So, why? Is it simply that humans contain multitudes, and the law of averages dictates that some of our fellow heshers will spend their Saturdays and Sundays immersed in gridiron battles - that between writing righteous riffs, they’ll also have thoughts about RPOs? Or is there a specific quality about America’s true pastime that makes it undeniably attractive to heavy metal musicians? And, to go deeper, in the case of a band like Obituary (whose title of their new album, Dying Of Everything, sounds like the credo of every long-suffering sports fan), how do you keep the peace when your members root for different teams?įinding answers to those questions is why we’re here today. Pyrrhon’s Dylan DiLella and Doug Moore have football stories. KK’s Priest’s Tim “Ripper” Owens has football stories. Crowbar’s Kirk Windstein has football stories. In fact, it sometimes feels like you can’t windmill your hair around while headbanging without hitting a metalhead who is a pigskin obsessive. What is it about football that so ensorcells some members of American metal bands? After all, Erik Rutan isn’t alone in having the twin fixations of football and metal. I was so devastated.” And that is a feeling most football fanatics know, whether they’re a part of one of the world’s premiere death metal bands or not. I was on a seven-week tour of Europe, and that was one of my top five moments of feeling away from home. It was the third NFC Championship in a row that we had lost. “And I sat there for another hour and watched us lose. “I go in there, and Koy Detmer was playing quarterback, not McNabb, and we’re losing,” Rutan remembers with a grim laugh. But, of course, that’s not what happened. And it would be great to tell you that Erik Rutan witnessed his Eagles claw back a triumphant victory, beating the odds just like this death metal band beat the odds by finding a European TV tuned to American football in the deep of the night. I was like, ‘We got to find a truck stop.'” By some blessing, the bus driver navigated Hate Eternal to a service station oasis where the attendants just happened to be watching the game. “I remember just thinking, Oh shit, this is crazy. Rutan knew he had to take action with the Eagles’ fortunes hanging in the balance. “So we’re watching the game, and it was in German, and I remember McNabb and the bartender shuts everything down. But, much like even the best-laid playcalling scheme on any given Sunday, those plans fell apart instantly. Everything seemed like it was going to plan, and the diehard football fan wouldn’t miss a snap. After the driver gave the green light, Rutan hashed out a post-gig watch party with the venue’s bartender. Is there any way we can stay late or something?'” Rutan recalls. “I think I was in Austria, and I asked the bus driver, ‘Listen, man, tonight’s the NFC Championship game. Halfway across the globe, his beloved Philadelphia Eagles were playing the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship game. It was 2004, and the acclaimed guitarist, who has logged stints in Ripping Corpse, Morbid Angel, and Cannibal Corpse, was touring Europe with Hate Eternal. With the storytelling acumen of an NFL Films production, Erik Rutan recites the time his passions for football and playing metal crashed together harder than a safety hitting a wide receiver over the middle.
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