ANNIHILATOR Leader Recalls Hanging With Ex-GUNS N' ROSES Bassist DUFF MCKAGAN

ANNIHILATOR mainman/guitarist Jeff Waters has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"A cool story. In the summer of 2002, I was asked by Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE guitarist) if I would join up with him and SAVATAGE for a short summer festival run in Europe. Of course this was an honor and a rare experience so I said 'yes' pretty quick. Some great shows and the band was very pro; nice guys. I think the highlight of that summer and SAVATAGE run would be the events around the first show of the tour, kicking off in Spain. SAVATAGE was scheduled to headline the first night of this festival while my band ANNIHILATOR was playing the second day. I was the only one arriving early as SAVATAGE were to arrive the next morning. I went to the front desk of the hotel to check in; there was one clerk, and one guest, talking at the counter. The guy turned around and said, 'Hey, dude, how are ya?' Now I have met my share of musicians in my career, so far, but to have Duff McKagan turn around and greet you was a shock for me. 'Appetite for Destruction' is, of course, one of the best and most influential hard rock CDs ever. I quickly went into, 'Don't let the star know yer in awe' mode and shook his hand (think I said 'Whoaa, nice to meet YOU dude!'). He asked what band I was in (i said both SAVATAGE and ANNIHILATOR — he looked puzzled) and he said 'I'll have to come and check you guys out; Rampage [Randy, former ANNHILATOR vocalist] used to be your singer, right? Duff was playing, too, with his solo project, although I honestly didn't think for a second that the guy would actually come and check us out. The 'Rampage' mention was really cool; turns out they were buddies before GUNS N' ROSES hit the big time and Rampage was actually an influence on Duff's image and attitude! That was cool for me; I played with a singer whoinfluenced Duff McKagan! Hehe!

"Anyway, he invited me to walk around the streets to see what was out there and we yapped about his new band, GN'R and ANNIHILATOR, etc... Next day, SAVATAGE arrived and we played the show around 1-2:45 AM in the morning for a sold-out crowd. I got 3.5 hours of sleep. That next day, ANNIHILATOR played; this was also a bit scary, as ANNIHILATOR had not had any rehearsals for this gig. I had been in New York rehearsing with SAVATAGE and the ANNIA-gig was a one-off deal. We assumed that we were going to really suck and basically went over doomsday scenarios (i.e. what do we do if we forget this ending, this part, etc...). It was a really hot day. Extremely hot. I had been with the SAVA-guys and the whole last 3 weeks was a really stressful time where I had to learn a zillion songs in a week and then rehearse with these guys, replacing one of a line of great players like Skolnick, Pitrelli and Criss Oliva (not to mention playing along-side Caffery and J. Oliva). This was a great experience but alot of stress and to still not have played a gig with SAVA, then playing a gig the day after with an unrehearsed ANNIHILATOR and meeting Duff, etc... Recipe for destruction! Hehe! And it was to be later on.

"ANNIHILATOR played one of its best gigs EVER at that show, maybe because of the pressure of thinking we were really gonna suck. We played in the early afternoon. Stupidly, I had no been drinking any waters. I drank too much coke, too much coffee and no water. Add the stress, excitement and no sleep and I was in really serious dehydration trouble; but I didn't know it.

"While we were playing, around the third song in the set, I noticed Duff and his other guitarist standing at the side of the stage. The dude had actually followed through on his threat to attend the gig! Wow! I was more nervous about him standing there than the actual crowd... Near the end of the ANNIHILATOR show, I was dizzy but full of adrenaline. (You can see this clip on my new web site in the video section www.annihilatormetal.com.) At the end of the set, I walked directly back to the stairs, leading down to the tour bus area; I can remember only a few things. Duff was waiting for me at the stairs and said, 'Dude, holy shit that was one of the best live shows I have ever seen, ever; amazing.' Yes, I was in a daze from the heat and show but how could you forget that comment! Then John Oliva was at the bottom of the stairs. He patted me on the back and I went right to the tour bus where my then-manager was at the tourbus. I remember looking at him and saying I think I am having a heart attack as my heart was flying. Then next thing I remember was that I was in an ambulance. The medical attendants thought I was a fan from the crowd, having a drug overdose. I ended up in a nice, little hospital with an intravenous hooked up to me and feeding me massive amounts of fluid. The two doctors that saw me said that I would not have lived another 12 hours as I was the most dehydrated person they had ever treated and was on the verge of a total system shutdown. No doubt this scared the living shit out of me and I always drink water wherever I go! No shit, Sherlock! So I stayed a few nights, rejoined SAVATAGE a few days later and continued the tour. No coffee. No cola. Just water and Gatorade. So Waters almost kicked the bucket from lack of waters (sorry!). Lesson learned. The last part of this story is "cooler" to me! Turns out, as my ANNIHILATOR mates confirmed later on, Duff DID say those nice things and told them as well. The guy even stopped a huge press conference he was having, at the beginning of our set, to excuse himself to all the press and run over to see us play!

"So Duff, if you read this, thanks for the kind words, talks and living up to your word of seeing our show. YOU ROCK."