Diamond Plate took the stage and refused to start playing until Alex was done smoking outside, and they still ask where he is if they don't see him by the time they take the stage. He's the fan that bands wait for. I'll never forget, when my buddies and I were outside, waiting to go in for the Diamond Plate music video shoot, Alex was waiting outside with a boogie board, clearly planning on crowd surfing with it. I looked to my friends and said "Ten bucks says he lands directly on me when he does that". Before the shoot even started, when the band was just covering "Into the Pit" for soundcheck, I felt something smack me on the back of the head and suddenly the weight of roughly an entire person plus one boogie board came upon my neck/back. I did what I could to try to lift him into the crowd but to no real avail. The powers that be told him not to do that again, so unfortunately it's nowhere to be found in the video. My friends later told me that he looked directly at me, took a running start and pounced on me and only me, nobody else was in his sights. I'm a clairvoyant.

There's also one particular guy I see at every death metal show, and he's really easy to spot because he's one of the two black guys who regularly attends metal shows, and the other one is normally at thrash shows. The reason this guy is special is because when I saw Origin back in October of 08, I was standing at the edge of a mosh pit that he was participating in. When he got hit and fell down, his arms flailed like a Scooby Doo cartoon and he ended up closed fist punching me right in the balls. After I was done writhing on the ground in agony, I got up and noticed he was nowhere to be found. For the next two years I saw this same guy at every single death metal show in and around Chicago, but he always disappeared before I got the chance to talk to him. Finally, in October of '10, at a Suffocation show, I finally managed to catch him right after Decrepit Birth played, and told him that two years ago he punched me in the balls and accident and I'd been trying to tell him for two years. His eyes widened in shock and he, in the most sincerely apologetic voice I'd ever heard, said "Oh my god man are you serious?! Oh dude I am SO SORRY, that must've really hurt. It was a total accident, I promise, here I'll buy you a beer to make up for it". I, being 20 years old (and not drinking anyway), politely declined but always remembered how incredibly nice the guy was. Unfortunately, I forgot his name, so if you're reading this, Only Black Guy at Death Metal Shows in Chicago, remember you're the nicest, coolest dude at any of these shows.

Haha, some blonde lancastrian girl who goes to every gig in england. She pretty much has a fan club. I don't talk to her though but I always see her in the crowd, especially at festivals and "trv" gigs in small venues.

We've definitely got a few of those guys here in KC/Lawrence. The coolest thing is that I'm one of them! Look for the guy in bright, cheerfully colored t's and shorts.

In Cleveland, you are almost guranteed to see the "Nostradamus" guy. You know...the dude who listened to Priest's "Nostradamus" for 200 some consecutive days. He is at a good majority of shows.

How did he prove it?

That's me....I'm that guy in Cleveland.

The guitarist/vocalist of Strong Intention can be found at almost every metal concert in Maryland (that is to say if he isn't opening for it). He's almost always got some black button up shirt with a band logo on it (often Motorhead or Napalm Death). He and his wife seem to sit as far away from the band as possible, and if there's a balcony, they are usually up there. I remember seeing him a third time at a the Baroness/Decapitated/Messhuggah concert and asking him if he was the guitarist for Stronger Intention. Every one around looked at me like "you don't get out often, do you?".

Drunk Irish guy who likes to dance with people... yeah at metal gigs. Don't even know his name but he's a blast.

one time i thought i saw a ghost

The folks you'll see in KC:

300 pound guy with red mutton chops, always in the pit, in a local band.
300 pound babyface guy who's also in a local band, also in the pit.
Tall, thin, pissed off looking guy who gets drunk during the first opener and sobers up for the headliner, also in the pit.
Mongo: at least 7 feet tall, gentle demeanor, hangs by the front.
Native american twins in leather jackets who hang out in back.
Metrosexual asian kid who's always spazzing out, pretty funny guy.
300 pound goth chick with too much make up, hangs in the back.
The guy who writes the blog about metal shows in KC.
And of course there's me!

There's a few other regulars that I can't remember atm...

Oh, and there's the dude with slicked back rockabilly hair, leather jacket, and earplugs who is probably the most dense person in the universe (I mean physically, he looks averagely built but if you bump into him he might as well be made of fucking dark matter) who just stands there, not moshing, barely bobbing his head, but shrieking every high note at the top of his lungs if the band has any. He also puts that galactic bone/muscle density to good use because, while he doesn't mosh, if somebody bumps into him and he gets a hand on them, he'll "push" them. Push is in quotes because he doesn't push them as much as he shoots them with the cannon he has hidden in his palm, because these people go flying across the floor with what looks like some pretty extreme whiplash. I'm convinced he's a Terminator.

