Nickell’s Bag

It’s not often that a heavy metal band comes to town bearing gifts for the local police department. But then, it’s not often that a band has a Missoula story as bizarre as the one told by Atlanta rockers Zoroaster.

Last February, the band came to town for a gig at the Badlander. After performing for a decent-sized local crowd, the band members began loading their equipment out the back door into their tour bus. Drummer Dan Scanlan says that he was carrying his drums out the door when he heard band members and bystanders yelling: Someone was stealing the bus.

“I get out in the alley, and I see the bus driving off down the street with our bass player hanging off the back door,” recalls Scanlan. “So we all took off running down the street – like 20 or 30 of us — chasing the bus.”

The bus stopped at a stop sign, allowing bassist Brent Anderson to let go of the door and escape unscathed. The bus-thief then drove off, heading toward I-90.

“I was on the phone with the 9-1-1 operator telling them what was going on, and it just so happened that a cop pulled over the bus before it got onto the Interstate to tell the driver that the back door was open,” says Scanlan. “I guess right as the cop was walking up to the bus, the call went out to look for the stolen bus, so he pulled the kid out of the bus and arrested him.”

Turns out, the thief was drunk, and took the ill-advised opportunity for a joy ride. Or at least, that’s what he later wrote in a letter of apology to the band.

As to Scanlan and his bandmates, they were just glad no-one was hurt and they got their equipment and bus back.

“It sucked bad when it was happening, because we really thought we might lose all our gear and be stranded and all,” says Scanlan. “But by the next day we couldn’t stop laughing about it.

“That’s when I was like, we need to give (the Missoula police department) a plaque. I’m sure they’ve never gotten a plaque from a metal band before.”

So this Friday, Oct. 17, during the band’s first return visit to Missoula since the incident, Scanlan and his bandmates plan to swing by the police department to drop off a thank-you plaque that they had custom-engraved for Missoula’s finest.

After that, they’ll return to the Badlander for a gig tonight with USA is a Monster, Thetan Revival, and Bridgebuilder.