Lessons learned from a mosh pit

“Daryl see those people there with the long hair & headbands, they’re bad people”  That’s the prejudice I grew up with, my first impressions taught to me by my parents.

I’m an average guy that I consider “Normal” with a high tolerance to other people’s lifestyles.  I don’t condemn or try to change people, I’m polite and let people live, how they choose to live, but something changed.  This is a story about my “tolerance” and how it changed over a weekend.

Being born in the 60’s in the middle of flower power, I guess there were certain intolerances towards free love, the music & the culture.  I don’t pretend to know or understand the whole culture, all I knew was, long hair was bad, people with long hair & tattoos made bad music.  I wasn’t allowed to listen to any of it or watch the videos on TV.  I was so engrained in that belief that my younger brother was watching TV while my parents weren’t home, it was a video of the Jacksons “Blame it On The Boogie” I made him turn it off because it's “bad”, I was all of 8-9 years old at the time. 

From Sydney we moved to the country as my father got a job as a schoolteacher in Nimbin – Northern NSW.  The ironic thing about this is that Nimbin is full of hippies.  The very epicenter of flower power.  My family & I had to learn to tolerate the weirdness, the smell, the hair, the bare feet & piercings.  At school I had hippy friends, but as long as I didn’t touch them I should be ok.

Well, not to go into all my childhood experiences, it’s sufficient to say, even though I grew up with diversity, prejudice was taught, even though I didn’t know it.  The funny thing was, we knew about prejudice towards people of other races and that I knew it was a bad thing, but maintained our prejudices towards people of lifestyles that differed to our own.  I even thought people were not quite right in the head if a guy wore earrings and a girl had more than one piercing per ear.

In general – People with piercings, tattoos, gothic dress, black nail polish were just people to be avoided.  As a side note, the ironic thing about this is that growing up indoctrinated in strict Christian values, we are taught to be Christ like and loving to all people.  Through practice, I thought I was being a good Christian by just not saying anything bad to other people not of my beliefs.  Though this is a good starting ground, maybe being Christ like is more than just being tolerant.

Heavy Metal music? Well quite simply…I hated that.  As far as I was concerned, it’s evil and devil worshiping (even though I never once took the time to read the lyrics to know for myself just the angry sound and the looks of the fans created that assumption)

As I got older I learned to love & appreciate people for who they are and not what they do or appear like.  But nothing helped me understand others like the experience I had at a Rock Festival called Rocklahoma at Pryor, Oklahoma 2014.

Last year we made a new friend, Sam, that manages bands for a stage he has at Rocklahoma.  Sam scours the country for acts and puts them on the stage for the festival; actually the acts come from around the world, 2 bands from Australia and a band from Sweden.  He invited us to come for experience and we’d help out.  So my wife & I went for the 4-day event.  It was a hard rock/heavy metal festival.  I enjoy seeing the zoo of people I’d kindly refer to as the freaks.  The full tattooed, drunk people who wore weird clothes, dance crazy and just loved & appreciated the music offerings.  This was what I was expecting out of the weekend, but what I actually got was a lot different.

With over 40,000 people in attendance of the festival, our weekend was full of surprising observations.  The diversity was amazing and it seemed that people really didn’t care a whole deal how they appear to other people, large girls in bikinis, older ladies with no bras, most men without shirts and not physically attractive to the normal standards. Piercings & tats were the “normal” but people without piercings or tats weren’t made to feel out of place either.  There were hippies, happy drunks, people that wanted random photos with you.  Most men seemed to have long hair, though there were many with no hair, short hair, mohawks, funny I didn’t see any mullets.  There were black people, though mostly white. I didn’t see any Polynesians or Asians, but that may have been because of the location.  There were bikers and normal looking teenagers.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying the musical talents and enjoyed being together in all their diversity.

People didnt seem to worry what they looked like to others and people accepted everyone however they presented themselves.  After speaking with the guy in the bottom RH corner I discovered that he is actually a gentle & nice guy.

