Metal Monkey Business: Gritty Chimp's Dethklok Night at Rock Bottom in Manchester

Last month, Adult Swim teamed up with Manchester metal night Rock Bottom for an adrenaline-fuelled celebration of all things Dethklok, something to do with the release of Metalocalypse season 2 on DVD and the continuation of Season 3 over here at adultswim.co.uk. [Editor’s note – he’s being modest here – it was All His Idea and He Did Most Of The Work…]

Armed with my trusty grotesque chimp mask and boxes full of merch, we eagerly awaited the arrival of the club regulars and Manchester's die hard Dethklok fans.

10pm – Opening time

The first folks enter the club heading straight to the bar. From our covert position in the classic rock room we became expert people watchers, looking out for the curious reactions to the plasma screens showing classic Metalocalypse clips and the posters in and around the bar area. Whilst Led Zep, Van Halen and Whitesnake muted any sensible conversation we saw fans ordering sickly sweet (but incredibly cheap) Blood Ocean cocktail shots and pointing at the screens in recognition. Our plan was working.

12am – First Raffle 

By this time the club was heaving, in the main room the dance floor was chugging away to Dethklok and folks were admiring the Dethklok montage on the big screen. With the support of some good friends and Dutch courage provided by several strong free drinks, I donned my mask to announce the first Dethraffle. Whilst my chimp mask is very dear to me and helped me get into character, it gives you the visual range of a blinkered horse with cataracts. This lead to the very embarrassing incident where I gave one fan a bag of bags rather than some Adult Swim shot glasses and a car sticker. Doh!        

1am – Dethairguitar  

The main event. We pulled out the big guns for this one, offering up prizes of DVDs, T-shirts and a chance to win some exclusive artwork from Metalocalypse Director/Producer/Artist Jon Schnepp. Around thirty souls got onto the stage to strut their stuff to 'Awaken', throwing their very best metal shapes and shredding their invisible instruments whilst a huge crowd cheered them on. From this gaggle of drunken legends we whittled it down to a final four, the best of the best.

These guys battled it out to 'Thunderhorse' and the winner was clear to see after only a couple of minutes. Congratulations to Matthew Dryden who blew us away with his fantastic knee work, precision strumming and the sheer look of determination to do right by Dethklok. He won the signed artwork and a goody bag chock full of exclusive merch. His fellow finalists were also rewarded with goody bags as they gave it their all for the mighty Dethklok. Well done chaps.

1:30am – Final Dethraffle  

With booze fighting raw adrenalin I was still very much sober as we headed into the final raffle. This was the final give away of the night and the prizes flew out from the crowded DJ booth. Blue bags of the very best stuff were met with cheering, whooping and smiles all round. I decided to do this one without the mask for sanity, clarity and basic health and safety but I'm not showing you my real face as it'd spoil the magic so here's some more of me in the mask and a couple of winners.

3am – Home time

Now losing the battle with the ale I carefully packed up my gear and headed out into taxi land secure in the knowledge that we had indeed had a most brutal night.

So some very big thanks to the very metal guys and gals at Rock Bottom at Manchester's Coliseum. Without them there would have been no venue. They were extremely accommodating and totally bought into what we were doing. As for the rest of the folks behind the scenes you know who you are. Thank you very much for giving a chimp a chance.