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Ozzfest
2002 - Diary Of A Mad Band – Neurotica Tour Diary!
Get the inside story of Ozzfest from
Neurotica's Kelly Shaefer.
Week Five
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Detroit 8/7-
8/8
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Ozzy's back and we are so stoked about that, I cannot
tell you how bummed we were to hear that was gonna be leaving for 3 weeks,
I totally understand and respect his decision to do that, but it was not
gonna be the same w/o him!!! Its funny that the day we got to play the
main stage in Columbus, a day in which I would have loved for ozzy to be
in the building, he was not, but it was THAT very reason why we were playing
so...... I wake up where else??? beside the stage of course so all I hear
is BOOM BOOM BOOM its my new alarm clock!!! The weather here as I walked
off thebus was ****ing AMAZING!! maybe about 68 degrees and sunny, it would
turn out to be the perfect weather for solid day of Metal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are also back to the top part of the line up , so we go on today at
10:00 a.m so I have to get up by 8:00,still battling this frickin cold,
I have taken a bunch of different things to combat it, but **** it!! I
got tipped off about this s*** that everyone is using out here called "throat
coat" its medicinal for your vocal chords, so I made me a piping hot cup
of this stuff, the singer for hatebreed actually drinks this s*** on stage,
have I already talked about this???? well if I have sorry, it works very
well, and at this point, with the condition of my throat from coughing,
I will try anything. As we went out to hit the stage, the crowd was sleeping,
so I screamed the first few words of A lot of the same(our new opener)
and Kaboom, Detroit was Alive, they were having a great time and we were
loving it cause the weather allowed for us to be able to slam it out hard!!!
The ole throat hung in there great , and I just came to the conclusion
that sometimes you can overly worry about this s***, and really at the
end of the day, it's ****ing live and dangerous, studios are for planned
perfection, the stage is meant for madness and imperfection hehehe!!!!!
I just allowed it sort of fuel my performance rather than hinder it! Headed
over to the FYE tent for our daily signings, a and we really enjoyed both
FYE and the Jager tents, cause the weather was rocking, people were really
nice and supportive, it was really only the third time we have ever played
Detroit, and we are here for a 2 nighter so it should be fun tomorrow as
well. The ****ing sing alongs in "I like it one way" are really starting
to work out great!!! the whole ****ing place is screaming from the very
first one, and by the 3rd time, its loud as s***, props to you all for
your AMAZING PARTICIPATION!!! As night time fell, we were all hanging by
the busses, its funny we are now finally starting to sort of get in a zone,
it has taken a while, but you see most of the bands out here have been
on the road for like a ****ing year and s***, we are just 3 weeks in and
well.... its like pre season, we are now over that s***, enjoying the new
set opening with "A lot" and everything is sort of working out great now.
we chilled out with one of my favorite people on this tour Evil Jay from
OTEP, he is really great, just super animated and fun to hang with, he
is always happy and which is why I call him Happy Jay hahahah but I would
not recommend anyone else calling him that heheheh!!! we saw the video
they made for "Blood Pigs" very cool, he said MTV will not play it though,
too heavy!! Mtv has got to bring back an outlet for heavy music man!! Speaking
of videos our video was edited this week, we should have a copy by the
top of the week and hopefully submit it right away for refusal by Mtv hahaha
no just kidding, maybe mtv 2 will play it, we hope so!!! I had taken some
more Nyquil on this night, but it seemed that it kept me and migwell up
till 3 a.m. migwell read the bottle and it said on the side, DO NOT TAKE
MORE THAN 2 DAYS STRAIGHT!!!. We have been drinking this s*** like it was
Jager!!! so I think it was not working anymore, it sucks too cause we have
to get up early again!! POOR ****ing me hahaha, I just read what I was
writing which I normally never do, and realized what a ****ing whiner I
sound like hahaha MAKE NO MISTAKE, I AM GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF THIS s***!! |
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Detroit day
2
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Up raring to go for day 2 of the motor city, got
to sleep a little longer than normal this morning, so tired I did not hear
my "metal alarm clock" Great weather again today, I know we are gonna get
spoiled by this s***, cause the whole tour has been a ****ing furnace and
now its like the WARM SUNNY SPRING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ever day it seems
I meet someone new, maybe from another band, or maybe someone from one
of the other crews, there are a ton of great people we have met out here,
Val the head of security, all the jager guys are like family now! other
tour managers like Chuck" from Otep, the people that work as carnies on
the Village of the damned, these people(the carnies) really work there
asses off for ****ing 3 bucks an hour, from 7a.m. to like 1:00 a.m. 50
bucks a day, and they do an amazing job of getting set up on time just
like the bands, they really deserve a lot of credit! what it really cool
is we have a built in head shop, clothing store, sunglasses, hats, shirts
you name it, massage people, ($1.00 a minute). This will be the last day
on the tour for a few of the bands out here, "Flaw", "Soil", and after
Chicago A>W>K> will be gone as well, man I would not want to be going home
right now, we were all talking about what a drag that would be to have
to leave right now, after getting into a groove with the crowd and with
the other bands, it would suck s*** to have to split!!! We all had a really
great today today, the crowd was even more juiced up today for some reason,
they were really into all the bands, I watched Hatebreed" from side stage
today, I have really come to appreciate the power of that band, they ****ing
deliver a violent metal punch that rivals a slayer performance, and I would
not say that about just any band, they are truly tat ****ing heavy!! GREAT
FRONTMAN!!! Best stage presence out here has to go to "Ill nino" those
boys ****ing are like all over the place no matter what the temperature,
I gotta lot of respect for that, they also win the "Macking" award on the
tour, at every show they have a couple of guys at the gate to round up
chicks to bring backstage, they bring about 25 back and then pick 8-10
to kick it with, really very systematic hahaha, very nice guys as well!
