The official Name Dropping thread.

[Darin]

I suspect a bunch of us know, met, was in a room with, did work for, gave a lesson to, or jammed with someone notable/famous. I thought it would be fun to have a thread dedicated to the purpose of 'bragging' about it.

This could be fun to watch.

I'll go first.

I know the Fuel guys, and spent time on the tour bus several times. Jeff played bass in an instrumental project we had for a while, and played Jemfest with us. Went with Jeff, (fuel bass player) when they played Letterman, and met Biff? I think his names was, in the greenroom. Afterwards, we went to dinner with Johnathan Mover, (drummed for Satch) and the Giger guy. We had a few drinks together. It was darn cool.



Your turn.

[jim777]

My band, The Rude Dudes, opened for The Ramones back in '79. We sucked really hard, but no one was listening to us anyway.

[chef21]

I have cooked for Bill Clinton, Jean Chretien, the king and queen of Norway, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Paul Martin, Sarah Mclaughlin, Our Governor General Adrian Clarkson, Ray Bourque, Pete Rose, Phil Episito, Christopher Walkin. and a few more I can't think of at the moment

[Petie]

I'm the worst namedropper there is. You sure you want this?

Steve Vai
Devin Townsend
Byron Stroud
Gene Hoglan
Jed Simon
Mike Keneally
Billy Sheehan
Tony McAlpine
Max Cavalera
Igor Cavalera
Derek Greene
Andreas Kisser
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
Harry Shearer
Bryan Beller
Burton C Bell
Dino Cazares
Raymond Herrara
Christian Olde Wolbers
Brett Garsed
Kerry King
Joe Satriani
Tommy Emmanuel
Steve Lukather
Gail Ann Dorsey
Earl Slick
Mike Garson
Rob Flynn
Seymour Duncan
Zakk Wylde
Stefan Osdal (Placebo)
Page Hamilton
Mike Portnoy
Paul Gilbert
Rob Balducci
Dweezil Zappa
Bruce Beresford
Phil Emmaneul
Eric Johnson
Will Ray
Jerry Donahue
Bumblefoot
Metal Mike (Halford/Sebastian Bach/Testament)
Clown (Slipknot)
Yahoo Serious...

[Darin]

Hey Petie, that's a lot of names. How about a couple stories to go along with them?




And chef21, what was it like cooking for famous people, what interesting thing did you prepare?

[Petie]

Oh I've got a few stories, like the time I nearly got into a fight with Kerry King at Machine Head's CD launch party.

Petie: Hey man! I used to play Dead Skin Mask in my high school band.
Kerry: Oh yeah, but I bet you didn't play it RIGHT.
Petie: (pause) ...I could show YOU how to play it right, buddy.
Kerry: Cretin.

Ah, I coulda taken him.

Tommy Emmanuel taught me how to play harp harmonics. I hassled him to show men after a gig when I was 15. About a year later I met his brother Phil (also an incredible player), who tried to convince my mum to let me hang out and get drunk with him and his band.

Seymour Duncan invited me to jam with him but the day of the jam was the day my newborn son came home from the hospital, so Seymour missed out.

Zakk Wylde was really polite, and wanted to know if the baby was letting me get enough sleep.

If you're ever interviewing Joe Satriani and the conversation turns to modding wah pedals, you'd better have an extra cassette ready cos that dude can talk for AAAAAAAGES.

[DEADTUNES666]

Zakk Wylde-Went to high school with him. He was a blond God with many worshippers back then too.

Abbie Hoffman (60's activist)-Worked for a producer who was interviewing him. He was a big influence on me, and as crazy as you hoped he would be.

John Paul Jones-He was doing an interview at a radio station that a buddy of mine worked for and he called me over. Afterwards we hung out and drank a few beers. I had him sign the twelve pack for me...

Robert John (songwriter/performer of "Sad Eyes")-Lived in NJ not far from me and his kid was a musician. Everyone knew each other back then.

Derek Tailer (Overkill & S.M.F.)-Had a chance to help him out with some equipment issues. Got a thanx on the wrecking everything live cd. A true gentleman who deserves everything good out of life.

Michae Winslow (Police Academy)-Sound man for a run of shows in NJ. Talented, but not very funny. Quite a big baby.

Tommy Chong (Cheech & Chong)-Sound man guitar tech for his run of shows in NJ, PA, and NY...Nicest most gracious person on the planet, amazing dancer, his wife is as pretty as she is talented. Spent quality time with them, certain US laws prohibit me from details but you get the picture...

Johnny Ventura (Latin recording artist)-Sound man for like 15 gigs. I never saw so many pimped out mac daddy Latinos who thought they were high styling. Ricky Martin style tunes but a bit cheesier and way before his solo stuff

Winger/Britny Fox/Zebra/Wicked Sensation (Jake E. Lee's Band), Sonny Ken (blues guitarist)-Opening band for them all on extended dates. Way wrong as Sonny's opener...

Tripp Horner (Country singer)-We shared management at one point. He had written a couple hits in the 60's and was trying to get back, and we latched onto to him. He was a wise teacher but we were retarded students. Because of him we met...

Bruce Springsteen-ASS
Tony Orlando-Too Cool
Frank Sinatra-Scary Cool

Breaking Benjamin and Theory Of A Deadman-Sound man for a few dates they were touring together. 2001 I think...I'm not crazy about them musically so it was rather Ho Hum for me although they did sign some stuff for me. I always got stuff signed from people I worked with...

