DON'T EVER PLAY HARMONICA TO A BIKER'S GIRLFRIEND.....101

Many years ago, when I was just starting out, I managed Sacred Reich. I had been with them since the first day of their birthing by Jason Rainey, and actually long before, since Jason was a regular at The Bootlegger's. We grew together. I guess you could say, they were my university after graduating high school at The Bootlegger's. The first touring I ever did was with them...but that's another class.

Greg Hall and Me

One particular tour in Europe, the band was booked to play in Queen's Hall in Bradford. I loved that venue and everyone who worked there was so cool! That was also where I saw my first dreads. I even told Dana about it when I got home, telling him I had seen the coolest hair style for him! He laughed..

At night, the day before the show, the band, crew and I decided to go to a local pub and have a pint or two...or three. We were having a smashing time, when suddenly, a biker gang pulled up and came in to raise hell...and that's what they did!!!

We all could see it was getting sketchy, and decided to head out. I had to go to the girl's room in the tiny balcony above, and the guys swigged their drinks. When I came down the tiny staircase, all Hell was breaking loose! I could see Goody, the guitar tech, being held by his arms behind his back and being punched in the face! He was falling forward, but they held him and kept swinging! I vividly recall his blonder than blonde hair swinging side to side, over and over again. Phil Rind was beginning to be dragged out the front door.

I pushed through the crowd in time to see Phil coming out through a plate glass window from the store next door and Goody running down the road to a phone booth. I stood there and watched in amazement. When I caught my breath, I realized I was alone and surrounding me was the biker gang. Some young man came up, my new best friend that night, and tried to get me through the circle forming around me. All of a sudden like the Batmobile, our tour bus pulled up to save me!!!

Goody with broken nose

Bus

I jumped in to find Goody with a broken nose, Phil all mugged up, but everyone else intact. The guys that got out first had run to the bus and altered the driver, who raced to save us. I instructed him to find a hospital to treat the wounds.

It turns out that when I travelled to the girl's room, Phil had a tiny harmonica and started playing it to some girl next to him. That's all it took to get thrown through a storefront window! Goody had gotten away from his pounding and ran to a phone booth to call the police. The gang had jumped in a car and actually tried to run the phone booth over, with Goody in it! The bus driver saved the day and our lives.

Greg drumming

I admit I was a bit naughty in the hospital, fighting with the police, in my pinted-up, scared to death fury. I could not understand why the policeman would do nothing to the bikers, when we even knew their names. Could it have been the fact that an officer's home had gotten fire-bombed by the gang the week before?? I did call the US Embassy and notify them, as we were in a bit of an apprehensive state with a show the next day. The man who took my statement said it was the wildest occurrence he had over the weekend... Yeah, us too!

Beer bong and friends

The show went on with Metal fury as we looked over our backs the entire time! The story made for some good press in the UK mags and we went on to do beerbongs in Yugoslavia...

Class dismissed.....