Frankie from Nasty Habit

We arrived on the day prior to the opening of the festival and there was a pre party, a chance for bands to play for a half hour each.  This was to be my first live encounter with a heavy rock band.  The first band I saw was called Nasty Habit.  3 of the boys had long hair. They were all young about 18 years old.  The drummer was dark with a mohawk.  At first, to my ears, it wasn’t my taste, not really my bag of music, but I was taking photos, then the groove of the music started to penetrate my preconditioned taste for music and found myself bopping my head slightly.  By the end of their set, I was actually really impressed, the performance and showmanship, the talent they displayed and the quality of sound exceeded my expectations. I even purchased their latest CD.  Something is different when you get to see music live.  One genre of music I didn’t have an appreciation for was Opera, but once I saw it performed live, I felt the emotions and the dynamics of it, and I now have certain songs in the opera genre that I really love.

Now there’s a lot of competition with music artists and their climb to the top.  I could see a lot of people that were obviously members of other bands by the way they dressed.  Their hair, makeup and clothes were different & elaborate to the fans.  I’m expecting a competitive nature between each band, maybe some hecklers with rude comments because these guys are evil with long hair and tattoos. 

Then what happens next took me by surprise.  After Nasty Habit’s performance  and they finished accepting the praise from the audience, they joined in with the audience dancing and cheering on the next band.   Hmmm, maybe these were just the nice guys, and then I observed the audience further.  The audience was comprised of about 60% from other bands.  Every band was cheering on the performing band at the time.  After each performance the accolades came from other bands as well.  It took me for a loop; they behaved like family…well, maybe better than some families I’ve seen.  I was totally expecting to witness rivalry, but there was nothing but respect, love and support for each other’s art. After enjoying the praise from the audience, they joined in with the audience dancing and cheering on the next band.

I was made aware, by my friend who invited us that none of these bands were actually paid to come to perform, they paid their own way, travel, accommodation everything.  They support themselves, and in some cases, parents would also come to support their child’s dream.  One father came from Australia to support his 16-year-old son in a band called Mystery.

Scaps from Mystery

I had an immediate friendship with this band since they are from my homeland.  They were quiet & polite.  The bass player was especially quiet & I’d say sweet.  Then it came time to perform.  Whoa… where did that animal come from?  Off stage sweet as pie, on stage the energy, the hair the jumping and performance was amazing, in fact, he’s known to be so aggressive and energetic in his playing he breaks strings during his performance which I saw at one time.  Surely this was just a one off, the other bands with their rough exterior have to be rough on the inside as well...right?

As each band played I complimented the individuals on the talent they showed, their response to me was also surprising.  They responded to me with as much humility as I’ve ever seen, so thankful and that my words touch them deeply and appreciate them so much.  It was like my compliments were the currency they were hoping to be paid with.  We got into conversations about tastes of music and their lives; many of them had other genres of music they loved to play like funk, jazz, blues & others.  One lead singer from a Mexican group called Ratchet Dolls is actually a trained Opera singer that trained as a tenor who has performed in Mozart arias and other things out of my musical knowledge.

Izzy, the lead singer of Ratchet Dolls is a trained Tenor

The exterior of nearly everyone I met didn’t match my current paradigm of his or her interior.  The saying “Don’t judge a Book by its cover” became very relevant to me.

The next morning was the first official day of the festival and Ratchet Dolls were the first group in the line up for the day.  With their hair all crazy, they certainly appeared like a heavy metal band. Though they are a minority in the genre of heavy metal.  Young kids and Mexican, I wondered how the mainstream experienced rockers accept them, will they support or mock?  The stage was in a tent with not a lot of people inside.  As they proceeded with their opening song, I witnessed a lot of other band members from other bands running enthusiastically to greet the performing band with hands in the air and beckoning other people to come watch them.  They bounced their heads with their hands in unison like enthusiastic fans.  The camaraderie by other bands supporting them really warmed my heart. 

