A few of us have probably come away with a few injuries of our own thanks to DragonForce, whether it’s blistered fingers and carpal tunnel from trying to master ‘Through The Fire And The Flames’ on a plastic guitar, or having copped an elbow in a mosh pit.
But the band’s singer Marc Hudson has found himself lucky he wasn’t more seriously injured in a strange car accident, despite ending up with possible broken ribs, a sprained shoulder, and an assortment of other maladies.
As Blabbermouth reports, Hudson was injured in a narrow escape during the Brissy leg of their Australian tour, in which he had to leap from a moving tour van as it went hurtling down a hill towards an intersection.
The day after their Brisbane show, the band were loading gear into the van as they prepared to head off to the airport. Once it had mostly been loaded in, Marc settled himself in the back of the van, followed by bassist Frédéric Leclercq and guitarist Sam Totman.
As the third member got in, the brakes of the van – which, we may point out, was parked on a steep hill – began to squeal, before the van suddenly began rolling down the hill and toward the intersection. Sam and Frédéric stepped right back out of the vehicle immediately, but Marc was plonked in the back, seatbelt on and all as the van began picking up speed.
Apparently drummer Gee Anzalone had the smarts to run after the van and try to jam the handbrake on, although that raises the pretty vital question of why the handbrake wasn’t on to begin with when loading heavy equipment into a vehicle parked on an incline.
Thankfully, the van began to veer away from the intersection, but unfortunately it was instead plotting a route directly towards a tree, at an estimated 50 km/h. This was when Marc finally took the leap out of the moving van, seconds before the impact, and he managed to escape hurt but well enough to play the next gig in a sling, with footage below.
It’s a bit of an important lesson to any band to, y’know, take extra care with vehicles and your gear, even if it is early in the morning and you’re half asleep.
