ACID DRINKERS
It was with a clouded mind I arrived at the venue. I’m a fan of psychedelic trance but I’ve never really been one for dancing. I was somewhat loosened in advance and so was almost ready for it. After a few minutes of standing, watching a support act, I decided it was time to divest myself of my coat. Up I went, passing a fellow who was already walking like a hiking monkey, methodically making his way step by step. I was tempted to offer him some help but the look on his face was a combination of wanting to be left alone and enjoying himself more than I would be able to stomach.
I walked up to the cloakroom and stood behind a jovial-looking fellow. His Slavic features made me jump to the conclusion of him being Polish and when he turned and spoke to me I was proven correct. He beamed at me with the slight wariness of an unknown person and immediately engaged me in conversation.
My opening gambit was to ask how long he had been here, perhaps hoping to elicit a statement about whatever had induced his good mood. I stopped dead in my tracks when he said “You mean here or in the country?”. Oh shit. He thinks I’m gonna tell him to fuck off home or something else suitably entitled-sounding.
His eye slowed on my Anti-Flag t-shirt and he asked me about psytrance. We talked music for a bit, the conversation segueing into metal, most likely a result of the shirt. I wore it partly because I liked it and partly due to how incongruous it might look in a psytrance gig.
He began to tell me tales of his days with a band whose name was quite familiar - Acid Drinkers. Huge in Poland, the band have existed for donkey’s years. He hung with the band, he toured with the band and finally - he even got tattooed by the band. Wait, what?
“The lead singer tattoo me himself!”
I was pretty intrigued.
“It’s on my…” - he seemed to struggle for the word, but he may have suffered a temporary bout of modesty - ”ass!”
Without further ado, bar an exultative “Hey, I don’t give a fuck!”, I was exposed to the tattoo. Sure enough, across a cheek was “ACID DRINKERS” in blotchy blue letters.
Fucking metal.
I left smiling.