I went over to see Ozzy tonight, and as I watched , once again I looked
around and was just like "HOLY s***, I AM ON TOUR WITH OZZY" I think we
all do that everytime we are over there watching him, its so overwhelming
to watch him for me anyway, he is so ****ing responsible for what I do,
and to do it right along side him is the s***! We watched from front row
left tonight, it was a great spot, very cool venue, kind of small compared
to most of the amphitheatres, so everyone was in tight, ozzy was actually
able to touch people, and he seemed to be having a great time, some kid
jumped up on the stage and hugged ozzy, ozzy hugged him back and the kid
was ****ing thrilled of course!! Tonight he played something he had not
played on stage in a long time, he played GOODBYE TO ROMANCE but before
he played it, he brought Kelly out on stage with him, it was a tender metal
moment for sure hahaha, zack ****ing crushed the solo in that tune, it
was a true treat to hear that tune, and ozzy sounded great! Came back to
the bus area and it was party time, we were all saying our goodbyes to
the band that were splitting from the tour, getting pics etc. When I got
back I noticed that was a little tension in the parking lot, as it turns
out the boys in Flaw had a little scuffle with there ebass tech, actually
what happened was, the singer who was a bit hammered, got into a fight
with his bass tech, and the bass tech slammed him into the front window
of the bus and cracked that s***!!!, I saw Lance there guitar player, and
he was also a little buzzed, he said the name of there next album would
likely be DRAMA!! Shame it had to happen on the last night of the tour,
they all had been partying pretty hard and I guess if your not a stable
band, then s*** like this will happen when you get to ****ed up. Met the
singer for Pulse Ultra tonight for the first time formally, we see each
other daily, but had not been introduced, he was a cool kid!! I have a
bunch of pics that I need to get up on the site, to help illustrate the
whole scene hear at ozzfest 2002, its really a great time, and pics help
portray the value of it all if you know what I mean, hang in there with
me and we will get them up. we have a whole day off, but we have to drive
like 5 -6 hours to get to Chicago, so our whole day off will be driving
which sucks cause, I would rather be where we need to be so we can do something
other than being on the bus all day!!!
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Aug 9th
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Day off aug 9th DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE!! finally made
it to the hotel in Chicago around 7 at night, just enough time to check
email and grab a shower which we have not had for 3 days blllahhh ate at
the iron skillet at some truck stop by the hotel, met some fans there,
ate4 some grub, came back to the bus, ill nino was at the same hotel, we
smoked out and went to sleep, we are leaving the hotel at 6 a.m. so I slept
on the bus so I would not have to wake up and try to get back to sleep
before playing, see you in Chicago should be cooool!!! CHICAGO AWOKE IN
CHI-TOWN, FEELING A BIT BETTER FROM THE COLD, BUT STILL HAVE ****ING GLUE
IN MY NOSE HAHAHA we go on at 11:20 today, we have always had a good time
in Chicago, the people there really party there asses off, we have done
a bunch of club shows in the area,and have a lot of friends who we write
back and forth with from this area!, grabbed a quick rock and roll shower
(see week one) and headed off to drink my days dose of Throat coat(my new
best friend). they have it at catering everyday, that I will miss when
we are off the tour catering, man hats off to Sharon for making this all
so comfortable for all of us, we all get treated so well, and the food
is usually really great!! Detroit was a bit weak, but hell we are by no
means complaining, free meals on the road are valued highly!!! after jamming
to a most enthusiastic crowd, I had them top the Detroit crowd on the sing
along today, they ****ing delivered like I knew they would, really great
crowd in chi town, the jager girls were impressive as well at the Chicago
show, they are different at every venue, our little jager helpers were
very helpful on this day! they do a great job of getting the crowd chanting
nero-ti-ca nero-ti-ca, it makes the line a lot longer and we all have time
to drink as many jager and red bulls as we can during the time we are there,
today all of the new bands played, MUSHROOMHEAD, SEETHER, SWITCHED, they
all started the day, mushroomhead was very interesting to watch, full masks
in the hot ass sun, lots of energy, they had some sound issues to work
out so I am sure they will be more together as the days go by, switched
did really good, I missed seether oh yeah and glassjaw is out here now
as well. I personally would not want to come out on this tour in the middle
of it, cause we have all had so much time to hang out and bond and s***,
but I know at least mushroom has been around for many years so they know
a lot of the guys out here! the switched guys were really cool, we met
them first thing in the morning before we went on!! after our tent tour,
we went back to the bus and our tour manager kelso told me that wwe superstar
LITA(Amy) would be here today and she wanted to chill out on the bus to
escape the heat, we had her in jersey, and of course we had her again today,
