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Pit Stories: The Slippery Beer Patch

Our never-ending quest for the best Pit Stories continues this week with a tale from Eau Claire, Wisconson-based doom band Caveat. Guitarist Brandon O'Connell shared this story of the slippery beer patch leading to some pit-side mayhem:

Well this story is quite ridiculous, mostly because it involves our old drummer’s dad. It was Caveat’s first hometown show, second show overall. We were playing with our friend, Ben Hinz’s (Dwarfcraft Devices) new band, Blood Bears. They were a mostly-instrumental juggernaut that created soundscapes that could blow doors off bomb shelters. We also played with a melodic death/doom band from Minneapolis called Mordwolf, later renamed Ulvmord due to some weird legal issues. Rounding out the bill were our best pals Good Guys Wear Wolf from Chetek, WI. It was an eclectic show to say the least so there were many types of people there. We were even more of a punk doom band back then. It made sense because two-thirds of Caveat (Palmer and B-Rad, bass and drums respectively) was also in crusty thrash band, Accusation.

Anyway, after our set and loading up our gear, we all grabbed some drinks with friends, family, etc., one of whom was Butch, Brad’s dad, who was already noticeably intoxicated. Once Mordwolf was done setting up and sound checking, their death/doom onslaught resulted in a mosh pit. Things went on without a hitch for quite a while but that didn’t last.

Things got a little heated when some falling-over-drunk guy went thrashing about with no intent but to apparently look like an idiot. He ended up slipping on some spilled beer and INTO Brad’s dad, who was right on the edge of the mosh pit area, totally oblivious to what was going on. Butch ended up stumbling a little bit due to the contact and slipped on the same beer causing him to fall face first onto the ground. The next thing anyone saw was Butch, obviously furious about something, yelling at some kid and trying to grab him. It turns out the fall broke off part of his tooth and he was bleeding out of his mouth. Butch had to be restrained and taken to the other side of the venue in order to calm down. A few vodkas later, he was just fine. That kid ended up getting his at the bottom of a bar stool. Whoops.

Caveat's "Kobayashi Maru" album will also soon be available digitally via Tridoid Records. For more info on the band, head over to Facebook here.