Over the weekend I only saw admiration for each other.  I didn’t see anyone judging anybody else by his or her appearance or race.  The bands would purchase other bands CD and T-shirts at full price; even wear other bands T-shirts on stage while they performed.  The fans were very diverse, from teenage girls that you’d normally see at pop concerts, physically handicapped in wheelchairs, elderly folk and of course drunk shirtless guys having a harmless fun time.  Some fans who were actual friends of band members would purchase the merchandise just to support them.  I’m sure the bands would probably give them a cd or something but the friends knew it was their only income and would demonstrate they’re support by purchasing.

Mach22 - two members of this band wore T-shirts of another band called Black Tora during their own performance

But surely with all these rough looking people and their constant drinking there has to be some unruly behavior.  I was certainly looking out for it, I have a young pretty wife to look out for so it’s my responsibility to protect her from these undesirables. 

The festival had 3 performance stages.  The main stage with two other smaller stages on both sides about 100 yards away.  We spent most of our time in the one stage called the Retrospect Records Stage and helping with the bands merchandizing but occasionally we went for a walk to check out other bands on other stages.  We went to the main stage to the front the audience and sat in front of the speakers.  The band started and oh my goodness it was like an earthquake inside my body, when the beat hit the subwoofers the vibration shook and blurred my vision.  Such a funny experience, we didn’t stay there for long. 

The Mosh Pit

Later we went to other smaller stage and there was a band preparing to perform and already a decent crowd gathering for this band called “Hellyeah”  I had no idea who they were but apparently quite popular, I hung around observing the fans and to see what the big deal was.  A random shirtless fan greeted us and he started talking to us, he got to know us and shared his experiences about different festivals he’s attended.  This was our first one so it was interesting to learn his perspective as an experienced festival attendee.  He was very polite & kind, and wanted to make sure Erin (my wife) could see ok through the hoards of fans.  

The band started to play and the hands and chants went up into the air everyone bouncing in unison.  Then suddenly a small ruckus broke out into the crowd right in front of us.  I knew it, these drunks started a fight and there seemed to be about 7 people involved as far as I could tell, the audience created a circle around them to avoid being hit, but no one was disturbed or thought it was anything to be concerned about.  

The fight seemed to last a long time without anyone being hurt, then the coin dropped and I realized it wasn’t a fight at all.  I didn’t really know what was going on but they seemed to be slamming each other for fun…maybe this is slam dancing.  I asked Erin and she informed me that it’s a mosh pit.  I’ve heard of a mosh pit but didn’t know what it was.  I started filming it, it was funny and scary at the same time, there was even a girl in the mix, pushing and ramming each other, then the girl got hit hard and fell to the ground and lost her glasses.  What happened next shocked me.  The nearest guy to her put his arms up to protect her, as she was searching for her glasses on the dark ground.  People brought out their phones to cast light on the ground, all of the mosh pit boys stopped to help to search for the glasses and they were found unharmed.  She placed the glasses back on then the mosh pit started all over again.  When one person fell down, surrounding observers or other mosh pit participants always helped them up.  

I was tempted to join in but it looked scary, so many sweaty bodies flying all over the place, a person could get hurt for sure, maybe lose a tooth, I’m 47 years old without health insurance and not getting younger.  But that thought of not getting younger bothered me and I thought, I might have this on a bucket list one day and maybe regret not taking a chance. So I took the camera strap from around my neck and told Erin, “I’m going in”  she said “Ok” she took the camera and I jumped in,  It was like being inside a tumble dryer almost out of control bouncing from one person to another, using arms to protect yourself or push others, it was the funniest experience, sometimes you’d bounce off one person and find yourself being hurled over to the edge to the observing audience, just as you think you’re going to go down on the ground, someone would push you up onto your feet and back into the mix.  If you wanted out, you just step out, there was nobody forcing you to stay there, no real emotional aggression, just a lot of fun.  

By the time I was finished, I was so exhausted but felt exhilarated, the adrenaline was like I would get after being on an awesome roller coaster.  It was amazing.  I jumped into the mix a couple of times, in fact the following night went to that stage to join in again.  This time there were a lot of bigger guys. There was a girl in the mix, she was a small framed girl and the boys seemed to avoid her as to not hurt her, which was nice of them but I could tell she wanted to get involved so I pushed her and she immediately pushed back as hard as she could The last song of the night was Pantera’s “War” and that inspired about 30 guys to mosh, wow what a mess of bodies, I jumped in and at one stage got an elbow into my sternum whoa that hurt, in fact for a few days it still hurt, but yeah I’d definitely do it again.  Erin says when she builds her upper body strength she wants to join in…just don’t tell her mom ok.

