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Pit Stories: The Amazing Healing Power Of Beer

We've all got that one venue or record shop we fondly recall from back in a time when people bought music and mallcore wasn't a thing.

For this week's Pit Story, vocalist Dan Cleary of Striker not only reminisces fondly about one such mythical place, but also shares a tale of the amazing healing power of beer below. Photo courtesy of Dana Zuk.

A long time ago here in Edmonton we had this awesome venue/record store/screen printing place. We played some of our first shows ever there in the back of the Quonset Hut that was “Octopus Ink.” We used to go there and buy bullet belts (before they were being sold at the mall for posers) and rare vinyl like the $140 “Projects In The Jungle” by Pantera hanging up on the wall that none of us ever wanted to cough up the money for.

One night in particular things were getting a little rowdier than normal. We were about half way through our set and the pit in this tiny back room was getting intense. As usual everyone was good and drunk, there was always a lot of tailgating outside the place because it wasn't exactly... lets say... a "secure" venue. So the song kicks in, a fast one (can't remember which) and I watch in amazement as this short haired borderline black out drunk kid gets literally knocked the fuck out by some big league moshing.

Looking back at it maybe we should have stopped the song and made sure he was OK, but luckily for us there was a doctor in the room. A doctor who proceeded to lift this poor kid up, his eyes half shut clearly concussed, and pour beer down his throat. We thought for sure we were witnessing the final moments of a thrash youth, but to our surprise he sprung back to life and continued to mosh, albeit a little slower than before.

That's the first and only time I've seen someone get straight up knocked unconscious in a pit, and it turns out like everything else, beer is the answer.

The Edmonton heavy metal act will release new album "Stand in the Fire" on February 5th, 2016. Follow the latest info on Striker over at Facebook here.