Riggs (Rob Zombie)-We had him signing stuff as a promotional thing for a company I worked for. Ambivalent about the whole thing

Dweezil Zappa-I met him through my Peavey Reps. He is too grounded and humble. Very cool...

Blues Brothers Band-A photographer friend was shooting them overseas and I went along as her assistant. Got paid and partied with them. Steve Cropper is the man!!!

Peter Criss-Same photographer friend. He married a girl from the Jersey Shore, and was always hanging out. Don't ask how I came to have pictures of his first wife in the hospital with their first child. He is a real regular dude...

Alice Cooper-Met him many times through an old PR rep, a friend of mine...AWESOME. He'll sign anything for you. Good dude

Neal Diamond-My old boss, who was a grade "A" turd, was his 3rd cousin or something and met him a few times. Neal also thinks his cousin is a turd...

B.B. King-opened a third of a show for him. Large, fat, no talent loser...I hate him

For further details on some of these see Eggy's "Road Stories Thread"

[Darin]

That was a cool read. Thanks.

[Petie]

Oh, and furthermore, in the interests of namedropping, my band was at a rehearsal studio running through our set of odd time, dark, proggy shreddy stuff. Think Tea Party means Dream Theater in the Scenes From A Memory era, with some late 70s Bowie thrown in. Next door was a band playing some really cool odd time stuff with some very tasty guitar playing.

During a little break out in the hall, a lady comes up to me and asks if that was my band she heard in room (insert room number here). I say 'yep' and she tells me she's a promoter and she's at the studio to listen a rehearsal by an artist she's touring - some guy named Adrian. She said Adrian wanted us to know he really liked what he heard, especially my guitar playing.

Took me a while to realise she was talking about Adrian Belew.

[chef21]

I actually still have the bands function sheet, for what each of them wanted in their rooms ( rolling stones). It's kinda funny, richards wanted something like 8 packs of smokes and 10 ash trays. Jagger wantes polarized film on all his windows to keep light out etc. I should see if I can find them and post them.

[dannymills]

Awesome idea for a thread, Darin! This really is interesting.

Unfortunately, being 19, I havne't had the opportunities to meet people like this yet, but my cousin is friends with Guthrie Govan as well as being Paul McCartney's makeup artist. My uncle was a roadie for Led Zeppelin for a little while - he did their Knebworth show, among others.

[CalledToArms]

ric flair's and ricky steamboat's families are friends of my family because my dad is good friends with both of them does that count? haha

beyond that, i went to school with the guys in Between the Buried and Me (who will be opening up for Dream Theater this next year..personally picked by portnoy to be on the tour). a couple of them were good friends of mine.

[Nordhauser]

Originally Posted by dannymills

Unfortunately, being 19, I havne't had the opportunities to meet people like this yet

I'm only 20 and I've had quite a few run-ins with musicians.


Working as VIP at a music venue, I've been able to meet Alex Lifeson, 311 (met them on multiple occasions anyway), Peter Frampton, and numerous other bands I don't remember the name of/didn't really care about.

Buckethead was an interesting character. He came to my university and I got to meet him and Bootsy Collins before they went on stage.

Hung out with guys Between the Buried and Me for a little while after their gig in Cincinnati last year. Cool, down to earth guys.

Went and studied with Joe Stump (and played one of his custom ESPs), Dave Martone, and German Schauss at Berklee.

Met Gary Hoey at Berklee and hung out with him for a bit.

Drank with Zakk Wylde a few odd years ago. Him and Rob Zombie drove a golf cart into and under a van in the parking lot. Had to pull his drunkass out.

Drove around with the kids from Lost Prophets. Not my kind of music, but cool guys.

Hung out with the Used guys before they got big. They were down to earth. I stress the word, "were"

Had a drink with the guys from Lamb of God when they were known as Burn the Priest.

Met Kerry King. He's kind of an *******.

Shadows Fall and the Killswitch guys are a blast to be around.

Ran into Dani Filth in a pit. What a tiny guy. Again, not my bag.

Otep was interesting to say the least as well as Neurosis, Mushroomhead, and Hatebreed.

Sad to say I've met that band Ill Nino as well as Devil Wears Prada -- both have huge egos even though their music isn't that great.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[TMatt142]

Well, I have just a couple, not near as huge as what you guys have come up with. First, my guitar teacher for awhile was the guitarist for Pale Devine. The second was pretty cool. Back when I lived in Missouri, I can't remember what year exactly but I happen to be shooting hoops outside the house ( I was around 10-12 years old or so). Up pulls a limo to the neighbors house and this huge dude with long hair and fu-man moustache gets out and is greeted by my neighbor as he gets to the door. So they go in. Next thing, my dad is invited over. About an hour later, he comes out with a record. "Dad, who's that over there?"I ask......He says..."This guy" and shows me the record.......Album jacket says in the left hand corner, Ted Nugent, right corner says "Cat Scratch Fever"....With a gold "DEMO" stamp on the back side of it.....I never got to meet him cause I was too young, but I still have his demo, along with a bunch of others including "meatloaf" demo stamped album (The "Bat out of Hell" one), A Cheap trick one,. I found out after I got a bit older that our neighbor was a big wig for a record label...

[supermau]

Had a beer with Zakk Wylde (Pride And Glory) at the Bayou in the bands backstage area after the show. That was pretty cool.