Devil Horns

Ok, so mosh pits are not violent and the band members are nice, so what about that sign they do with their fingers, that’s evil right?  Well prior to coming to the festival, that’s what I was told; it’s the sign of the Devil or a Devil worshiping sign.  That belief was reinforced by the angry sounding music and scary appearances. So there was no real reason to explore anything different, that was just the truth as I understood it.  However, what I was witnessing and the warmth I felt by the actions they showed towards each other and kindness in general, it lead me to make inquiries of this hand sign, so I asked a few people.  The first response I got was

“There are so many different explanations and meanings to it. From what I know it's an old sign Italians used to use to guide away evil and all that is bad. Ronnie James Dio is known for popularizing the sign of the horns in heavy metal. His Italian grandmother used it to ward off the evil eye.”

Then I asked a band that happened to be a Christian Metal band called Chaotic Resemblance, they actually change the symbol to the “I love you” sign language but they don’t believe the symbol to be devil worshipping at all.  Others felt the symbol was “Unity in Rock” and fans seem to use it like applause to show they love the music being played, a sort of approval currency.  I didn’t find anyone to suggest it was any sort of homage to Satan at all. Being satisfied with the eclectic answers I got, my summary is everyone’s meaning was different.  Symbols don’t have any power within themselves, but the meaning you want to put into it.  In general it as a symbol of "Rock" \m/ even when they called it the “horns” and placed it on their heads, there was no reference to the occult.

The Kid Rock concert was amazing

But they swear in their lyrics

Yes, they do, the most swearing I heard was from Kid Rock, I’m sure one of his songs flew the F bomb 6 times in one sentence.  I never swear and though I wouldn’t have my kids repeat these lyrics I was listening to the message behind them to understand what it was that they wanted to convey. I’m not one to really listen to the lyrics, I find it hard to concentrate on them for some reason, and so it took a reasonable amount of effort.  When I noticed many bands had a theme to at least one song, which was to stand up for what you believe or believe in your dreams, follow your heart no matter what other people say.  Now that was the theme of the message, the short, direct way of saying that was to say “f*** them and what they think”. Sure, it's aggressive and maybe interpreted as arrogant and rude by the offended audience.  They have been told by people that they can't do this and shouldn’t do that and you’ll burn in hell if you dress like that or being with this or that person or crowd.  The aggressive expression of  “f*** them” is their way of declaring their independence on the values other people say that everyone should have.  I discovered that they are not Anti Christ, but more like Anti Intolerant Christian.  People who are quick to judge and tell them they will burn in hell.  Christians seem to scared of them and are really quick to judge, telling them that they are “Gonna burn in hell” I know this because I was one of them, well I didn’t say it, but I thought it.  But you know some of these are actually Christian themselves.  On the other hand extreme hard core Christians that are ready to condemn & judge are the scary people to them, it’s scary to be fronted by an intolerant society and being told they’re gonna burn in hell.  So in their defense, they embrace it.  Extreme Christians believe they’re trying to save them, but end up forcing them to be more independent and defiant from mainstream societies who seem to reject them & their ideals.

Anyway, back to the lyrics.

One song I heard was called “Risky” and I got the band to share what it meant.

The chorus lyrics are:

He's gotta one way ticket on a hell bound train

And the whole way down he's screaming hey hey hey .

Four women and a bottle of whiskey,

My my my,  it don't pay to be risky.

What that is saying is it doesn't pay to be risky, drinking, drugs and stuff like that usually ends up with you in trouble. So it doesn't pay to do it.

Another song

"Son of Man" the chorus lyrics to that are.

The lights go down when we hit the stage,

The heart of the crowd begins to race,

The people in their chairs all take a stand

We're rocking and a rolling for the son of man "

And what this means is pretty much explaining what the band Chaotic Resemblance does. They play rock and roll for the Son of Man.

