Who: pound • Buckcherry • Fuel
My friend Angela & I had been discussing the Fuel concert for what seemed like years, so she finally went out & bought tickets for the show at Mekka. I got myself totally worked up, telling everything & everyone around me that I was going to get to meet pound, Buckcherry, & Fuel. No one believed me, of course, even though I'm a master at meeting bands. Even though the club isn't in the best area of Columbus, my parents were quick to agree to let me go, as long as I wouldn't be the one driving. Angela volunteered her mom's car & her own driving abilities, so we were set. My sister, Joanie, & Angela's friend, Angie, decided that they wanted to accompany us, so Joanie & I arrived at Angie's house promptly at 5 P.M. armed with Fuel's Sunburn CD, a silver marker for Fuel's use when signing its black cover, my best friend's brother's camera, a 24 exposure roll of film, a ton of lipstick & glitter, a wad of money, & our bright, smiling faces. I attempted to load the camera, found out that I had no idea how to, made Angie do it for me, tried to take a picture, found out that the film still wasn't in right, re-loaded, lined everyone up again, & took my first picture of the night. We left for Wendy's, hoping to fill up on enough fat to last us through the next 8 hours. I was too nervous & excited to eat anything, of course, but I got a lovely Frosty to trick my stomach into thinking that it was getting full. We finally left the restaurant & started toward our destination. Angela had terrible premonitions that something terrible was going to happen to us at the concert, so when a semi almost collided with us, she wanted to turn back. Ha, as if I was about to let that happen. We put Sunburn into the CD player to ease my fears that I was going to forget all of the words at the concert & made our way to High Street. Following Angela's map, we turned onto Hinman Avenue & realized that the street went absolutely nowhere. Angela began hyperventilating (but not really), so we calmed her & found an alternate route. As we approached Mekka, I was utterly disappointed by its outward appearance, the club being nothing more than what looked like an old warehouse. Angela assured me that it was totally different inside, though, so I was happy once again. After taking 10 - 20 years to find a parking place where Angela felt like her windows wouldn't be bashed in, we hid all of our valuables under her car seats like the paranoid kids that we are & headed for the building. Several groups of people were already standing around, & many of them included guys that Angela so lovingly refers to as "scary people", so she was once again worried about being there. I noticed a group of chicks who were so obviously dying to be goth, so we watched them with caution. Angela said she felt really out of place in her Abercrombie crap, but I was feeling right at home in my weird polyester shirt & Vans. A dude wearing a Mekka shirt approached the groups & asked everyone to line up, so we walked over to the door & formed a line by the hummer that a local radio station, 99.7 FM The Blitz, had brought in an attempt to win listeners with a really cool vehicle. As we waited, we noticed a balding middle-aged guy with a sign that said "Buck Cherry", so we made fun of him. Then, when he wrote his e-mail address on it for some reason, we all made mental notes to send him some porno spam. After we stood in line for almost an hour studying the guys behind us who I thought were cute but Joanie called "white trash" & talking about the extremely good shoes that the goth chicks were wearing, the doors finally opened. As we walked down a long, concrete hallway that was completely empty & totally dark, I began thinking that there really wasn't a concert, that we were actually there for some weird sex experiments. That didn't sound all that bad to me, so we continued walking. The four of us anxiously reached the roped-off area by the door, only to be stopped behind the goth chicks. We stood around some more. The guys behind us started talking about Oleander, & since I had just bought their CD the day before, I was absolutely dying to talk with them about the band. I was unwilling to join in their conversation, so Joanie & I started talking about how much we hate when people want you to know that they want to talk about the same band you are, so they start singing one of the songs or something. So, we started singing Oleander until the guys noticed us. Ha. Then, we were bored, so we started dancing to the music coming from the bands' sound checks. Angela & Angie got embarrassed since they