Friday, December 7, 2007

Legends of Metal: John Hand

Who is John Hand you ask? Well, he was a young guy from L.A. who just sorta lucked his way into having his picture on one of the greatest albums of all time, Death's "Scream Bloody Gore." Apparently after the album was recorded (by Chuck Schuldiner and Chris Riefert) they met a dude named John who was pretty cool and liked to smoke weed and listen to metal too. Turns out he plays guitar and Chris and Chuck invite him to join Death. The art and layout for "Scream Bloody Gore" hadn't been made yet so they included his photo when it was. However,Chris and Chuck soon found out that John was not a very good guitarist and he was out of the band before the following album, "Leprosy", was recorded. There is nothing I can find of John Hand ever being in another band. Who is this guy and what has he been up to? How does he feel about this? Without ever playing a note his skinny denim-clad image graces one of the most influential pieces of work in death metal. His indo-baked eyes peer out at us seeming to say "'sup, dude" For this, John Hand, is a legend of metal.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

i would also have liked to sneake my picture into what is possibly the greates death metal record of all time , but somehow it just didn´t happen .... - harry lime

Anonymous said...

THAT RULES...alot!

Anonymous said...

wish i was THAT guy. maybe not.

Slo said...

Maybe he influenced Chuck so far, about how to roll joint with one hand.
Come on, I'm sure we can find a lot of similair stories about "guys on the line up but not playing on it" (search for black metal drumers, when drumer is a machine).

Chris said...

This is amazing. I had never even though about who that guy was...

falcon said...

That guy should join IMPALED.

Anonymous said...

for some reason when i see that picture of john hand,i think of the band Sadus

Mad Butcher said...

this is one of the most awesome things i've ever read in my entire life

Anonymous said...

Well, for what it is worth, I can guarantee that John Hand's name & photo will not grace the Relapse Records reissue of SBG that will happen at some point in 2011 or 2012. That's a fact. ERIC

BloodOfChrisLee said...

And how do you know this Eric? I am dying to know! -LEE