Post by EvilRocker on Mar 2, 2004 0:16:33 GMT -5
Well, I’m going to give y’all an update. It’s been a couple of strange weeks for me. As I write this, I’m in Los Angeles under Doctor’s orders to rest, while the rest of the band are getting ready to take the stage for a sold out show in Trondheim, Norway. Duke just called from backstage…it’s cold, dark and raining…it looks like a monsoon outside…Steve is pouring pre-gig Charlottkas…they are playing under a huge tent…Shirley was just given a plastic cup and toilet paper so she could pee backstage, cuz the porto-potties in the mud are disgusting. Sounds like a typical festival to me…and I want to be there!!!
After the first show with U2 in South Bend, we had a 15 hour bus ride to Montreal, and most of the trip I lay in my bunk with muscle pains, a severe headache, and a 102 fever. I thought it was the flu, so I just kept doing the U2 gigs, thinking it would go away...over the next few days, it just got worse, punctuated by nightly chills/sweats. I also lost my appetite…food tasted repulsive, and the only thing I could get down was chicken broth and ice cream. Still, I kept playing the gigs.
Finally, after the 2nd Chicago gig, my temperature hit 104, and I was delirious. We flew from Chicago to Baltimore, and I don’t even remember the flight. When we landed, our tour manager Diane took me directly to an emergency room. The doctor took one look at me and knew I had jaundice…my eyes and skin were turning yellow…so he took a blood test to determine what kind of virus I had, and admitted me to the hospital. I had lost 13 pounds, and couldn't walk….they wheeled me to my room in a wheelchair. We had to cancel the show in Baltimore. After 2 days of massive IV's and sleep, I felt strong enough to take a car to NYC to see a doctor our management recommended.
In NYC, I slept all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, when my fever broke, and my test results came back. The viral infection I contracted is Hepatitis A. Usually spread through eating infected food (I think it was from some raw oysters) the virus attacks your liver and can take 4-6 weeks to get through your system. Because the liver has to fight the infection so hard, the rest of your body is completely wiped out. The only good news is that with lots of rest, it’s completely curable.
On Wednesday, I made it (lamely, but I was not going to be denied) through the last U2 gig in Madison Square Garden...we dropped a couple of the more intense songs and played a slightly mellower set, but I had to really focus to keep from falling off the back of my drum riser the whole show. Still, it was an amazing experience to play in NYC after recent events….especially with U2, whose music and performances seem more relevant now that ever before!
By the way, all of our band and crew (and U2) had to get Hep A vaccines...just call me Typhoid Mary!
Because we didn’t want to cancel the European club tour, we called Matt Chamberlain, who played on several tracks on the new album, to fill in for me. I spent last weekend in NYC with him in band rehearsals going over live tapes and giving him pointers on how to use my drum sampler....after the Saturday rehearsal the band sounded pretty good...on some songs, our soundman Tom said he could not tell the difference. So Garbage will be heading to Europe to play the club gigs in November, and I'll be sitting on a couch somewhere, bored to death! I feel really bad...I've never missed a gig in my life! Over the years I’ve played with a fractured bones, food poisoning, the flu, heat exhaustion, wicked hangovers, pinched nerves (where my left arm and leg went completely numb), and all sorts of ailments. And as they say in show-biz: "the show must go on."
But I need to get rid of this infection completely, or it can come back and bite me in the arse even worse than before. So I’m going to tinker around in my home recording studio, and I'm going to load up on books, DVD's and some new CD’s. So if you have any recommendations, all suggestions will be considered!
I’ll see you on tour soon!
Butch
[posted 11/2/2001 U.S.A.]#nosmileys
After the first show with U2 in South Bend, we had a 15 hour bus ride to Montreal, and most of the trip I lay in my bunk with muscle pains, a severe headache, and a 102 fever. I thought it was the flu, so I just kept doing the U2 gigs, thinking it would go away...over the next few days, it just got worse, punctuated by nightly chills/sweats. I also lost my appetite…food tasted repulsive, and the only thing I could get down was chicken broth and ice cream. Still, I kept playing the gigs.
Finally, after the 2nd Chicago gig, my temperature hit 104, and I was delirious. We flew from Chicago to Baltimore, and I don’t even remember the flight. When we landed, our tour manager Diane took me directly to an emergency room. The doctor took one look at me and knew I had jaundice…my eyes and skin were turning yellow…so he took a blood test to determine what kind of virus I had, and admitted me to the hospital. I had lost 13 pounds, and couldn't walk….they wheeled me to my room in a wheelchair. We had to cancel the show in Baltimore. After 2 days of massive IV's and sleep, I felt strong enough to take a car to NYC to see a doctor our management recommended.
In NYC, I slept all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, when my fever broke, and my test results came back. The viral infection I contracted is Hepatitis A. Usually spread through eating infected food (I think it was from some raw oysters) the virus attacks your liver and can take 4-6 weeks to get through your system. Because the liver has to fight the infection so hard, the rest of your body is completely wiped out. The only good news is that with lots of rest, it’s completely curable.
On Wednesday, I made it (lamely, but I was not going to be denied) through the last U2 gig in Madison Square Garden...we dropped a couple of the more intense songs and played a slightly mellower set, but I had to really focus to keep from falling off the back of my drum riser the whole show. Still, it was an amazing experience to play in NYC after recent events….especially with U2, whose music and performances seem more relevant now that ever before!
By the way, all of our band and crew (and U2) had to get Hep A vaccines...just call me Typhoid Mary!
Because we didn’t want to cancel the European club tour, we called Matt Chamberlain, who played on several tracks on the new album, to fill in for me. I spent last weekend in NYC with him in band rehearsals going over live tapes and giving him pointers on how to use my drum sampler....after the Saturday rehearsal the band sounded pretty good...on some songs, our soundman Tom said he could not tell the difference. So Garbage will be heading to Europe to play the club gigs in November, and I'll be sitting on a couch somewhere, bored to death! I feel really bad...I've never missed a gig in my life! Over the years I’ve played with a fractured bones, food poisoning, the flu, heat exhaustion, wicked hangovers, pinched nerves (where my left arm and leg went completely numb), and all sorts of ailments. And as they say in show-biz: "the show must go on."
But I need to get rid of this infection completely, or it can come back and bite me in the arse even worse than before. So I’m going to tinker around in my home recording studio, and I'm going to load up on books, DVD's and some new CD’s. So if you have any recommendations, all suggestions will be considered!
I’ll see you on tour soon!
Butch
[posted 11/2/2001 U.S.A.]#nosmileys