Fade to Black

Me and Elvis

So here I am, about three weeks after laying one of my best friends to rest. It is still so unreal, that is probably why I have put off writing this story for some time now. "Hey Niclas, how is your story about Elvis going?" Hmmmm, pretty damn good...not! I knew how hard it would be to go back and look at all those photos, taking myself back to all those amazing things Elvis and I did together. But when it comes down to it, we need all to make sure that our hero Robert "Elvis" Reisinger will never be forgotten.

So let's go back about 11 years, I was over in the US during the 94 Summer Shit tour, having way too much fun, drinking way too much beer, and sleeping way too little. I was travelling with my friend Stridaho whose real name is Stridh, but after going to Idaho, his name from that day on was Stridaho. Another one of my close friends Anders Norrud was with us. One night after, hopefully, too many beers he tells Rocky George in Suicidal Tendencies that he wanted to become a porn star. He then said that his porn star name would be 'Andy North' (Anders Norrud kinda translated from Swedish). Well, we made sure we would not let that one go, so to this very day his name is still Andy North! This was also the time when another legend was born, the one of Robert "Elvis" Reisinger.

Robert was following this tour together with three of his German friends. During this time he had some legendary, extremely cool side burns. One night somewhere in a parking lot, in some city, after some show we were talking, and I was looking at him and I told him - "Hey dude. You look like...you are...yeah, you are ELVIS!" After some time, everyone started to call him "Elvis", and sooner or later, he proudly called himself Elvis, even though the days of the amazing side burns were long time gone.

Robert?

During the 1994 tour I was not on any luxury crew bus, no hotels or anything like that. I had been following Metallica on tour since the early nineties, my first show was in 1987 at Donington (still the worst Metallica show I ever seen). I had the opportunity to get to know Metallica's truly amazing tour manager Tony Smith (another legend that should never ever be forgotten!). Tony always made sure that fans were treated with utmost respect, and during this tour he wanted to promote the MetClub and he gave me the confidence to get the job done. Basically, Tony wanted us to be at the venue around 10 in the morning (doors opened sometimes that early) to start passing out flyers, and then we would be done after Metallica was off stage (after midnight). Right after the show we had to rush to the closest airport, trying to catch a ride with some fans, as we could not afford a taxi. We were mainly flying, or Greyhound, during this tour as we bought a special Delta Airline Standby pass. The only problem was that we could only fly standby, so we had to catch an early flight, to make sure we got on the plane.

At 5 am in the airport, we would hook up with Elvis and the German Team, as they had the same Delta Standby Pass. I remember that the Swedish Team, tried to stall the German Team, so we could get the first standby seats available. Hmm, kinda sounds like one of those survivor, reality tv shows like the "Amazing Race".

NiclasAndElvisOnTour.com

What I remember from those days was Roberts dedication and hard work. He would always help out, and if I needed anything he would be there. We kept in touch after that tour ended, and then when Metallica came back to play Donington in 1995, I asked him if he wanted to help out at the MetClub Booth, and "yes, of course" was the answer. Then lets forward to the 1996 LOAD tour, this was the first tour that I was on the crew bus and I would say pretty much from that tour and on, Robert Reisinger was my right hand man, my partner in crime, and my fucking brother! He would come to as many shows as he could afford, and many many more that he could not afford. When Metallica was not touring, he was in Germany working and saving up money for the next tour, plus spending 29 hours/day on the PowerWolves!

As he spoke like 100 languages, he was King Shit all over Europe, and still The King when he came to the US. His dream was one day to get a "real" job with Metallica, but Robert never asked or pushed for this to happen, he was happy to be where he was. Then one day his dream would come true. In 1999 I had too many things on my plate, MetClub Booth, MetOnTour.com, plus many other small projects on a daily basis, so it was time for someone else to join the crew. There was no doubt in my mind who I wanted it to be, and when I proposed this to Tony Smith, he did not hesitate for a second, Robert Reisinger would finally be a full-on crew member for Metallica! Robert was a Metallica crew member on every European Tour we did from that day and on. The funny thing is that Robert has pretty much been a crew member since 1994, the only difference is that he had to travel around on his own dime. Since the day I met him, he never asked for "a day off" to just hang out and check out the show. I mean, he did not get paid, so maybe give the guy a break, a few beers, and just have a good time. A good time for Elvis, was to sit at his office, The MetClub Booth!

Elvis at the MetClub Booth

Robert dedicated more than half his life for not only Metallica, but for the Metallica fans. As you have read in many stories elsewhere, there was nothing that Robert would not do for the fans. I remember many times him being backstage arguing with the local promoter, saying things like "No, these people are Metallica fans and they need to be treated better. We need to have a better place for the Meet & Greet" and so on.

The last tour we did together was the Madly in Anger with the World, Europe 2004. Robert was turning 30 at the end of that year, and he told me that he was really happy that his dream came true to work for Metallica, but now he had other dreams he wanted to fulfill. He wanted to buy his own apartment and someday start his own family. He was really excited about the future and the new direction.

Unfortunately after that tour ended, Robert suffered a severe illness (you have read about this elsewhere, no need to talk about it here). The last time I saw Robert was on his 30th birthday, he was at a hospital and he was very ill at the time. Me and my fiancee were there visiting him, we gave him a chocolate cake and when he got it, he looked at us and said "I have to share it with my friends here"...

