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 Elvis and Gerben Well, I have to think where I have to start to write a story on my brother and friend Robert Reisinger. I can remember the first time we met in Sacramento, Cailfornia on the Summer Shit 1994. I was there with a friend from Holland and we had a pre-show pass from the Metclub. Elvis was there with a few friends from Germany and we talked for little bit. The best thing those days was that I can speak good German so it was a little bit easier to make my self clear. We didn't have contact until Metallica came over for the Donington show and the London Astoria club show back in August 1995. I called him in Germany. Robert was very surprised to hear from me, however we didn't meet up in England. In 1996, there was the Dynamo festival with the listening party in a hangar. Elvis called me and was wondering if I could help out. I said "Sure I can." I helped him out with a pass and the ice was broken then. After that Metallica came over in the fall with the Load tour and I did 22 shows all over Europe. Elvis helped me out with passes and tickets and I remember when we came down to London for the show I met Brian May from Queen, that was very cool. After that we went to the USA for the Load tour and we did 10 shows together. We had a great time hanging out even when we weren't at the Metallica show. He visited me more than once at my house. We would drink chocomelk (dutch word for choclote milk) and we would travel to Amsterdam. More than once Elvis brought people to my house and some of those people are still my friends - like my friend Marco Madchen from Germany. After that we did the Pukkelpop and the Blindmans ball in Stuttgart. He gave my friends VIP tickets...Robert would always give things always.
 "Wake up sleepy one, it's time to save your world." After that we did the Hamburg gig in the Docks. I remember when we were backstage David Hasselhoff was there drunk as fuck, it was funny to see. We also went to the show in Copenhagen, one of the best Metallica shows I have ever seen. In the beginning of 1998, we talked that maybe we could go Australia. After a few meetings together there was a rumor that Metallica was going to touring the U.S. in the summer. We are not so into that country but the U.S. is very easy to travel so I had to make it clear at my job that what I was planning to do. Elvis and I did the whole 1998 U.S. Summer tour. I remember when we flew into Miami and the weather was so very hot, we couldn't believe it. We hooked up with Steven Wiig for the first leg of the tour and after a few weeks I was so pissed at Steve. He was always Starhanging after the shows, sleeps all day in the back of the car so we threw him out. Elvis tried to talk with Steve, but I was pissed like hell at him and the country. However, Steve and I are still friends now, and we laugh about that now. The funny thing was that Elvis was not into alcohol. He was a road dog but no alcohol for him. At the "famous" Chapter of the Mad party at Eric Nielsen's apartment (June 1998) wet got so fucking drunk! We couldn't stand on our feet we were so drunk. The USA guys called us white Euro trash, so we called them AA which stands for "American Assholes" Suddely another great friend shows up, Stridaho from Sweden, he was also there for 3 weeks and I remember the margarita party in Detroit (the only city on the 98 summer tour with a double show). Dan Braun was making the drinks, and I was so drunk I couldn't drive back to the hotel, but Elvis drove back. I remember that I had to puke on the side of the highway. Yes, the Euro trash was around. We didn't make it to showers often because we where so busy. Elvis said in German - "fliegen aus mein arsch" which means "flies coming out of my ass". We laughed about that! In New York of that same tour, we stayed with a friend in Staten Island. When Elvis was asleep that night, I put a used panty (from a young girl) on his face. He didn't know it was on his face and he continued to sleep. We had so much fun that night. We talked about that night often. Back then, Elvis and I worked for Niclas. Sometimes it was very hard but we learned from Elvis about touring and how to act on the road. I used what I learned from Elvis later on when I was out with other bands.
 I didn't can make the second leg of the tour, somebody died in my familiy so Elvis had to do the rest of the tour by himself. I remember when he called me from the U.S. and said, "BIG Kok, I missed you a lot, bro. Please come over and take care of business." Metallica was going to do the garage tour in November 1998, so I called Elvis up and told him to pack his suit case, because we have to go. So we did it again. Niclas was there and I still remember the laminate he gave Elvis and I. Niclas wrote "Loser" on mine and "Slave" on Elvis' laminate. I still have it...good memories... When Metallica was not touring I was working and Elvis tried to find a job and take care of his dad, who was very hard to take care of. Every once in a while, we met up a couple of times in Hannover and had dinner. We ate a lot of "kebab", our favorite food!!!! In the summer of 1999 Metallica was hitting Europe again and Elvis was in the crew now, but he never forgot the BIG Kok. May 21, 1999 was my birthday and we were in Nurnberg. Elvis and Marco had a present for me - lots of whip cream all over my face and clothes. The band was there to hang out and we all had a real good time. I'm smiling when I remember that night. We did some more shows together. Elvis was on the tour bus. When he got a hotel room during the tour, he would let me crash with him in his room. We are blood brothers and we shared everything.