BastardHead is making this thread so epic. Also, John_Sunlight, how many 300 pound people are there in your area? That can't be healthy.

We have Curry-Martin! A guy who can be seen at the end of the Global Evisceration DVD.

There's a few more. KC is famous for BBQ, you know.

Oh yeah, Alex is at damn near every show and everyone knows who he is. Very cool guy, his house parties when he had an actual house were beyond nuts! My friend is also usually noticed by a lot of people at various shows. He's very outgoing (and very tall) so he's not hard to spot. If you ever see a very tall guy usually wearing a vest with a big Korpiklaani back patch, that's him.

He actually doesn't sound familiar but then again I haven't been able to afford any shows since January so maybe my memory is just kaput for a change. There's that whole little clique of people with the colorful flat billed hats turned up with OKAY! written on the underside of the bill, but I have no idea what's up with that inside joke. Konrad always joins in and does that "okay" hand symbol to them though.

Oh, and then there's John (I think that's his name). The older guy who's always palling around with the kids, is at literally every Diamond Plate show pretty much ever, and used to record everything on his little pink digital camera. I remember when it wound up getting broken and I was all bummed that I couldn't pick on him for it anymore. I can't remember if he stills records things now just with a different camera or if he just acts like a normal fan with no quirks now. It's been so long since I've been able to afford any shows

Yeah I don't know how that inside joke started but it's definitely died down recently. And you're right about John (who was also part of that "okay" stuff). I think he just records on his phone now. His YouTube username is theevildeity I believe. I haven't seen him at many shows lately though. And he shaved his awesome beard!

In Toronto we have a patch jacket-strutting, visually impaired fellow (I usually see him at Doom and Black shows but I have seen at other types. I think he's been at all three Blood Ceremony shows I've been too) and he rocks out harder then most people there. Not sure what his name is, but he's a legend!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, that sounds like one of our own, the illustrious Abominable Reverend. If so, his exploits go much deeper than ultra-fandom. Killer drummer in a great band.

Sometime ago in '07 I handed out a pack of double stuffed oreos to the bands that played on Cinco de Mayo in a venue called The High Ground (now The Cypress). I think people knew me as the oreo kid from that point on. Haven't been to too many shows since then.

There's a dude in Sydney named Dave Balfour who is an absolute king. He puts on a lot of gigs in Sydney for the more melodic bands - power/thrash/trad, mainly. Helped a few of the bigger bands get some more coverage like Darker Half. He is unmissable, too - tall dude with massively long red curly hair. To top it off he is a really nice guy as well, hangs out with everyone, and just all around really supports the scene. There's some other cool guys as well, like a bloke named Luke who has one of the gnarliest patch jackets ever, and I see him at EVERY gig. From Deep Purple to Maiden to every local gig. He also has started putting on gigs - I think he did one last year for a Metallica tribute, and he has one coming up in a couple of weeks. Really, there are a lot of guys around Sydney when I think about it.

For those interested, Dave runs Metal Evilution and Luke runs Metal Thrashing Productions.

Hahahaha, did anybody expect one of the notable MA users to get an accidental mention here? I certainly didn't!

With that said, word 'round the campfire is that T-BiB is somewhat notorious in the Brisbane scene.

I got to NY for shows every now and again, and I see this one guy at every show...he's basically a Peter Steele doppelgaenger, but has short hair. He always wears those army cap hat thingys and seems kinda like a douche. I also always see this black girl with blue hair that's like in dreads or braids.

Huh, I didn't realise that this guy was that heavily involved, I'm actually friends with him on facebook, that actually sounds pretty awesome, we should try and get him to get a few more bands from Sydney to come our way, we recently had Lord come down for a local festival... it was awesome \,,/

Yeah, he is a pretty cool dude. I think Lord do most gigs off their own backs, they don't play here often - I see the guitarist and the bass player at gigs now then. Haven't got a chance to say hi, though.

There's a couple girls I look forward to seeing at every show, I've made friends with the one girl, while the other I don't know her name, but it's always nice to see her and say hi. Aside from that I can't really think of anyone that I see at every single show I go to.

