“That wasn’t in the job description”: This metal guitarist mistook a photographer for his guitar tech – and accidentally launched his guitar at him
Just weeks after unveiling his new Schecter signature guitar, Sullivan King unintentionally trashed one after trying to pull off the Springsteen-esque stage stunt
The one thing you should probably never do after being honored with a signature guitar is destroy it. Unfortunately, Sullivan King has done just that in an internet-breaking case of mistaken identity.
Just weeks after the launch of his signature, blood-splattered Schecter Banshee, metal guitarist and DJ Sullivan King has accidentally trashed one of his new models by launching it at an individual he thought was his guitar tech.
Alas, it turned out it wasn’t his staffer, ready and primed to catch the instrument. Instead, it was an unsuspecting concert photographer, who dodged the flying guitar and watched, shellshocked, as it crashed onto the floor where he had stood just moments earlier.
@sullivanking 0 days with out incident on the job site
♬ original sound - Sullivan King
King postured at the photographer (who understandably had his hands full) as to why he didn’t catch the Sustainiac- and Schecter Apocalypse pickups-laced guitar. The look on the photographer’s face, however, says it all.
One witty user commented on King’s Tiktok post, “That wasn’t in the job description.”
It aptly encapsulates what must have been going through the poor photographer's head when he saw a near-$2,000 guitar flying toward his face and expensive camera.
Luckily, a few shows later, King extended an olive branch to the photographer, inviting him on stage to complete a redemption arc.
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In an excellent plot twist, however, after he caught the guitar and cheers erupted from the crowd, the cameraman treated the audience to his best Pete Townshend impression, smashing it to smithereens.
@sullivanking ♬ original sound - Sullivan King
Thankfully, it wasn’t one of King’s signature builds this time. Regardless, it is impressive just how effortlessly he destroys the gloss white Schecter.
Throwing guitars around the stage isn’t exactly a new trick, and while it does look James Bond-cool, doing so comes with its fair share of risks. Just ask the tech who took a Bruce Springsteen-launched Telecaster to the head last year.
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A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
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