they needed to be. Most of the time I didn't exchange much beyond a "Hello" at the beginning of the ride and a "Thanks. -- You're welcome." at the end, but here are three experiences that stood out to me.SUBLIME (w/ Rome): Weenie Roast 2010, Sublime was the big headliner. Well, Sublime w/ Rome was the big headliner and I was fortunate enough to drive the dudes from their trailer to the KROQ interview stage. Eric & Bud (bassist & drummer) were SUPER chill, as one might expect the guys from Sublime to be. Rome kept his headphones on & didn't say a word to me. I will therefore reserve judgment of his character as I have no conversation to go off of. I actually drove Rome's little brother later in the night and he was SO genuinely excited to be there and was really appreciative of me driving him around. -- But it was a very cool moment to have the musicians behind songs I've heard THOUSANDS of times sitting with me just casually conversing. Shooting the shit. Talking the talk. Alliterating the alliterative. That last one doesn't even make sense.
METALLICA: Well, I didn't drive the whole band. But I did drive James Hetfield (lead singer of said Metallica) to KROQ's interview stage during Weenie Roast 2008. That was undoubtedly the most hectic moment I ever experienced working a show. The interview stage is in an area backstage where fans (mostly contest winners)
were able to come hang out. So the second they got wind that Mr. Hetfield was coming, they crowded that stage like crazy. And once they saw me pulling up with Metallica's voice in my golf cart, they came rushing towards me. It wasn't so bad getting him to the stage, it was more difficult getting him away from the stage once the interview was done. I had SWARMS of people around me and once I had my passengers in the cart, I was just told to GO! So I started honking my horn and slowly pulling forward, praying the people in front of me would get out of the way, or at least know how to brace themselves for a golf cart impact. I successfully completed the drive without injury to myself or others, and James was nice enough to give me a pat on the back and a heart-felt, "thank you man" at the end. What a classy gentleman. (NOTE: I did not get a picture with James but I did snap this picture of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammet as he was heading to the big stage to perform. I asked if I could follow him on stage to be a go-go dancer for them. He said no.)SCOTT WEILAND: Now even though I'm not the biggest Stone Temple Pilots fan in the world, I can't deny their impact on music and their amazing musical abilities. AND when I saw them at Weenie Roast a few years back, they sort of blew me away. So I'm learning to love them more. But I had the honor of driving Scott Weiland himself (STP's lead singer) when he played as a solo act at Acoustic Christmas in 2008. The reason this particular drive stands out to me is because it was the most one-on-one conversation I had with any of the various band people I drove in my time with KROQ. He was so relaxed and candid. He was re-living memories from past shows. I remember specifically we talked about the time he wore a dress while performing at an MTV beach house, which is exactly what MTV DIDN'T want him to do. He still took pride in the fact that he wore that dress in front of this mainstream audience and likely drove the MTV exec's insane. But this conversation was one of those surreal moments in life where I realized I was listening to this rock star tell me his rock star stories. Firsthand! It was almost like I was a rock star wearing a dress myself!! And then I looked down and realized I was wearing a dress and all felt right with the world.
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