can't handle any form of weirdness, so we stopped. A bunch of kids walked up to the door on the other side of the roped-off area & some Mekka staff guy came out to take them backstage, so I started complaining about how I wanted to go, too, of course. The goth chicks turned around & started telling us that the kids got the passes from some radio promotion, & they were actually cool, so we made some goth-y friends. The staff guy came back out & gave the balding guy with the sign a backstage pass to meet with Buckcherry, so I started complaining again. (Not in an annoying way, though. Nothing I do is ever annoying.) The chicks asked us if we knew anything about pound or Buckcherry, & we told them that we only knew the two songs played on the radio, so they high-fived us like goth chicks like to do, & made it clear that they were like us, there only to see Fuel. Jonathan (J.B.) from Buckcherry came out into the other roped off part carrying a camera, but everyone just kind of ignored him for some reason. I didn't know who the heck he was since I had never seen pictures of Buckcherry, but I immediately told everyone that I thought he was the hottest man alive. I'm not much of a fan of tattoos, but his were a little too hot for even me. I watched him walk by us a few times, but I just thought he was some kind of photographer, so I didn't talk to him or anything. The goth chicks told me to hide my camera since they didn't think I was allowed to have it there, so I shoved it in my pocket & tried to make the huge bulge in my pants look completely normal. As soon as we got inside, Angela bought herself a shirt & preceded to complain about how fat she looked in it while I signed up for the Fuel mailing list. We walked inside the little lobby-like area of the club where people were seated on plush, velvet chairs waiting to get in to see the bands. A guy came over & stood in front of me wearing a shirt signed by Jon, so I looked around for the members of Buckcherry. Someone pointed Jon out to me, so I ran over & stood behind some chick who was holding her ticket stub out to him. He was even better-looking up close, so I stood there, basking in his beauty, not realizing that he was being called back to his dressing room. I followed him, hoping to at least get a picture of his butt or something, but he disappeared. I found a velvet curtain off to one side of the room that wasn't quite closed all of the way, so I timidly pulled it aside a few inches to peer inside. Just then, Jon came up behind me & said, "Excuse me" while he went through the curtain. My third chance - gone. I walked back to my group & talked with the goth chicks some more. Finally, the security dudes let us in. Instead of running to the stage like everyone else, we casually walked to a set of extremely wide, black steps that people dance on at the club. I asked some guys sitting on one of the steps if we could sit there, so we took a seat, Joanie & I stretched out on one step, Angela & Angie on another. We were maybe 20 feet from the band, far enough to keep ourselves out of reach of scary, old men & close enough to catch Brett Scallions' (lead singer of Fuel) sweat as it flew thru the air toward us as I was hoping it would. Angela took me to the bathrooms a moment later. I didn't have to go, mind you, but she wanted me to see them, because she said they were beyond cool. She was right. The whole place looked really gothic, if that's an acceptable way to describe a room. There were huge, gold mirrors & old-fashioned furniture all around. I sat on the extremely-inviting-yet-extremely-dirty pink lounge chair as Angela snapped pictures of me. We discussed how many people had probably had sex there, got freaked out, & went back to our perch on the steps. pound's guitar dudes took 400 years to get the band's stuff ready, but the whole time they were setting up, I was watching this man who can only be described as "fabulous" off to one side of the stage as he lightly strummed his guitar. I was unaware of his name, but he looked so serene, standing there all alone. The crowd in front of the stage couldn't see him, so he wasn't trying to impress anyone with his playing, he was just playing for himself. I completely tuned out everyone except him, struggling to hear what he was playing. I couldn't, so I took that chance to take in his red hair & black ensemble. Shortly after I became aware of the fact that I was absolutely in love with him, pound came onstage, & I found out that he is the band's lead guitarist. Pat is his name, in fact. I'm not sure that that's the name of a man someone falls in love with, but