YOUR QUESTION:

09/09/2019 19:52:09 Tarnation

Considering how you've been dealing with interactions with needy and thirsty fans for ages, here's a question: how did YOU deal with interacting with artists of whom you were a fan? Was it always easy for you to maintain a cool facade (at least to me, you exhude coolness and "I don't have time for anybody's shit") or have you ever found yourself "geeking out", so to speak? Do those interactions bring you as much retrospective embarrassment as I feel even by writing this to you? It's admittedly a low stakes engagement (you enjoy somebody's work, you meet said person by chance, it either goes well or doesn't), but I'm curious as to how you've coped with that sort of thing, seeing as you've now got Dave Lombardo in your band and have been playing with him for a while.

MY ANSWER:

I had very few interactions as a fan as a young person. I high-fived John Doe from the front row of an X show when I was 13. I got Hetfield’s and Hammett’s autographs when I was 16 (they seemed bothered and were condescending). Once my high school friend started getting famous in front of my eyes the world of “celebrity” got smaller to me. I began to realize that these were human beings with as many faults and insecurities as anyone else.
In terms of being put in a working situation with people I was a priori a fan of, such as Buzz and Dave, one hides one’s giddiness in order to be professional. I had this same attitude when auditioning one-on-one with Tom Waits as well. After a certain amount of time, and whilst retaining one’s own self-respect, one can set aside the persona one has observed and relate on a human level to another human. I’ve also felt that giddiness with people who aren’t famous but still command my respect. It’s true that I don’t have time for anybody’s shit, and neither do you.