she is so ****ing cool, we hung out most of the day, first we told her
about Otep, we thought she would enjoy seeing a girl like Otep **** s***
up, she watched from side stage, they were on the main stage today, and
they sounded great!!! had some dinner at catering, she wanted to see drowning
pool , so me and kelso took her over to see them from side stage, and she
saw a bit of P.O.D. at dinner we had about an hour long conversation about
the business of wrestling and music, she looked a lot better today her
neck brace was off most of the day, the last time we saw her she was still
wearing it all day, as you know she got hurt filming that episode of Dark
angel" a few months back, she will be out of wrestling for about a year
because of it and that sucks so bad for her, but she is very strong willed
and she will make a great comeback I know this!!! she had never seen ozzy
so we also took her over there to see him after we watched this stupid
show called the Anna Nicole smith show, what an IDIOT this girl is, I cannot
believe they gave her a t.v. show she is so wacked on medication that she
can barely speak!!! it was cool to see ozzy with lita for her first ozzy
experience, she had a big smile through the show, we left about 6 songs
in so she could catch her limo back to the hotel. she was a great hang,
I really enjoyed hanging with her all day, we also were over at the main
stage and I ran into jimmy from the jager crew, he gave me a half a bottle
of jager to pass along to my friends , he gave me shot glasses as well,
so me and our drummer Jason started it off, by having 2 for us hehehe.
we then saw Dave the bass player for ADEMA, we first met in Cleveland at
the side of the main stage, he is a really cool guy, we have been chatting
fro the last week. we served up some shots and then proceeded to the adema
bus for some much needed bong hits, also saw guitar player Tim there as
well , we all got baked and did some more shots, killed the bottle, this
was the first time I had drank on the tour really, I actually started drinking
COORS LIGHT arrghhh **** it , its free everyday and s*** it was wet and
cold so I ran with it, after that is when I hooked back up with Lita and
kelso, we then went over to se ozzy blah blah blah! after lita left we
had this great jam session in the bus area, apex theory set up the drums,
guitar player from ill nino set up his rig, we all broke out the djembe's
and also there were many congas set up, so we had this great little jam
kicking, even mushuggah joined in with there bass player cranking up in
the jam, also new comers "switched" joined in right away, every one was
partying, we did not have a long drive so we were all able to stay till
3:00 a.m. the jam session lasted for about 4 hours, it was a bonding night
again for us all, I was as high as I have been on the whole tour, everyone
had kind bud here hahaha I was mulling around the parking lot and Val was
there hanging with the guys from DOWN pepper was looking for more beer
, he had been through 11 cases he said, I knew we still had a bunch of
Coors light cause our guys don't like Coors, so I hooked him up with our
remaining beer and he was grateful hahaha, found another bottle of jager
and made shots for me and pepper, and Val and Dave from adema. after the
partying started to subside, we found out that 2 of the carnie girls were
fired tonight cause they had accused there boss of trying to....well its
not fair to persecute someone with out them having a chance to respond,
but lets just say that this s*** was not right, 2 young girls crying there
eyes out stuck in ****ing Chicago with no where to go , no where to sleep,
no one would help them so we took them to Chicago where they would be able
to hook up with some friends to get them home, we did not know then that
well, it was just not right to leave really young girls stranded in a town
where they knew no one! they slept in the back of the bus, we all crashed
out for the show tomorrow in Wisconsin Alpine Valley, we have heard a lot
about this place, but before we go, I want to say that CHICAGO was so very
good to us, we want to thank all of the kids for singing so loud and being
a big part of the great afternoon we had in Chicago , I cannot wait to
go back!!!!! good night for now!!!! |
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Aug 11th
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Alpine valley- east troy Wisconsin Woke up at (9:10
this morning, Otep was already onstage, I walked out of the bus into some
bad ass heat, a little frustrated cause I hate getting up to begin with
and mainly cause our bus is always full of people and you know how it is
when you first wake up, you do not want to see 10 people in such a small
place when you have to get ready for the show etc. I could not find a quiet
place to wake up and smoke a cig and get ready for the day! Jason's folks
were here today, it was great to see them, they were very proud of there
boy, he had a lot of family in the house today, I was happy for him, this
is a great way to come back home I would say!!! we played at 11:55 today
the sun was hitting the stage directly and it was like a big dust bowl,
it was gonna be hard to breathe in today, my voice is already dry and beat
up, so I stayed out of it until it was time to get it on, the time came
and we hit the stage to very lit up crowd, they were ****ing great!!!!