Marko, Elvis and Me

I am really happy that Robert is remembered in the Metallica World, but for me Robert was so much more than just a Metallica Crew person, he was an amazing friend. When we would talk between tours, Metallica was the furthest thing away from our minds. He was one of those people you could count on, in any situation, you knew he would be there for you.

As you can imagine, during all these years, all those hundreds of hours of car rides, bus rides, sharing hotels, going out, staying in there are soo many stories and things we did together. When I see a photo, or watch a video then something new comes up. I would like to end this story with sharing some classic Elvis moments with you:

8 Special Elvis Moments:

$250 Phone Bill
When I checked out of a hotel somewhere in Europe and Robert was at the counter arguing with the manager. I walked up and asked him what was going on. "I made one phone call, and they are trying to charge me $250 dollars for the fucking call". I asked the manager if I could see the bill. I looked over it and saw one phone call, but the call was to the US, and it was for 50 minutes! I said "Robert, don't you know that it costs $5/minute to call from a hotel to the US?". "But that is crazy" was his response. From that day, Robert never made a phone call from the hotel, not even local calls. He brought his cell phone with him instead, and I think he ended up paying the same amount. :)

Robert was always so good about giving out his cell phone number, even on the German PowerWolves site. He would be in Poland or something, and fans would call him and ask "Is James there?" Many times Robert would pick up the phone and answer the phone by saying "No, James is not here, and I am in Poland and it costs a lot of money for me to pick up this call, bye bye." and then hang up. It costs to be The King!

"I have to check my eeeemail."
Another fun hotel incident happened when Robert was staying in my room, this was the time when Robert was not on the crew yet and did not have his own room. This happened many years before the legendary $250 phone bill. I was checking out of the hotel earlier than him as he was not leaving for a few hours. I had to check out as the room was in my name. "Excuse me sir, but is someone in your room?" asked the check out person. "No, why do you think so?" was my answer. "Well, someone is using your phone". I ran upstairs and there was Robert using his laptop. "What the heck are you doing, I have to check out and here you are using the phone". "But, I have to check my eeeemail" was his reply...

"Nice to see you twice."
Robert was not really into drinking, but one time during an official crew party, he had a few. I remember he had a huge smile on his face, walking hand in hand with a local girl, then he looked at me and said "Niclas, nice to see you twice"...

"I don't think the crew likes me anymore."
Another very rare incident of Robert drinking happened on the tour bus during the 2003 Madly In Anger with the World Tour. He was travelling on a different bus than me, and when I knocked on the bus in the morning he looked pretty tired. The first thing he said was "Ooops, I don't think any of the other people on the bus likes me anymore". "What happened?" I asked. "Weeeell", he started off. Apparently someone gave a him a few shots of Jack Daniels and then Robert wanted to discuss American Food (keep in mind the bus was filled with people from America). "You guys have such shitty food, there is nothing good anywhere, the only good thing is Subway". I guess the crew people had to hear that for 3 hours, then everyone went to bed, except for Robert, he fell asleep in the back...

Tall Blabber
Robert had a unique way of remembering people or events, and put funny names on everything. One time during a meet & greet in Europe this very tall fan told his whole life story and some more to the band members. Normally you shake their hand, get an autograph and maybe a photo. No, this fan was on a mission. He was holding them up for so long, that Robert had to step in (very nicely of course) and tell the guy to chill a little bit to give everyone else a chance too. The next day Robert comes to me and says "Hey, guess who will be helping me out today at the MetClub booth.Tall Blabber". This was Roberts way of describing this tall fan, that was constantly babbling...

Door Killer
One time when Robert came to San Francisco with a friend, to visit me and my fiancee. One day when we are all in the kitchen his friend wants to go out on our back porch. We had a BRAND NEW sliding glass door and it was open, but the screen was closed. I guess it was "invisible" because it was new and not dirty or maybe he was tired, or had really bad eye sight, but he walks right into it, and destroys the whole thing. We all start laughing and Robert bursts out "Great, I brought a Door Killer with me"

"I smash your face!"
As I mentioned before, Robert was a friend you could always count on. I have never seen him aggressive, or ever start a fight, but if something would happen, he would back up his friends. One time when he was helping out videotaping a Metallica show my fiancee was attending, and she was standing just a few feet away from him. This drunk guy started to get annoying and hit on her. Robert looked over at him and said "Hey, chill out man". The guy continued and then after a few more Robert stood up, looked at him and said (in his German/English accent)"Stop, or I will smash your face!"

"I am a gift from Niclas."
Back in the days we would sometimes stay up way too long, especially if there was a day off coming up. Robert, on the other hand, would try to get as much sleep as he could, and was not too often into the party scene. Me and some of the other crew people were hanging out, together with a local couple. Around 4 am we felt that this party would be soo much better if we could just get Robert to join us. We knew that if any of the crew people knocked on the door, Robert would never let us in. We asked this girl if she was up for helping us out. A few minutes later she goes and knocks on Roberts door and he opens, wearing just his Elvis underwear, she says with a big happy smile "hii, I am a gift from Niclas". Robert smiles back and says "Well, great, then please come in". Then at that point we all come around the corner and crash his room. We opened up the mini-bar and made sure that Robert got no sleep until we had to leave the next day, at 8am.