As I mentioned in the above post there was one special surprise moment that will stand out in my mind forever. As I have stated in a number of my previous posts, I had been talking to Con at Eyefear for about a year about 9 Elements and the possibility of getting them over here somehow. I truly believe between bands like Eyefear, Vanishing Point, Black Majesty and Dungeon/Lord that Australia truly gets the metal scene--
Con had sent me the advance of their new album World Full of Grey at the first of the year, and once I heard that, I was determined to add them to the festival. Lars(Intromental), Con and I worked out the details and made it happen.. They were one of my first choices on the festival..
Nowlets shift to DC Cooper.. DC, Eric and I started talking at the first of the year about how we could have Silent Force on the bill. We already had most of the lineup done by that point, and were not able to shift things around to make this happen. After talking to DC, and being a huge fan of all of his work, and the fact that he is one of the neatest down-to-earth people- I decided that I really wanted to get him out here for a special appearance. We decided that it would be really cool since he was working on Amarans Plight with Nick DVirgilio from Spocks Beard to sing with Spocks on stage.
As I mentioned in the other post On Thursday evening most of the bands had left and we were down to DC, all the Eyefear guys who had just arrived, and a few other peopleI left the Eyefear guys and DC to wander, and went back to the hotel to crash. I knew it was the beginning of a magic combination!!
After the show Friday night and the magical appearance with Spocks, DC and I had a chat over some fine Olde English in the hotel room tossing around ideas of what else he could the next night with the festival. We came up with the idea of having him do some stage announcements We tried to find the Eyefear guys, but they were not in the room. I hit the hay at 4AM, leaving DC to roam around the streets--
After I went to bed, the magic happenedDC went to the Aussies room, and they approached him with the idea of doing a song with them as a special surprise to me. Somehow between 4 and 6AM, they ran through the song, loaded it on DCs player, and left him to go listen to it 1000 times before the show!!
Saturday afternoon arrives and DC and I are reviewing the plan for his announcements on stage. I suggest that he introduce Eyefear, because he has had such a good time hanging with them. I was torn about this, because I really wanted to announce them after all that we had been through to bring them here.
Later that night, before DC made his Eyefear announcement, I heard DC in the back warming up vocallyI thought to myself- this guy is a pro! He is warming up to do stage announcements!!
After he does the introductions for Eyefear, I stand around and try to catch as much of their set as possible. Eric had grabbed me at one point and told me to hang around, because they had a surprise for meSammy (keyboards) had mentioned to me that they had brought something from Australia for me- so I expected a koala toss or something hilarious like that. The cumulative effects of very little sleep for the past 2 nights were starting to get to me and I was somewhat dazed.
Then came the momentDC comes out on stage and joins Danny singing Whispers of the Soul off the new album which by now I have listened to 100 times! I HAD NO FRICKING IDEA!! I had the biggest grin on my face and was so incredibly moved by this. DC and Danny catch me in my euphoria, and both point to me and grinthey knew they got me!!
I was so blown away with this that I rank this among the top moments of my lifeThis made the festival for me and has made some friends for life out of all the Eyefear guys and DC. The fact they would do this to show their appreciation for what I did to pull this festival off and stay up in the wee hours to pull this off moved me beyond belief. I will NEVER forget this--
Con had sent me the advance of their new album World Full of Grey at the first of the year, and once I heard that, I was determined to add them to the festival. Lars(Intromental), Con and I worked out the details and made it happen.. They were one of my first choices on the festival..
Nowlets shift to DC Cooper.. DC, Eric and I started talking at the first of the year about how we could have Silent Force on the bill. We already had most of the lineup done by that point, and were not able to shift things around to make this happen. After talking to DC, and being a huge fan of all of his work, and the fact that he is one of the neatest down-to-earth people- I decided that I really wanted to get him out here for a special appearance. We decided that it would be really cool since he was working on Amarans Plight with Nick DVirgilio from Spocks Beard to sing with Spocks on stage.
As I mentioned in the other post On Thursday evening most of the bands had left and we were down to DC, all the Eyefear guys who had just arrived, and a few other peopleI left the Eyefear guys and DC to wander, and went back to the hotel to crash. I knew it was the beginning of a magic combination!!
After the show Friday night and the magical appearance with Spocks, DC and I had a chat over some fine Olde English in the hotel room tossing around ideas of what else he could the next night with the festival. We came up with the idea of having him do some stage announcements We tried to find the Eyefear guys, but they were not in the room. I hit the hay at 4AM, leaving DC to roam around the streets--
After I went to bed, the magic happenedDC went to the Aussies room, and they approached him with the idea of doing a song with them as a special surprise to me. Somehow between 4 and 6AM, they ran through the song, loaded it on DCs player, and left him to go listen to it 1000 times before the show!!
Saturday afternoon arrives and DC and I are reviewing the plan for his announcements on stage. I suggest that he introduce Eyefear, because he has had such a good time hanging with them. I was torn about this, because I really wanted to announce them after all that we had been through to bring them here.
Later that night, before DC made his Eyefear announcement, I heard DC in the back warming up vocallyI thought to myself- this guy is a pro! He is warming up to do stage announcements!!
After he does the introductions for Eyefear, I stand around and try to catch as much of their set as possible. Eric had grabbed me at one point and told me to hang around, because they had a surprise for meSammy (keyboards) had mentioned to me that they had brought something from Australia for me- so I expected a koala toss or something hilarious like that. The cumulative effects of very little sleep for the past 2 nights were starting to get to me and I was somewhat dazed.
Then came the momentDC comes out on stage and joins Danny singing Whispers of the Soul off the new album which by now I have listened to 100 times! I HAD NO FRICKING IDEA!! I had the biggest grin on my face and was so incredibly moved by this. DC and Danny catch me in my euphoria, and both point to me and grinthey knew they got me!!
I was so blown away with this that I rank this among the top moments of my lifeThis made the festival for me and has made some friends for life out of all the Eyefear guys and DC. The fact they would do this to show their appreciation for what I did to pull this festival off and stay up in the wee hours to pull this off moved me beyond belief. I will NEVER forget this--
So proud of my fellow aussie buds!