I did, so obviously someone was meant to. pound's lead vocalist, Jason, sang a few songs, talked to the audience a bit, & then took off his shirt. I began taking pictures, of course. The boy was hot. Since I only knew pound's single Upside Down, I was kind of lost during their set. When they began throwing glittery gold "pound" stickers by the handful at us, however, the whole audience went crazy trying to pick them up. (My sister got one for us, just so you know.) They continued with their set, completely clogging up my ears with crazy guitar & awesome vocals. At one point, Jason threw a pick into the audience that hit a guy about 5 feet in front of us, bounced off of him, & landed a few feet off to my right. Before anyone even realized where it went, I was off of my step, pouncing on it like a...well, an animal that pounces, you know. I grabbed it & climbed back on my step as everyone finally realized what I was after. So, I have a glow-in-the-dark pound pick. It has "Jay" signed on it, which I'm assuming is Jason's nickname, & on the back, it has the eyes, nose, & mouth of an alien. Very cool. pound finally did Upside Down, so the whole audience sang along & moshed like crazy. I was very happy with them. I was already thinking, "What a way to open a concert!", & Buckcherry hadn't even played yet. As we waited for the band's stuff to be set up, Black Lab's Wash It Away came on over the speakers. I sang along, happy that one of my favourite bands was being acknowledged at a concert of another one of my favourite bands. After the song was over, I expected some annoying dance song, but Black Lab's CD continued to play. I was incredibly happy, not only to hear my band, but also to see that other people were singing along, too. Yeah, that's good stuff. Much to my dismay, the CD was turned off, & some dudes began to come onstage. I was reminded that I am in love with Jonathan when he walked on, however, so I got happy once again. Buckcherry's lead guitarist, Yogi, stood up on the drum platform with his back to the audience, allowing us to take in his red & black hair, black leather pants, & black sequined jacket. Joanie & I began laughing, but we stopped as soon as Josh, the lead singer, came on. He was just really disgusting, I'm sorry to say. Now, I'm sure that I just offended about 4,000 people, but I’m really not fond of men who look like a cross between Steven Tyler of Aerosmith & Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes. He wore a transparent girly blouse that didn't even start to hide his 4 million tattoos. (Let's get this straight. Jon's tattoos = HOT. Josh's tattoos = GROSS.) He took off his shirt after the first song, exposing the word "CHAOS" written across his stomach & a huge picture of the king of hearts on his back. He kept pushing his pants farther & farther down, revealing more & more of his extremely thin frame. (Daniel Johns may be thin, but at least he keeps his clothes on.) I would love to say that I enjoyed the set, even though I didn't know any of the songs besides Lit Up, but I just really didn't. I've never been to a concert that I didn't like, but I was left with an empty feeling after Buckcherry. Josh kept pushing the crowd surfers who made it to the stage off the edge, & I wasn't at all impressed with his screaming. I suppose Josh was really my only problem with the band. The guitar was great, & Jon looked fabulous as he ran his hands thru his simply amazing hair. I took a million pictures of him, but he only came to my side of the stage a few times, so I'm now left with a plethora of pictures of Josh with Jon somewhere in the background. I also loved the way that Yogi & Jon kept playing to each other, looking as if they were going to get down on the floor and…umm…talk about life with each other at any given moment. (My Lord, that’s hot.) Lit Up was far better live than on the radio, so I suppose Josh gets my compliment there. All the old men there to see the band cracked me up. During pound, not a person over 25 was anywhere to be seen, but as soon as Buckcherry hit the stage, 80's metal fans (who all happened to be over 40) invaded the area in front of the stage. Their heavily tattooed arms sliced thru the air as they pumped their fists & sang along to Josh's every word. Josh stopped at one point to ask who had bought the record. Thirty or so hands shot up & people cheered. Josh asked how many people had...umm...talked about life with the man or woman of their choice while listening to the record. Hands stayed raised & people cheered once more. Josh asked how many people had masturbated to the record as he grabbed