THE DAY I VANISHED Bassist Partially Blinded After 'Headbanging Too Much'

July 8, 2008

According to Scotsman.com, the bass player for the Edinburgh, United Kingdom-based "emo-esque metal" band THE DAY I VANISHED (MySpace page) has gone partially blind after headbanging too much at a gig.

Richard Allan, 21, felt his eyesight go blurry after his show on Friday night and assumed he had been dazzled by stage lights.

But the bass player had actually torn his retina as he jumped around the stage to his band's tunes.

Now Allan faces emergency surgery and the possibility of wearing an eye patch.

He said: "I guess I do go a bit mental at gigs, we all leap about the place and headbang because we love our music, but I never thought it would make me start to go blind. I was at the bar after the gig and noticed things were blurry, and thought I'd maybe been looking at a light for too long. At hospital the next day they said I'd need an operation, which is a massive shock as I've never had a proper operation before. But I'm made of tough enough stuff to get through it."

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