JULY.05.2008
Metal Camp – Tolmin, Slovenia
Metal Camp in Slovenia was a taste for Freddie, Brent, and myself of what every show is like for Jon and Matt. Usually behind the scenes, when we get to a festival site or venue, the three of us are free to do what we want, i.e. shop, grab some extra sleep on the bus, eat or whatever we feel like. Jon and Matt always have scheduled press conferences, photo shoots, interviews, literally a lot of times we don't see them until ten or fifteen minutes before show time. Metal Camp was different in the fact that we were doing a group photo shoot with Ross Halfin, who is a legendary photographer of many legendary bands, so we were all going to be busy for the day. You can check Ross' work out at his official website.
Anyway, he wanted to get up at four in the morning to go up to the top of a mountain to shoot pictures as the sun came up. We all got about three hours of sleep and then got up out of bed trying not to look tired. Our manager, Ulf, drove our van in the dark with our guide giving directions to Cadrj, nearly to the top of the mountains, on single-tracked dirt roads. The road was so slick at one point that we all had to get out of the van to lessen the weight just so the van could climb up a few feet. It was dark so it was only on the way down, three hours later, that we could see the steep drop-offs we were riding a few feet from. When we reached as far as the road went, it was time to walk. Our guide told us the walk would be about fifteen minutes, but it ended up being more like forty-five.
This was extra hard since we were all dressed in our stage clothes, complete with slick-bottomed boots. It was well worth it once we got to the top. The sun was coming up and hitting the face of the mountains directly across from us, and the mist was rising from the valley below. Jon was up first for his photo shoot and had to climb over a fence that was there for obvious safety reasons. There was maybe a foot or so of solid ground and then a straight drop of a couple thousand feet. He had to stay pretty still and not take a step in any direction or it would have been the end of him, but he didn't seem bothered by this. If it were me, I would have had to pack a few extra pairs of underwear.
Next were Jon and Matt, both over the fence. Again, pretty scary stuff. One wrong move and you would be hang gliding without the glider. From there it was group shot time, and then we started heading down taking shots along the way in front of some natural rock formations and anything else that looked cool. By the time we got back to the van, Ulf and our guide had arranged some locals to drive us down to keep us all from dying in some sort of mountain accident.
On the way down was when we saw how close the road was to the edge of some very steep rockslides. I mean, one foot in the wrong direction and it would have been lights out for all of us. We then went to an old WWI bunker that was still intact. Then we went back to the festival to try and catch an hour or two of sleep before heading off to some other sites that our guide had told us about. One was an old mill of some kind that had a dam by it that just looked cool. Ross took various shots from around there. A few of them were with everyone standing on part of the dam that had probably a fifty foot drop off one side. They had everyone else standing and me sitting since I've been know to be a little clumsy, and the ledge we were standing on was only about two feet wide. Then it was off to some natural rock formations that had a really cool vibe.
By then it was time to go to the festival to get ready to play. Roax
films was there to shoot a live DVD of the show, and what a wild show it
was. The crowd’s energy was through the roof. It was a
good show to get on DVD. Thanks to the fans that were there. You
guys were awesome!
Immediately after the show, Jon, Ulf and Ross left for a photo shoot with
Jon in Venice that was scheduled for eight the next morning. I think
they left around 1am, which should have put them there around 3am but, for
some reason, they got hassled at the Italian border and ended up sitting
there for an extra hour. They didn't get to Venice until a little after
4am. So very little sleep for them but, I heard they got some killer
shots.
We left Slovenia at around 9am for the airport in Venice. Our plane left for Berlin at 3pm. Jon and Ulf barely made it because the lines at the airport were very long, but in the end they made it so all was well.