his crotch. One lonely man raised his hand & cheered as everyone else just looked around. Josh said, "This isn't a masturbating record." Buckcherry finished their set with a lot of random guitar & drum noise, none of which impressed me in the least. I felt bad not for liking them, but I kept comparing them to pound & Fuel, something I should have avoided doing. They put on a very energetic show, but they also left me with something to be desired in the musical area. Sorry, Buckcherry fans. As Buckcherry cleaned up the stage & picked up their guitars, I ran to the front in an attempt to meet Jon, but he never came close enough to the stage. Just as I was about to call out his name, he walked off stage. My fourth chance – missed. As we waited for Fuel’s roadies to set up the band’s gear, music was once again played over the speakers. A very cool song came on & we all asked each other who was singing, but no one seemed to know. Just then, the girl on the step behind me started singing along, so I turned & asked her if she knew the artist. She didn’t, but she told me to ask the chick who she lovingly referred to as “80’s woman” on the floor beside me. I tapped 80’s woman on the shoulder & asked her, but she just shook her head full of curly, 80’s hair. The girl behind me laughed at her, & I felt kind of bad for 80’s woman, but when you’re over 40 & have 80’s hair, I suppose you deserve to be laughed at. Finally, after we waited for an infinite amount of time, orange, red, & yellow lights above the stage began making weird patterns on the backdrop behind the stage. That could only mean one thing – Fuel was coming out. The four of us stood up, & I prepared to sing my little heart out. We waited. Nothing happened. We kept waiting. Still nothing. The crowd murmured restlessly. Just then, Carl, Fuel’s lead guitarist, stepped onto the stage & took his place. Kevin, the drummer, walked on wearing nothing but some boots, a pair of black pants, & a black cowboy hat. They started playing at a low hum while Jeff grabbed his bass & joined in. Brett burst on as we all began cheering. Before we could even register that Fuel was actually onstage right in front of us, Brett growled, “I wanna make her go. I wanna make her come. I wanna push her away,” the opening to Ozone. The song has traditionally been one of my least favourites on the Sunburn album, but after tonight, I can’t resist loving it. Brett paced the stage in his sparkly, orange, body-hugging shirt & black velvet pants, bending down to sing to the crowd in front of the stage as he touched their outstretched hands. Even though I promised myself I wouldn’t, I was forced to scream & jump around in excitement. The strobe lights, along with the other colored lights & Brett’s shirt, blinded us, creating the type of atmosphere one would hope for during a song called Ozone. They finished & launched right into Mary Pretends, a short & rather catchy punk kind of song. The stage & crowd were chaotic, echoing the words “Mary pretends she's so insane, so insane, so insane”. Brett looked almost insane himself in his black-framed yellow glasses, wandering around the stage. I realized then, as I was rapidly snapping pictures, that I only had 4 exposures left. I wanted so badly to meet the band that I had actually made myself believe that I was going to, so I decided then & there to save the last four pictures for Carl, Kevin, Brett, & Jeff. I knew I would beat myself with decapitated rubber chickens later if I saved my film for nothing, but I figured it was worth the risk. The band played the one of the two songs I didn't know next. I don’t know how I didn’t know the song, but I believe it was Nothing from their Porcelain album. Why don’t I have Porcelain, you ask? Well, it only contains one song that I don’t have on another album (that song being Nothing, & it’s really hard to find around here, so I’ve never bothered to order it. Go ahead & beat me now. I wish I could remember the order of the songs after that, but I was too in awe to remind myself to pay attention. During It’s Come to This, I just about died from excitement, I swear. I was jumping around on my big step, shouting along with the words until Brett got to the “I fear I've wasted all my sun. I fear I've wasted all my time,” part. Then, I was just mesmerized by the way Brett could so effortlessly go from talking in his low, growling voice to singing softly with such passion. Since Sunburn is my favourite Fuel song, I could barely contain myself when Carl started playing the opening chords. Oh, wait. I couldn’t contain myself. I jumped up & down, screaming as the