Dan Lilker is one of the most underrated people in the heavy metal scene. He was part of the initial lineups of Anthrax and Nuclear Assault, he was in Brutal Truth. He is the ultimate metal lifer. In fact, he's responsible for my favorite headline that I've ever written: Renowned Metal Lifer To Retire From Metal Life.
Lilker recently released an autobiography, Perpetual Conversion: 30 Years & Counting in the Life of Metal Veteran Dan Lilker and offered Decibel some juicy excerpts from his many years on the road. My favorite excerpt involves him meeting Darkthrone founder Fenriz and then doing his drugs in his backyard:
[In 1994], I somehow got Fenriz’ [from Darkthrone] address and wrote him to say that I dug his band a lot. Three months later, he wrote back on a postcard from an art museum. Every “T” was an inverted cross. He said, “I’m 24 and doing several bands (not sexual).” He told me later, when we met, that he thought it was really bizarre getting that letter in the mail because he had listened to my bands for years.
Between playing shows and vacations, I’ve been back [to Scandinavia] four or five times. Jonas Alver, who played bass in Emperor, lived in the same flat that Euronymous did at the time of his death. On the way up the stairs to his flat, I saw drops of Euronymous’ blood that had stained the concrete. It was pretty fascinating and I wish I had a cell phone camera at that time.
There was that [side of visiting] — the more sensational stuff — but then there was the stuff like taking acid with Fenriz in his farmhouse on the outskirts of Oslo. His mom would stick her head out the window and say, “Do you boys want waffles?” I was tripping, so I understood Norwegian and said, “No thanks, I’m not hungry!” He was like, “Oh, my mom and her waffles! No mom, we don’t want waffles!”
So that's basically the best story. There is another story in the Decibel excerpts of him almost blowing off Nergal from Behemoth during a festival in Holland:
Nergal from Behemoth looks up, locks eyes with me and has a laptop on a table. He said, “We’re mastering our new record and I’d like you to have a listen and see what you think.” I told him, “I’ve got to go onstage in 15 minutes, but I’ll come back when we’re done. Keep in mind, though, that I’m in a country with a lot of strong weed.”
Amazing! So honest. I highly recommend checking out all the excerpts at Decibel. When you're done, pick up your own copy of the book here.
