Somewhere along the road Greg had hooked up with a Brampton band named "Viciousphere" they were somewhat reminiscent to older Metallica, and they did their thing quite well. They had turned Greg onto a rehearsal space in the Rexdale area called Rumblefish Studios, so we were now looking into possible renting a unit there. The boys in Viciousphere had also invited us to play a big barn bash in Brampton, and of course we said yes. I don't remember much leading up to it, but the day of the party arrived and we were stoked to say the least.
I really didn't know what to expect, but when we arrived it was definitely a barn. It was open on one side and boasted a natural earth floor. There was actually a legit stage in the barn which was very surprising to me. I was accustomed to playing small clubs that sometimes didn't even have a stage, or if they did they were generally very small. It was nice to have some room for a change.
I don't recall much of our performance or Viciousphere's, but majority of the crowd reacted well with the exception of some close minded individuals who couldn't fathom why I was decked out in a costume and rapping over metal. All in all though the vibes were very positive, and we received props from many people, all while meeting new folks and making new friends.
Owen was to start shooting for our music video that night, and for the life of me I can't even remember if he showed up. Part of me feels like he didn't as there is no footage from this night in our music video. Perhaps he was there but the footage was unusable? I honestly can't remember.
Pooh's brother Steve "Knuckles" Donohoe was there, I can't remember if he worked the soundboard or not, but he had brought his crew with him and it was a pleasure to meet this motley bunch. Much like our circle of friends they all had nicknames such as; Scurvy, Bri the guy, Krustull, The Goat, Kid Ibanez, and Flint Rock. Flint aka Melroy was a brown guy and a thrasher, which was strange to me as I had grown up with a lot of brown folk in Brampton but had never met one who was into metal. Flint for one reason or another fed my some psilocybin and I knew the night would just get crazier from this point on.
Crazy may have been an understatement, as things were absolutely wild. There was a giant pile of wooden warehouse skids that were used as firewood. Needless to say the fire was of epic proportions and some of the nut bars decided to start jumping over it, an impressive feat no doubt due to the height and width of the fire, but clearly not the smartest decision on their parts. You can only tempt fate for so long, and eventually someone ended up falling backwards into the fire after a failed jump attempt.
This was definitely the social event of the summer. Great bands, great people, and pretty much zero drama. We eventually rolled out in the wee hours of the morning and as per usual I invited a bunch of people back to the Slayer house. We drank and smoked while revising the events of the evening, but our roommate Noel and a few other friends were suspiciously AWOL. We had all left at the same time yet their cab never arrived at our house which was starting to worry us all.
I can't remember if Noel called or showed up the next day, but their night had taken a turn for the worst. A conflict had arisen due to a debate on a flare rate fare if I remember correctly. Our pal Mark Fantini got into it with the driver as well, who was now trying to kick them out of the cab while calling for backup. Before long they were surrounded by cab drivers wielding crowbars and lord knows at else. Mark had a small cooler that he swung in circles by the handle to keep the mad cabbies at bay. I honestly don't remember how things resolved themselves, but I believe the boys ended up in the drunk tank facing possible assault charges.
Talk about a sour ending to what had been the sweetest of days...
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