people around me turned to stare since the song is a quiet one, & no one there was really into the band like I am (or so it seemed). The song was better live than I ever could have imagined. The people in the crowd were making me angry, though. The staff guys were trying to contain the moshing & whatnot, but Brett told everyone that he was fine with people crowd-surfing to get up onstage as long as no one hit his or Carl’s mic stands, since they didn’t want to have to get any dental work done. All of these guys kept going up & shaking Brett’s hand before they jumped back off, but this one stupid girl was too afraid to jump back down. She stayed up onstage until Brett came over & gave her a hug. I was terribly jealous at that point, but I felt better after he got sick of her being up there & finally pushed her off himself. After New Thing, Song for You, & Bittersweet (Angela’s favourite), the band stopped to talk to the audience a bit. I started yelling, “Play Walk the Sky! Walk the Sky!” The song is pretty much unknown since it was only released on the Godzilla soundtrack, but I bought the soundtrack & adore the song. Joanie joined in with me, & finally Brett took notice. He started talking about how they had done a song for the soundtrack of a little movie called Godzilla called Walk the Sky, & after I screamed for a few minutes straight, they launched into the song. I swear that I was the only one who knew it, but it rocked. After that, I decided to try my luck once again & request Untitled, the song that I was probably most looking forward to hearing live. Joanie & I tried our best to be heard over the crowd, but our voices were drowned out as Brett announced that the next song was called Shimmer. I was happy to hear it, but I also knew that it would be the only song that the entire crowd could sing along with. It was great, of course, but not nearly as impressive as some of the other songs. Much to my disappointment, Brett thanked us for being such a “fucking great” audience & began singing their last song, Untitled. I sang my little heart out, trying to savour every last bit of Fuel. As the strobe lights flashed on & off, we could barely make out the guys leaving the stage. People slowly began leaving, but Joanie & I knew it couldn’t be over. Angela & Angie wanted to go, so we could hurry back to meet them, but I wasn’t about to budge. Finally, the lights went back off & Carl emerged once again, so I was able to gloat & thank myself for not listening to my friends. Brett called Yogi from Buckcherry onstage, & they all began playing a cover song that I didn’t know. Yogi tried to play to Carl like he did with Jon, but Carl didn’t seemed too interested. He just smiled & kept playing. Brett sat on the drum platform & sang, so people surfed onstage & crowded the mic area. At the end of the song, one dude went up to the mic & said, “Thank you. Thank you,” as Brett looked on disapprovingly. I don’t know what possesses people to do idiotic things like that, but certainly no one thought he was the least bit cool. Brett thanked us for being “fucking great” again, & then nodded to Carl, who began the opening riff of Jesus or a Gun. The song was simply amazing, & I was sorry to see them leave again. As soon as it was over, Joanie, Angela, & Angie began to leave, but I stayed behind. I turned to the girl behind me who happened to have a video camera & asked her if she taped the concert. She told me that she had taped most of it, so I asked to buy a copy of it. We exchanged addresses, & went off to find my friends. As I passed by the area where some merchandise chick was selling T-shirts & CDs, I noticed Pat standing there, not crowded by fans as one would expect. I walked over & fished my ticket out of my back pocket to ask him to sign it. He obliged with a smile, & so I had the chance to tell him how amazing pound had sounded. He thanked me & asked if I wanted the other guys (who I had failed to notice were standing with him) to sign it. I said out loud, “I wish there was something bigger to sign”, so he produced a pound promo picture from a compartment hidden somewhere in his back (or perhaps the table behind him; one can never be sure, you know). He asked my name & re-signed his on the picture, this time making it out to me. He passed it down the row, & since no one was around still, I asked for a picture. Pat asked the other guys to get around me, & I had a random chick who happened to be passing by to take my camera. She accidentally took a picture before we were all ready, so she took another. By that time, I had somehow used up all of my film (I must