totally into being a part of the show, I ****ing love it!!!! funny thing
happened while doing the sing along today, the first time I told them what
I need them to sing, I said some s*** like hey man we have been in the
Midwest all week and Detroit and Chicago sang like mother****ers so lets
wake ozzys ass up with this s***, well I did not tell what to say I sang
it and they did not understand hahaha so I go SING IT "I LIKE IT ONE WAYYYYYYY!
AND they all screamed ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! I was like no no no your not
****ing listening sing I like it one way!!!!!!!!! and then they ****ing
got it and ****ing screamed it like they wrote it hahahahaha the third
and final time was the loudest of the whole tour, props to Detroit Chicago
and Wisconsin for ****ing making it a true rock show, we were sooo happy
with today's show, we all had a great day, great performance and most important
a great time, as I sit writing in this diary, we are still here in alpine
valley, we have a day off tomorrow , but we have to drive all the way to
Indy, Indiana, I am not sure how long that takes, but most of our day will
be eaten up, oh yeah funny thing happened today, the band "the used" joined
the tour today to replace Andrew w. k and check this s*** out, fist ****ing
day of school, and they go out on stage after Mushroomhead, and said some
s*** that was TOTALLY out of line! The guitar player blurts out to the
crowd, hey you guys were the used and we are a real band half of the bands
out here are using samples and tape machines, but we are the real deal,
CAN YOU BELIEVE THE BALLS OF THESE GUYS????? They QUICKLY put them selves
in a bad spot, they are lucky that pepper and Phil did not hear that s***,
but I am sure they will hear about it soon enough, man you do not come
on this tour as a new band and act that disrespectful to ANY of the bands
out here, its just not cool, and I took great offense to it cause they
made it sound like they were the only organic rock band out here without
triggers and samples, s*** have you ever tried to play along with a click
track and samples, its not ****ing easy I tell you, and are you gonna say
that your band is better than say...... rob zombie, Ozzy????? they all
use tape machines and samples, are you gonna say that you are better than
ill nino s*** those boys wipe the floor with the used!!!!! After our show,
I saw one of the carnie girls that stayed on our bus and she was talking
to the singer, she was like "Hey Kelly this is..... AND I WAS LIKE HEY
BRO NO ****ING SAMPLES OR TAPE MACHINES HERE BRO WHAT KIND OF s*** WAS
THAT????? I could tell by the look on his face that he was hearing it from
everyone, that s*** pissed everyone off, the guy from mushroomhead went
up to them and told them that maybe they should use a click track hahahaha
that's great!!! the singer said oh dude I am sorry our guitar player just
blurted it out, and so I said that s*** was not cool , and I would accept
his apology, he needed to apologize that's for sure, I told him that we
are as organic and real as it gets, bass guitar, drums and vocals that's
how we bring it to, but we also love all of the other styles, INCLUDING
those who use tape machines and click tracks, I thought I would share that
little story with you, I thought you would appreciate it hehehe! I sure
hope that those guys learned there lesson on that one, the road can be
a miserable place when 20 some oddbands are your enemy, so lets hope they
make up for it on the rest of the tour!!!! man it was soooo hot and dusty
today that I had to miss a lot of the bands, it was a long hike to the
main stage, and I could not deal with the dust, so went over and ate some
shrimp, and Chinese food from catering, good s*** for sure!!!! smoked out
of course, and now I think we will just chill out and get some sleep tonight,
we all partied really hard last night, so a good nights rest will be amazing!!!!
I might jump over now that the sun is gone and check out a bit of ozzy
from on top of the mountain. we miss you all at home, I miss my girl, and
dogs, madly!! one month left till we get home, thanks for reading my babble,
have a great night all, see you all in Indy aug 13th!!!! cheeeeeers!!!!
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Last
Week's Entry
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Week Three's Entry
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Week Two's Entry
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Week One's Entry
Read
The First Tour Diary Entry
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