One oddity I witnessed was often the adoring crowd being up front to the stage would flip the singer off; aggressively give the singer the bird.  I was thinking, “Whoa, I hope the singer is understanding or the drunk guy and doesn’t take offense” Later I discovered that it was a very common thing by fans and even by the band and it wasn’t aggression, it was by affection, it was almost akin to “I love you and your music so much”

 

Erin getting a signature from Donnie Sixx of Chaotic Resemblance

I’m not pretending that all of the lyrics are nice and positive like this, there are some that are not appealing at all, but like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, you’ll find yourself free once you find the beauty in even the things you might previously believed to be ugly.  If you didn’t understand that reference to a famous poem, maybe you’ll understand how Belle saw the beauty in the beast, His exterior so very scary but she got to know his heart which broke the spell.

The Island of Misfit Toys

Have you seen the “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer” animation?  When it was discovered that Rudolf had a shiny red nose, he was an outcast even though he was a talent.  There was also an elf called Timmy, who didn’t want to make toys, he wanted to be a Dentist, he was told that he had to give up on his dreams because elves make toys and are not dentists, So Timmy ran away. Rudolf & Timmy met each other and found unity in their uniqueness.  They found an island of Misfit Toys.  Toys that nobody wanted and cast out, they found solidarity with each other.  This is what I saw in the lyrics and in the people, solidarity in the misfits and the socially cast out.  I didn’t take long to not see the tattoos and piercings, they appeared more normal the more we were around it, in fact, they almost became invisible as we could see their hearts more than their exterior. 

My honest heart warming experience is this.  I found a people and a place where I discovered no judging.  If you were fat and love handles hanging over your waistline, if you were old with tats, no teeth, weird hair, dressed in costumes or not dress very much at all, if you were generally weird looking or maybe just as normal as the mainstream world the island of misfit toys (Rock Festival) embraced everyone, they looked after each other, made sure each other was safe and felt supported no matter if they were a band member or an audience.

But surely with all those drunks there was some disorderly conduct. 

Yeah probably, though I didn’t see or hear of it, odds are with 40,000 people you’re going to find some jerks in the mix, its true with all people of any group, there will always be some dufus ruining it for others but I didn’t see any in my experience.  Well I take that back, there were some people acting like jerks, they were just a few of the Event Staff that wanted to act like police and push people around, they seemed to feel like it was their job to be forceful in different situations when they didn’t have to be, even I was spoken roughly by a couple of women trying to deny me access through a gate (which I had a valid pass that would allow me through). 

Oh, I forgot there was one incident that involved the police, on the night before the festival started, a woman got run over by a UTV (like an enclosed 4 wheeler) broke both of her legs and had to be taken to the hospital.  One would naturally assume it was driven by a drunk and not watching, well the driver was a Cop in the UTV, I believe it was the Sheriff himself.

My Tolerance Changed

So in the beginning of this blog, I mentioned that my tolerance had changed, and it has, I don’t tolerate this culture anymore, I “accept” it, I’ve gone from tolerance to acceptance. Though it’s still mostly different to my personal tastes, though as I write this I am playing music from the weekend.  I have increased my circle of friendship with people I would call really great friends, even family and can't wait to see them again.  I am confident to claim that these people are the type of people that many of us go to church to learn to become. 

Throughout my Christian life I have had spiritual feelings that warm my heart to testify to me that God sanctions of what I am experiencing is good and true.  However, by observing the hearts of the people at this loud rock festival, I discovered I was experiencing the same warm spiritual feelings amongst a crowd of people that I had not expected.

Devon from Sirens

You may not agree and that’s ok, but one day if you get a chance, try immersing yourself amongst a different culture to your own, maybe one you have or had prejudices too.  Get to know the people, talk to them on a level and realize they are the same as everyone else with the same needs and desires as everyone else, they have the same problems, the same personal issues and we’re all riding this journey we call life and it makes it so much nicer to ride it together even if we dress different for the occasion.