have unknowingly taken more pictures during the concert even after I told myself not to), but I decided that pound was worth it. I thanked the guys again, & my friends appeared as I walked away. I couldn’t believe that they didn’t want to talk to pound, but I realized that I was the only there who really cared about any of the bands. We looked around for Buckcherry, but they were nowhere to be seen, so we headed toward Angela’s car. I quickly found my CD & silver pen, & we all walked around to the back of Mekka. There was nothing to be seen but some trees & a whole lot of darkness, so my friends immediately wanted to just forget about Fuel & leave, but I refused to oblige. We turned another corner, only to find a wooden gate encircling the area we imagined the tour bus to be in. We found an opening & walked toward the bus, hoping to see some sign of life. There was none. A flickering light could be seen inside, but no one seemed to be in it. I walked toward a side door leading to the stage, but my friends stayed back, somehow afraid that we were going to get arrested or something. I couldn’t find the band, so I walked back to the front of the bus to wait. After we waited for a few minutes, Jeff emerged from the building, so I approached him & asked for an autograph. He asked me to wait a few minutes while he got changed, & but then changed his mind & decided to take a few minutes to talk to me. I said all the generic stuff about how the show was great & all, he thanked me, I thanked him, & he disappeared inside the bus before anyone else had the chance to meet him. I was surprised at how few people had come back. There were maybe 10 people standing around in groups of three or four. Jon from Buckcherry walked out with some guy & a couple of chicks who he appeared to be friends with. I wanted to talk to him so badly, but I just couldn’t. I really had nothing for him to sign (except my chest, of course), & I didn’t want to seem like a stalker, so I just watched him from afar, basking in the light of his wonderful hair. A car pulled up shortly, & Carl & Brett emerged from it. Carl stayed to say something to the driver, but Brett walked toward the bus, so I prepared myself to talk to him. A group of kids got to him first & one said, “Can we go with you guys?” I allowed myself to get close enough to see his fabulous eyes under his yellow glasses, but I made sure I separated myself from the stupid kids. Brett said, “Where?” The kid said, “Wherever you’re going.” Brett said, “Right now, I’m going to the bus,” & walked away, leaving us nothing but the sight of the back of his sweaty, orange shirt. I laughed at the ignorance of the kids & went back to stand with my group. Carl stopped talking to someone & walked back to the car. Since we saw that he was going to leave, Angie pushed me in his direction. I hesitated, so some random woman who seemed to be with the band told me to go catch him before he left. Another man with a drumstick got to him first & told him that Fuel was his inspiration & stuff, so I felt pretty stupid after that. I just said something about how they put on a great show while Carl used his own black marker to sign the light area of the CD cover. I smiled at the driver, thanked Carl, he thanked me, & he drove off. I was giddy by then, but Brett came back out, so I tried to control myself without much luck. Two or three people came to get his autograph, but I beat them to it. I handed him my silver pen & expressed my absolute love of Fuel as he scribbled his name. I touched his leather jacketed arm as he handed my things back to me, which was a little too much for me to handle, of course. I saw that he wasn’t going anywhere, so I took that chance to tell him that I was the one standing on the side, pleading with him to play Walk the Sky. I have no idea why I said it, & I really expected him to beat me for taking up his time with such stupidity, but he looked me in the eyes, smiled kindly, said, “Oh, really? That was you?”, & chuckled. Have I ever mentioned how much I love that man? I allowed the other chicks to get their stuff signed, & then approached him once again for a picture. The camera read “24”, so I don’t think the picture will turn out, but it was worth a try. Brett smiled once again & put his arm around me as Joanie snapped a picture. I thanked him for the 800th time that evening & began to walk away. I wasn’t quite ready to leave him, though. I turned around again to take one last look, fully aware of the fact that I’m just another fan to him. I didn’t care, though. I had met Fuel.
Where: Mekka • Columbus, Ohio
When: June 8th, 1999
