Two Things I Learned From Ivan Moody-A Minute Memoir

Over the years, I've seen a butt-load of concerts. Some rocked, some rolled, and some just plain sucked. When it's a normal part of your job, you pretty much grow numb to the entire concert process, and have a hard time looking forward to any show. Think I'm being a whiny little girl? Judge for yourself...

1. Show up to venue 4 hours early, set up equipment, talk to band manager/promoter/venue staff to find out what is going wrong, make some phone calls.

2. Start remote, conduct contests and giveaways, run down the mic battery, realize you have no spares because the dude before you used the last one, make some phone calls.

3. Gather up backstage-pass winners, explain rules/procedure, realize you left the actual passes back at the station, make some phone calls.

4. Wait for 20 minutes after appointed time for band to show up (usually while saying "they'll be here any second" to the winners every 5 minutes), conduct meet and greet, get autographs for station, take photos/videos for station, get treated like crap by artists (to be fair, most don't...but far too many do), accidentally erase all interview audio, make some phone calls

5. Phone dies while getting chewed out, you consider your work day officially done and head straight to the beer vendor, realize you're hearing the final act's encore, wait for the crowd to disperse, go home. (for me, the night usually ends getting yelled at for not returning texts and phone calls)

OK, so I may have exaggerated just a tad, and left out some important parts, but I was starting to rant, and you get the picture. Anyways...

Enter Ivan Moody

We had previously set up an interview with Ivan's management, and were anxiously waiting backstage to see if it would happen. In walks Moody, with a big smile, and his record rep. When you see the smile actually reaches his eyes, you know things will be alright. He sits down, gives a killer read - with no coaching, I might add - and then proceeds with two Zen-like lessons that one could only expect from the front-man of Five Finger Death Punch.

Lesson 1 -Man Who Holds Acorn, Must Prepare For Bonsai Tree

During our B.S session, our operations manager Donovan Short brought up a story he heard of Ivan dropping a midget. You see, during the song "White Knuckles", Five Finger Death Punch brings the kids in the crowd up on stage to rock out. Very Cool. Also, very dangerous when there are little people involved...

Lesson 2- Man Only King If Subjects Are Protected

During a tune, Ivan spotted a fan being escorted out. Ivan stopped the show, warned that if it happened again, he would stop the show for good, then played on. A little while later, he sees the same, and stops the show. Dead. "Get out before this place explodes" kind of stuff. Luckily, the band came back, Ivan gave an epic speech, and continued with the face melting. At the end of the show, Ivan apologized to the security, realizing they were understaffed for the task at hand, and proceeds to bust out two killer encores. They're here BECAUSE of the fans, and FOR the fans. You don't see that a lot.

Listen, I've had similar experiences with Godsmack, Shinedown, and a handful of other artists. There are good guys out there. But in a world ran by egos, it's rare to find dudes that appreciate it.

He invited me to his new restaurant when it opens, and he told me that if I'm ever in Vegas, I should look him up. Sure, if I just showed up at his house randomly some day, he would think I'm some weirdo, and have me shot for trespassing, but it's still cool...

For one chilly April night in the small town of Casper Wyoming, with less than 60,000 people, we were the biggest city on earth. And that's all thanks to one band that cared more about the fans than the paycheck. We may be small, but we're loyal to the end, we have long memories...and we're yours.