When Axl and I visited Atlanta for the inaugural Scion Rock Fest in 2009 we checked out local rock n’ roll dive bar Elmyr for beverages and hangs the night before the festival. We’d heard that local metal luminaries like Brent Hinds liked to hang out there and we’re totally scary stalkers, plus hey really cheap bar! Wouldn’t you know it, ’round about midnight Hinds showed up completely off his rocker on booze and god knows what else, and within the blink of an eye it was like the Tasmanian Devil had rolled in. Hinds “confronted” good friend / High on Fire frontman Matt Pike and within seconds the two were in full-on brawl mode, like two teething puppies excited they finally had someone else on their level to scuffle with and gnaw on. Drinks went flying, glasses broke, tables were knocked over and at one point I think Hinds actually body-slammed Pike (or was it the other way around? sorry, booze) onto a chest-level table. It was all over in a couple of minutes; the bar-back came out with a broom to sweep up the broken glass, tables were righted, the jukebox roared back to life, and it was as if nothing had happened at all. Just a regular night in your favorite rock n’ roll dive-bar.

There’s no doubt that the 2-minute Royal Rumble we witnessed that night added to the bar’s charm, and apparently their owners think so too; Hinds is now shilling for Elmyr, which now serves food, in a minute-long actual TV commercial parodying pharmaceutical ads. In case you’re wondering, the interior shot of the bar at around 0:23 is the entirety of the tiny room in which the above Hinds v. Pike brawl took place, making it all that much more exciting. Super-lulz at the idea of Hinds playing golf, doing yoga and coaching his son in Little League. How many takes do you think it took him to sink that putt?

-VN