 "We are blood brothers" In November 1999, we met up in Berlin for the Symphony show. The weather was so bad, lots of ice and snow on the road. Elvis wrecked his car and lost thousands of dollars. We tried to help him but I had to work so we met up the day of the show. It sucked like hell. That night, we slept at a friend's house in East Berlin. There was no room because we were there with 3 of our friends so we had to all sleep on the kitchen floor. I was a little pissed off because I didn't have much space as I like, but it was for free, so it was good. Elvis didn't come with me to the New Yeas Eve show in Detroit on December 31, 1999. It was a little weird for me, because he was always around to help me out so I had to do it myself now. The same day I came back from the show, Elvis was at my house to talk how I was. I was very sick back then because of the food and the bad weather, but he was there. We had dinner and I showed him the stuff I brought with me from the New Year's Eve show so we could sell it over here to Metallica fans and friends. We didn't go to the summer shows in 2000. We were working a lot that summer. I helped him with some of his bills. However, we always found time to meet up and and have fun our way. We always liked to hang out together. Elvis and I love the same stuff - have dinner, watching movies, listen to music - the normal guy stuff. We listened to old Misfits songs, a band who I love very much. We toured with them many times so it was cool to talk about then.
 Elvis and Gerben doing normal guy stuff Elvis hurt his leg really bad by falling out of a window trying to fix something. He was in a hospital. It was pretty bad. He had a few surgeries back then. I tried to take care of him in my spare time. Marco was also a very close friend, so we tried to help him as much as we could. In 2002, we did an Amsterdam trip with our friend, Stridaho, who was in Holland for business. So we met up with him up and stayed in a fancy hotel and we did the Amsterdam red light thing again. That was always one of Elvis' favorite things when we were down there. :) In 2003, Metallica was in Europe again so Elvis and I met up for some shows again. I couldn't go to as many shows at that time because I had a new job. In June 2003, we did the 3 shows in one day in Paris with Marco and my friends Eric and Kim (from the USA). It was very hot but we had so much fun then. We met up later that year again at my place and back in Hannover, so much to talk about then... At the end of 2003, Metallica hits Europe again, but Elvis couldn't make it to all of the shows. He was back in the hospital, so I didn't go to any shows. In the beginning of 2004, I went over to Australia with my friends, Stridaho and Jorgen. Elvis wasn't with us. After one of the shows, I remember I was so drunk out with the boys so I called Elvis on my cell and we talked for a long time. He was cool like always and he said that he wanted to come over and hang with us. After I came back from the Australian tour, Elvis came by my house. I had a lot of stuff for him and stories to tell him. Too bad that he couldn't make it to that tour. In the summer of 2004, I had enough of the ole' Metallica shit so I decided to stop and get back my normal life. I bought a house. I had to go on without Metallica. However, Elvis and I did go on tour with our friends, Fredrik and Jorgen in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. That was one of the coolest things we did so far. We spent a lot of time together and talked a lot about life and about having a "normal" life.
 I made a d-day for myself and it said "STOP TOURING METALLICA"!!! Elvis understood and we made our last show together back in Amsterdam in June 2004. Amsterdam is my home country which was the best way to be our last show together, I think... After that we talked on the phone a lot but we where so busy. So we met up at the end of this year. Elvis emailed me that he was going to do the last 3 shows of the tour (November 2004) and talk with everybody to stop touring with Metallica!!! I told him we would hang out once he got back to Germany. Elvis was in the hospital and when I called him, it was very weird talking with him. It kind of made me scared, the way Elvis sounded. On April 17th, Marco and I were going to visit him at the hospital, but we never did see Elvis again. Robert, Elvis, you mean so much to me, in bad times and good times. I remember you as my brother. When I look at old pictures of us I just have to cry and laugh. Thanx my friend, love you so much, hope you will find peace now... Your brother and friend for all times,
Gerben "BIG" Kok
 "When I look at old pictures of us I just have to cry and laugh. Thanx my friend, love you so much, hope you will find peace now..." |
