LIFE AS A HEAVY METAL ROADIE: NO REGRETS EXCEPT FOR HERPES

Those instruments don’t set themselves up, ladies and gentlemen; where there’s a big metal show there’s also a crew of roadies doing all the tough work behind the scenes. Vice Magazine has put together a documentary mini-series called On the Road, which they’re releasing in bite-sized chunks of 10-minute episodes, to pay tribute to these heroes and celebrate “the travelling rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.” The first six episodes are hosted by Jesse Hughes of The Eagles of Death Metal, and the series promises that “it bares all the scars and secrets of the road and a few surprises along the way.”

Of the three episodes released so far, Episode 2 should be of most interest to MS readers. Episode 2 features interviews with several metal notables on the Revolver Golden Gods Awards black carpet and some pretty outrageous stories from longtime Megadeth and Motorhead roadie Jef Hickey. Did you know that R&B great Luther Vondross used to have his toilet seat FedEx’ed to each location before his arrival? True story, and Jef was the one who had to install it nightly. Watch Episode 2 above and follow the full series here.

-VN