Page 67 - ISSUE 2

GRAPPLER Fall 2018
MUSIC
FEATURE
MATT BRUNSON
FROM CROWBAR
Matt Brunson is a man of many talents. The Louisiana
native is a life-long martial artist, with backgrounds in
Hapkido, Judo, Japanese Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
He has also played lead guitar for Crowbar since 2009.
The legendary sludgecore band has melted millions of faces
since its inception in 1992 with albums such as Obedience
Through Suffering and Time Heals Nothing. Despite their
longevity, they still follow a relentless touring schedule,
where typical days off consist of riding in a van 14-straight- little alarm bell, you know? I think he was just trying to get
hours through Europe.
Crowbar is slated to resume performing on 29
September in the United Kingdom. Grappler Mag took a
moment to catch up with Brunson before he heads back
across the pond.
Grappler Mag: You’re so well-versed in several disciplines,
how would you describe your style?
Matt Brunson: My style is very old school. I come from a
real traditional background, so I really focus on the self- towards the cop, so I was like, ‘Alright, fuck this’...Standing
defense aspect of the art, as well as the competition aspect.
I don’t want to be closed-minded, but I also want to make
sure I focus my training.
Written By:
BRANDON IBARRA
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GM: Have you had to use what you’ve learned as a martial
artist in the real world, whether it be on an unruly fan, or
just being in and around heavy metal circles?
MB: It’s funny you mentioned it, I was just telling somebody
a story over the weekend. We were doing direct support for
Carcass, and we were in New Haven, Connecticut (USA).
This place, Toad’s Place, it’s like right near the Yale campus,
by the Skull and Bones House, and it’s always fun to be up
there and it was a packed show.
So [after our set] as I’m walking out, I see security struggling
with this guy to get him out of the out the building. The guy
looked like he was pretty loaded, wearing khaki pants, no
shirt, a Mohawk [haircut], kind of a big dude.
So I’m walking out the door, and as they’re kicking him
out, something told me, ‘Just hang back for a few seconds.’
I guess that’s kind of the martial arts thing, like, ‘Okay let’s
see what’s going on here.’
It always reminds me of the Dimebag Darrell situation,
[when] a fan came in the back door and shot him while he
was on stage at Alrosa Villa [Columbus, Ohio, USA]. Ever
since then, fans getting on stage and fans being unruly and
trying to make their way back into the building, [we all] kind
of treat it a little differently once it became a reality that it’s
possible for somebody to do that. So [this] kind of set off a
back in to enjoy the show, obviously, but it always kind of
makes you worry.
There were three police officers down the street, and they
see what’s going on, and one of them comes over. The cop
tries to grab him, and [the guy] pulls away and tries to force
his way in again. The cop flips out the MEB, the expandable
baton, about halfway. He jams the guy in the ribs and tells
him to get moving.
[The guy] turns around and starts trying to advance
shoulder-locked him, put him on the ground, got the knee
in his back, his arm pinned. I look up, and the cop’s looking
at me, and he’s bug-eyed, like he wasn’t expecting that.
He’s going to pull out his cuffs, and I’m like, ‘Come on man,
let’s get this going.’
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