Wherever Elvis May Roam

The first time that I met Robert was at the Metallica show in Roanoke, Virginia on February 26, 1997. I also met Niclas and Gerben "Big" Kok for the first time at that show. Little did I know then that I would see these guys more and more over the next 7+ years while following Metallica on tour and eventually become good friends with all of them.

Robert "Elvis" Reisinger, Gerben "Big" Kok and Niclas "MetOnTour" Swanlund
February 26, 1997 - Roanoke, VA

MetClubbers in San Francisco for the S&M shows - April 1999

The thing that I will remember most about Robert is that he ALWAYS had a smile on his face and always had a joke to tell. I became good friends with Robert during the summer of 1998. As you may recall, Metallica was on the Poor Re-Touring Me Tour hitting amphitheaters across the U.S. Eric and I ended up seeing Metallica a lot that summer. Robert and Gerben ended up going to every show on that summer tour. Steve Wiig also ended up going to many of the shows that summer while traveling with Gerben and Robert. Eric and I both agree that was probably the funnest time we've ever had while following Metallica on tour.

Some of the things I will always remember about Robert are:

• Robert and Gerben putting 18,000+ miles on a rental car that summer of '98. Hey, it's unlimited miles, right? I wish I could have seen the look on the rental car agent's face when they returned that car.
  
  
• Robert loved to mock all of the rules that America has (i.e., "No Moshing", "No Crowd Surfing", "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service", etc.) Gerben and Robert took a TON of pictures that summer of all of the signs with all of our stupid American rules. To hear him joke on our rules in his heavy German accent still makes me laugh..."No shirt, No Shoes...No Service?" (followed by Elvis laughing)
  
  
  
  
  Stupid American rules
  (picture courtesy of MetOnTour.com)
  
  
  
  Gerben - Virginia Beach, VA - June 1998
  
  
  
  More stupid American rules
  (picture courtesy of MetOnTour.com)
  
• Robert always had the coolest t-shirts. By far, my favorite was a shirt that had something like "Volkomen Kut" (pictured below). According to Robert, it meant "100% C_NT". (take a wild guess what the missing letter is.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Robert always had great quotes. A couple of my favorites: "Not all flyer girls can be good flyer girls." and "Hello, nice to see you twice."
  
  
• All of the complaining Gerben and Robert did ("Are we on the fucking moon or what?" "America sucks! The USA sucks!") when we couldn't find a hotel with a vacancy between San Antonio and Houston (in August '98). We had just left San Antonio after the Metallica show and they were playing in Houston the next day so we needed to find a hotel soon. We figured we would drive a few minutes towards Houston (from San Antonio) and find a hotel to crash. We didn't end up finding a hotel until we got to the suburbs of Houston around 5:30 am!
  
  
• Gerben and Robert jokingly referring to Eric and I as "American Assholes" and we would rebut with calling them our "Euro-trash" friends. All in good fun of course.
  
  

One of the last times I spoke with him was in May 2003 during the Fillmore shows. Eric and I informed Robert of our upcoming trip to Europe in June 2003. We asked him to give us some phrases to say when we were in Germany. Of course, Robert gave us several dirty phrases and curse words to say. Damn...I wish I still had that list with all of those German words/phrases...

Elvis writing down phone numbers of female Metallica fans
After the Fillmore show - May 2003

Marko, Eric and Robert
After the Fillmore show - May 2003

Unfortunately, the last time I saw him was in Europe in June 2003, when Eric and I travelled to Europe and saw Metallica in Germany and Paris. He was so busy helping out with the crew, MetClub, etc. (which was typical Robert) that the only thing I got to say was a quick 'hello' and 'thank you' (for everything he did for Eric and I when we were in Europe that summer). In typical Elvis fashion, he smiled, and said "No problem"...

Rest in Peace,
Elvis has left the building...

My German Power Wolves t-shirt