Yesh, probably. But when you’re that sexy, you can pretty much do what you want. And this is coming from a straight guy.
Bowie. He was playing with the Tin Machine guys (I think) in a small club on the Sydney northern beaches. Totally unannounced. After the show he was really calm and friendly and asked what I thought and did I get into it… Just like any other pub band having drinks after their set.
Robert Smith, backstage after their Wish tour in Sydney. He just smiled and nodded a lot. Got the feeling he just wanted to enjoy his drink.
- They Might Be Giants (both Johns)
- Kurt Vile
- Doug Martsch (frontman of Built to Spill)
- Josh Malerman (frontman of The High Strung & writer of Birdbox novel)
- Jimmy Edgar
- Mercury Rev (Jon, Grasshopper & Marion)
Mostly meeting them after their shows, however Jimmy is a friend of a friend. Josh walked into my place of work at the time and he just looked interesting, so I felt compelled to talk to him and I got to know what he does that way.
Edit: John Schmersal of Enon too.
I can‘t believe three of them are Johns and one is Jon. Also, two of the other names begin with the letter J.
I don’t want to get into my lifetime of people I’ve met, too time consuming.
In the last year (they are famous to me):
- Rodriguez Jr.
- Eelke Kleijn
- Acid Pauli
All of them were kind people who were easy to talk to and very down to earth. Mostly just saw them before or after their performances.
Walked up and started a conversation with them. Traded contact info with some and have had minor interactions since.
I just treat them like anybody else I might meet. We’re all just people after all. We also share some common interests.
Most of the people I like aren’t surrounded by security who would keep me away fortunately.
Thomas Fec and his band mate form Tobacco. Came to my apt while me and some other friends got pre showed up before the Tobacco gig.
Thurston More. My best friend made a flyer for one of his gigs right after the Kim Gordon book came out. Chilled backstage, he’s as pretentious as I figured. Dont meet your idols
The Thurston More Band, Steve Shelly, Deborah Ann Googe, I forget who else was playing that night. They were hanging out with my friend Daniel who does New Fumes. Talked to Steve Shelly for a bit till I fanned out and embarrassed myself.
Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips manager. Was working on an animated project with them that never materialized. Went to OK and hung out, got loaded up on CD’s and talked with Scott Booker at length about 90’s shoegaze bands and all his cool posters. Wayne was cool, talked NIN lighting crew setting up Lips shows, and he gave us a stack of about 30 CD’s each.
More on the underground fame side
Jimmy Shields from Lotus Crown. Gave him mushrooms in Denton TX hung out with the band while they were tripping balls. “Little pills of Love” they called em.
The Swirlies. Slept at my house playing a gig in Denton TX.
Sonic Boom. Used to call my house looking for my friend Wanz who booked shows. Stayed at my house once, and we’ve hung out a few times at shows. He loves getting high so we got along well.
Does Convextion count around here? He gig’s in my town, super cool mofo, makes amazing electronic music.
I’d put Cygnus in that camp too, kid makes incredible mucsic and when he’s performing its mad!
Yoko
I taught the bass player of the Disco Biscuits son 6th grade social studies.
Over the years, I’ve met tons of artists, but mostly back in the day as a fan, or when I worked in the music biz for a hot minute.
I supported Clark in 2012 when he played in Melbourne. I was in the greenroom unwinding after my set and he turned up with a bottle of Hendricks; he then proceeded to pour me a gin and tonic which was mostly gin. Nice guy, but I don’t remember much of that night at all. Probably the most drunk I’ve been at a gig that I played, I’m amazed I got home without leaving any gear behind.
Bonus story: I didn’t get to meet them, but the guys from Sunn O))) watched my chiptune band play at a festival, we could see them hanging around at the sound desk during our set. We also shared a venue the next night, with them in the main bar and us playing solo chip banger sets in the front bar. Such a juxtaposition.
Had a brief chat with Aphex Twin after his show in Brooklyn in 2019. Was in a fugue state for several minutes afterwards, my friends had to snap me out of it but did confirm that it actually happened.
Being based in Uruguay the chances haven´t been much but here it goes:
Thomas Koner (Porter Ricks)
Moritz Von Oswald (Basic Channel)
Marcel Dettmann
Page Hamilton (Helmet)
Uwe Schmidt (Atom)
Stefan Betke (Pole)
Steve Bug
Markus Popp (Oval)
Mark Fell (SND)
Frank Bretschneider
Lorenzo Senni
John Chowning
Richie Hawtin
Ricardo Villalobos
Raresh
Guillaume Cotu Dumont
Steve O’sullivan
Zip
Matthew Johnson
Alex Paterson (The Orb)
Robert Lippok (To Rococo Rot)
Juan Atkins
Gerald Donald (Drexciya)
Carl Finlow
Wow I had never realized before there were so many!
I’m probably forgetting someone…
Gerald Donald!
The Faint
Drop the lime
Sinden
Kastle
Goth trad
Tommie sunshine
Shiny toy guns
Rusko
Most of them I met from playing shows with a couple of them I met through friends that played shows with them
There’s definitely more I DJed the Boston and providence areas for about 10 years but these were the first to come to mind either because I’m genuinely a fan OR because the night/interaction was memorable for one reason or another
I totally regret not driving 9 hours to see Goth Trad in El Paso
Fuck man I hate to rub it in but being there for a Goth trad set was a god damn religious experience so many dub plates and VIPs and the system was massive too, definitely one of the best I’ve been to.
Though if it makes you feel any better I missed seeing Mala because the show was the night of my wedding lol
Don’t know if I’d call it “meet” but Alex Paterson handed me a flyer and we exchanged an awkward ”how you going” at The Orb’s gig in Bristol recently.
I’d just arrived early, in a travel-fatigued daze. The place was dead but this bloke was walking around handing out flyers for another gig.
Turns out Dr Paterson was in charge of promotion that night. Haha
I’ve met a lot of musicians while touring but one of the most disturbing experience was to take the same elevator as the members of Die Antwoord.
Elvis for a moment.
mad professor after a gig
dude from Everything but the Girl
Derrick May
Afrika Bambata
(I just re-read the title…I was not a musician when I meet/run in etc…with the mentioned)
As a music journalist I got to meet lots and lots of great musicians in person.
The White Stripes
David Bowie
Mogwai
Yo La Tengo
Liars
Tv On The Radio
Goblin
Wolfmother
The Dandy Warhols
Dizzee Rascal
and numerous others
I also got to interview most of them. Still have the minidiscs of the interviews stashed away in a closet. Did numerous phone interviews at that time too. I’m just way too ashamed of my younger, stupider self to listen to them at this point.
Must be a great job