Killswitch Engage Guitarist Got Hurt Thanks to His Flip Flops

At the beginning of January, Killswitch Engage debuted a new video diary series capturing the Massachusetts metalcore band's first South American tour. The clips, which were shot in the fall of 2009, air every Monday for six weeks on the Roadrunner Records Web site. The first one showed the band being greeted like superstars by screaming fans as they arrive at a venue. That was a common occurrence, bassist and founder Mike D'Antonio tells Noisecreep. But there was one grand entrance when the band was more like fallen heroes.

"The first show that we did, our guitarist Adam, the big gawky guy with a back problem, was getting off the bus and fell. Because he wears flip flops. He's got a bad back, and he wears flip flops," D'Antonio says, exasperated. "One step off the bus and he stumbled in front of the crowd and broke his toe. That guy, he's always injuring himself."

The injury didn't impair Adam D.'s ability to play, of course, and the shows went on without a hitch, but the injury did cause some consternation among the band. "It looked like the size of my thigh; big and purple and black and weird looking," D'Antonio says disgusted tone. What a way to feel silly and ruin a dramatic entrance. "Yeah," laughs Mike D. "That was a good surprise for the fans when you get off the tour bus."

The monster toe incident was a minor blip on what was the trip of a lifetime, though. "The shows were fantastic. I don't know why we didn't go down there sooner. Everyone is extremely starved for music and shows down there. They are appreciative, sing along. Everything we like our fans to do, they did a hundredfold. It's always exciting to play somewhere new, it makes it exciting for us again. Really cool."