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Melynda Jackson never saw it coming.
On Feb. 21, the guitarist for Portland doom-metal band Eight Bells was standing at the side of the stage, watching her tourmates, Canadian cult legends Voivod, begin their set at the Masquerade in Atlanta. Suddenly, a throng of bodies crashed into her.
"It came from behind me, and I didn't see anything," she says. "It was the most pain I've ever felt in my life."
Jackson left the venue with a torn meniscus, a minor break in her femur, torn knee cartilage and strained ligaments—and with seven more shows to go on the tour.
The band has set up a GoFundMe page to help with Jackson's medical bills.
According to an onlooker, the injury occurred when a group of attendees were trying to restrain another person for unknown reasons, and came careening from the crowd into the side-stage area.
"I should've been safe there," Jackson says.
Eight Bells—whose album Landless is one of the best to come out of Portland so far this year—has been on the road with Voivod and Philadelphia's Vektor since late January. The band was forced to cancel shows in Tennessee and Kentucky, but intends to finish the tour, which wraps up Feb. 28 in St. Louis, Missouri. (It doesn't appear that there's enough in the budget for to afford Jackson a Dave Grohl-style guitar throne, so a regular chair will have to do.)
When she gets back to town, Jackson plans to meet with an orthopedist to determine if she'll need surgery.
While Jackson doesn't plan on seeking legal action against the club, she is considering making an insurance claim, especially if she's forced to go on disability.
"I don't think there's any malicious intent with any of this. At the same time, I don't have insurance for this kind of thing," she says. "I'm not going to sue, but I'm probably going to make a claim."
Willamette Week