And it’s time for another installment on the Slayer tour from our good tech friend Geoff… crazy nicknames… read on. Howzit, Peeps? Def Gef 666 (4AM )…here. I have been renamed as have some of the CHIMAIRA boyz by SLAYER themselves. Collectively, they are known as CHIMARIQUAI, complete with a picture of O-TOWN with the CHIMAIRA faces morphed onto O-TOWN hair-dos. I will try to get a copy of it for the site….provided they let it go public. MATT, is known as “Trent” or “McGuire”…named after a cuppla American NFL players that his red hair reminds Kerry King of. He has also become their bartender if Kerry isn’t up for making shots. ANDY, is known as the “Star-Bellied Sneech”, as named by the SLAYER crew. Something to do with the way he wears his hat and does his Ministry Of Silly Walks walk. Get him to do this for you if you can..its rather goofy and he will do it sober !!! Look for it on their home DVD, that is currently being filmed on a semi-daily basis, as we find anyone who will become a willing participant. Ya know…this whole monologue thing is making me feel like Johnny Carson or something..but on a closing note…I just have to say that..I met Richard Butler today. Who tha *&^$ is that you say? Well kiddies..he is a rather prominent vocalist for a rather prominent UK pop band from the 80’s… The Psychedelic Furs. Made my day..although they had played the night before and I met them as they were leaving as we were checking in. C’est la Vie…… PS…..sorry…one more thing..this report reads more like a who’s-who of venues…some interesting history in some of these buildings, with the US being the New Kids on the Block…just let me have my moment..I know the UK and Europe are full of history. >: P Wed 11/21/01 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Theatre A beautiful ballroom from back in the Chicago Gangster daze…before they learned to scratch and rap. This was Al Capone’s old hang, it turns out. His balcony seat was our catering room. I belive, he is the one who funded its grandiose interior design, with its court-jester like effigies and swirling hardwood floor than spirals all the way to the center. Feng Shui aside…the show REEAAALLY out of control and rather violent….we counted 6 or 7 pits running through each other and then oddly separating into their own spaces. A natural phenomenon. Fri 11/23/01 Detroit, MI @ Harpo’s Set in the Detroit ghetto…with its 9 foot (3 meter) high stage..this place gets wicked !!! I was happy to see a barricade this time as the last time I was there, I was running interference for Dino from FEAR FACTORY and got pulled off the stage as the song was ending. Which means that I was falling in PITCH BLACKNESS, with no clue as to when the floor was coming. Lemme just say that pain hurts. Brutal crowd…..but, of course, there were CHIMAIRA fans ready to show support with a few banners, which always makes the bands day. NOTE : Banners are a good way to get yer-self on to their website !! (….and to meet them as well) Sat 11/24/01 Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom Not only does this place have more up-down stairways and rooms to play in than the ASTORIA…but it kitty corner from Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment. FREAKY. It isn’t advertised this way…its just common knowledge. This was one show where the Paramedics were busier than the stage crew!! One right after the other…BRUTALITY at its finest. Sun 11/25/01 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue This is the club where “PURPLE RAIN” was filmed and also American Head Charges hometown..so they didn’t play..????? Yep, they didn’t…they have a New Years show coming up…so they decided to sit this one out…which was fine as this crowd was just waaaaaaaay to impatient. Once again..this hardcore SLAYER crowd was won over by the unexpected Wall-O-Chunk that is Chimaira. Their short, but sweet set was well received by the maniacs in the crowd that were headbanging to the WALK-IN MUSIC !! There were a cuppla guys at the merch counter that were banging their hair the ENTIRE night !! Amazing what you can do with so very few brain cells. Fri 11/30/01 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium A sister club to the FILLMORE in San Francisco, CA…and with just as much history. Tonite finds our boys…Matt,Rob, Jim and guitar tech, Ryan reeling from a night out on the town with Kerry King, Paul Bostaph and Kerry’s tech,Fluffy. No one and I mean NO ONE remembers much after the first…..uh 5 rounds!! There is a lesson to be learned, people. DON’T TRY TO KEEP UP WITH KERRY KING !!! I, myself, was short of funds, so I opted to hang out at the hotel and do my laundry….what a rager, eh? I am so out of control. But..it was all for the better as we were about to embark on a 1,333 mile journey from Denver through Utah and Oregon to get to Seattle, WA were we are now. Mind numbing is the word. I drove first so Ryan could get some rest, which turned into him driving for 14 hours!! Maniac. Having made it safely through 60 mile -an-hour winds blowing us all over a road full of ice and a snowstorm in our face…we have arrived a day early..HELL YEA….so we are making the best of it by prowling the streets of Seattle tonite, hoping to run into the ZYKLON guys or MORBID ANGEL..as they will be playing tommorow night as well. On that note…….I’m out. Peace to all a yaz !! ~ Def Gef ~