For anyone in Madison...the answer is probably Bill -fucking- Stoneking.

A lot of the gigs I go to locally have "recurring characters"; There's one guy who I thought had some kind of condition, because they behaved so oddly, until one day they turned up to a gig sober, as opposed to completely wasted. He's always good value for money. Theres also a slightly odd character with a shaven head who tries to start crowd chants which never, ever meet with success.

That would have to be Wolf, the guitarist of Iskra. The record shop he runs, Black Raven Records, is basically the metal hangout in Victoria. Often I'll just go there and end up staying for an hour or so just drinking beers with Wolf and talking metal as he pulls Morbid Angel vinyl from the walls and puts it on. He's a hell of a nice guy, and organizes lots of local shows around town. Last time I was there he said Iskra are about to record a new album, so that's cool.

We have one of those in Vancouver. Older guy with the most beautiful white long hair I have seen, he looks like a skinny short Santa Claus. He is the nicest guy to everyone, no matter what age, sex, genre preference. He's always rocking out and head banging and I don't think I have attended a show where he is not at. He simply rules.

Balfour's an absolute champion. Not a single bad thing I can say about the guy. He even let me play a song on recorder as an "opening act" at one of his gigs. Loves a beer, loves his metal, just loves a good time in general.

I lived in Sydney from about 2005-2008 and there were a couple of "those guys" that got around, although I dunno if they're still there. A lot of them were the older guys that'd been part of the scene for 10-15 years - most of them really cool for a night on the piss.

Lol yeah, expect to see him a lot. I believe he books bands in Baltimore and Frederick under Extremity Retained booking.

Also in the area, there's this big black guy I see at all the big black metal shows. By big I mean, he's around 6 foot tall and has a built physique. He has straightened black hair down to his shoulders and usually wears a Carpathian Forest shirt and fingerless exercise gloves. He stays in the pit most of the show, but he isn't overly aggressive.

Haha, awesome. Yeah, I've never had a bad run in with the guy - he is always just being an overall friendly, cool dude.

A few of them might still be around - I didn't start going to gigs until 2008, and a few of the guys - Skurvy, Motley Dave (Although I only really know of either of them, spoken to them both online a couple of times but never got a chance to say hi in person at gigs) are still at gigs. I see Skurvy at most thrash gigs.

There were also the Maddogg guys, but I don't see them at as many gigs any more - at least not in the same group.

Hope you made it out to plenty of shows when you were here mate, plenty of shit-hot gigs went down in those 3 years!

On topic, Slasher is a champ of a bloke who usually makes a cameo at local gigs. He'd be pushin 50 now, has some mean tatts all over him including on his forehead and shit. Was having a beer with him at Evil Invaders last week and I swear every person that walked past us for about 10 minutes would be like "Gday Slasher!" "What's up Slash!". Friendly guy, and easily qualifies to be "That One Guy".

For Chicago, I would definitely vote Alex. There are other people who are at every show, but no one makes their presence known like Alex. He is a fucking maniac in the pit, and a really chill dude.

I went to school near where Slasher lives, and we used to see him riding around in his rascal blasting Slayer a lot. I think he became a bit of a legend to a lot of us, haha - I went to school with one guy who knew him. I've only ever seen him at a gig once, good to hear he is a cool guy!

Yeah man, I saw a LOT of cool gigs around that time. I was living with the bass player from LORD at the time - he's really heavily involved in the scene and they had a lot of support slots at bigger gigs/headlined a lot of smaller gigs in that time, so I think I saw pretty much every international band that toured in that time, and ended up hammered at most of the local shows. Actually, I think I was hammered at pretty much every gig regardless.

We have one guy who would be in his mid to late 30s who is a pretty small guy with extremely long, manky looking dreads and has nerdy looking glasses.
Not sure how long he has been going to gigs but I've seen him at basically every local and international metal show here and he's always up the front and most local bands know him, he's always rocking an old school and haggard Carcass hoodie.

I've only ever spoken to him maybe once or twice, seems like a pretty cool guy though.

On that topic: Does anyone know more about the old guy who seems to be in every live band video in Wacken and Germany?
The guy is always wearing a fez hat and sunglasses, he looks like he is going on to be about 60.

Haha, I think I know the dude wit the dreads you're talking about (if you're from melbourne). Is it this guy?



Went to a couple of festivals with him a few years back (not together, but all the aussies seem to gravitate towards each other at these things). Total champ, don't remember his name though.