The morning of November 19, 2015, The Ghost Inside went to Hell, a place very close to death. It happened in a second, as always in traffic accidents. A second in which the tour bus of this group of metalcore He crashed frontally against a towing truck in the middle of one. In the words of Jim Riley, bassist of the band: “It was like being in a horror movie.”
In the middle of the desert, the tremendous blow left a frightening stamp: those two colossi of the road were shattered, with the hallows as crushed by the demon. The tragedy seemed fatal. And so it was for the two drivers of the vehicles: Steven Cunningham, who was at the wheel of the truck, and Gregory Hoke, who was driving the tour of The Ghost Inside. Both died as a result of the clash.
Better luck ran the other 10 crew of the band’s vehicle, although they suffered serious injuries and were urgently transferred to the nearest hospital. Among those people were Jonathan Vigil, Zack Johnson, Andrew Tkaczyk, Jim Riley and Chris Davis, the five members of The Ghost Inside, a group that had to leave the scenarios and recording studios for five years because its members They went through complicated rehabilitations. They were about not telling it. A story that, in Spain,
Nine years have passed since that fateful day and The Ghost Inside members do a sound test in, where they plan to play that night. It is 17.30 of November 6, 2024 and drummer Andrew Tkaczyk and bassist Jim Riley appear through the door of the dressing room of the room to speak without a clipper of that day when they were about to die. “The previous day we had the day off,” explains Jim Riley. “We went for a walk through Lubbock and, at night, we took some gin-tonics . We went to bed [dormían en el camión] And we already wake up with our lives changed forever. In full horror. ”
With the serious gesture and the lost look, Andrew Tkaczyk, next to his partner, nodded and adds: “Yes, Jim, I think you woke up in that situation and could go out by your own foot, but I don’t remember almost nothing. My head went and went. Rather I remember everything between darkness. As if it hadn’t been real. They moved me totally sedated in a helicopter and I was in a coma for 10 days. When I woke up, I didn’t understand what had happened. ”
Like so many North American bands, The Ghost Inside were traveling inside the bus to move from city to city and saved to take airplanes. In Spain, distances, much shorter, allow groups to sleep in hotels or even in their homes along the tours. It does not happen the same in the United States. When a and does not return in weeks or months. Buses are authentic mastodons with literary beds, bathroom, kitchen and recreation saloncito. The Ghost Inside suffered the brutal clash after having acted in Lubbock, Texas. They were heading to Phoenix, in the state of Arizona. Between performance and performance, they were separated by more than 1,200 kilometers and about 11 and a half hours of travel. The accident happened halfway, after five hours of journey, and when there were only four concerts left to finish The Locals Only tour. “We were at our best,” says the bassist. “We were going on tour throughout the United Kingdom already play in Australia. We also had a new album. But everything vanished in the blink of an eye. ”
Jim Riley and Andrew Tkaczyk speak three hours before what will be their last concert of the European band, formed in 2004 in Los Angeles. Before the accident, with four albums in the market, it had become a reference in the scene of the metal alternative. The night before the concert at the Riviera they played in Barcelona and they notice tired of a tour that has spliced many cities in Europe after the spring and summer tour of the United States. It is the only interview they grant in person to a European environment. The rest of the band has decided to rest, but drummer and bassist attend to The weekly country Without haste and kindly despite remembering such dramatic moments.
As a result of the accident, the 10 crew members of The Ghost Inside suffered injuries. The worst unemployed were singer Jonathan Vigil, who suffered a back fracture, broke his ankles and the ligaments were damaged; guitarist Zack Johnson, who survived 13 surgeries to repair his femur, and drummer Andrew Tkaczyk, who, after 10 days of being in a coma, woke up in a hospital in El Paso with one leg less. “It was a very hard blow. I remember telling me: Calm down, shut up … I wanted to control my breathing because I feared I would give me a heart attack, ”explains the drummer.
The story of Andrew Tkaczyk is an extraordinary overcoming story and marks the return story of The Ghost Inside. This musician of little facial expressiveness but kind look has spent years of rehabilitation. “The day after knowing that I didn’t have a leg, I took my phone and began to investigate how many musicians played with physical disabilities. I looked in Google: ‘Batteries without limbs’. I urgently needed some inspiration. Somehow, I was always lucky that he doesn’t like to look back and just look forward. It seeks to fix and solve things no matter how, ”he says. However, its determination was cracking. He spent months at the hospital recovering from more injuries and recognizes that, after a year, he collapsed. He watched his body without his right leg and thought he would never touch the battery again: “I lost hope. Maybe not all, but my attitude was no longer enough to be positive. How was the battery to play again with one leg? It was impossible. “
It could be impossible for him and perhaps for doctors, who were not able to give him a solution, but the love of a father does not understand impossible. Next to Andrew, both in the hospital and at home, his family was always. A “fundamental” support, according to the drummer, who never imagined that, in the case of his father, he would be more than great support: it was his Savior. Dressed in a cap and glasses, Larry Tkaczyk, a carpenter with his own workshop in Misthagan, saw how his son suffered for not playing again and decided to solve it. . In the same workshop where boxes usually elaborate boxes, table tennis shovels, pepper grinders or toys, managed to create an unprecedented prosthesis. “It was amazing,” recalls his son. “He invented a unique device that led doctors to see if they validated him. We tried it at the hospital and saw that it could serve. I had a prosthesis that allowed me to walk, but not touch the drum drum. Now I can. I take off my prosthetic leg and use my residual limb to touch the drum thanks to a pedal that reaches it and that is connected to the paste pedal on the ground. ” To the invention, Andrew’s mother gave him a name: hammer. The doctors of the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, in Grand Rapids, in the state of Mischigan, did not give credit: hammer worked. Andrew Tkaczyk could play the battery again. And another fact: The Ghost Inside could also return.
Since they had the accident, the connection of their fans with them is even stronger. “When they got the first song after the accident, I cried with emotion. I never thought I would see them return. In fact, this concert is my second time. I already saw them at the Resurrection Fest last year and was incredible. I had huge desire to repeat, ”says Guillermo Burgos, a follower of the 33 -year he. The one who has thrown him from everyone is Juan Montoya, a 27 -year -old Colombian fan who arrived in the Madrid room at 9.30 and is the first in the tail. “This return is spectacular. I think they are in a better way than before. I really believe it. I love the aggressiveness and quality they have. ” And he adds with a sentence: “Andrew is from another world. After the stick, now seeing him is a unique celebration. ”
Just three minutes are missing for the beginning of the concert. The public hopes the band’s departure. Andrew Tkaczyk is between racks, sitting in a wheelchair and putting drinks to an energy drink. The rest of the Pulula group nearby. In the gloom, without just being seen from the stalls, the first to go on stage is Andrew. An assistant pushes his wheelchair until he placed right next to the battery. In a matter of seconds, the change occurs: the musician takes off his prosthesis, leaves the wheelchair, sits at the battery controls and placed hammer, his father’s invention that will allow him to play for almost two hours Without stopping to the crazy rhythm of The Ghost Inside, a combo that combines the metal Extreme with touches of hardcore punk.
“It makes me happy to think that my case can help other people. People who lost hope and, seeing me, feel something else. A year ago, we were in Colombia and a child, who had the same amputation as me, he approached me and said: ‘I never thought I could touch, but I have seen you and now I know I will get it, ”recalls Andrew Tkaczyk. At his side, his partner Jim Riley adds: “Andrew is not just an inspiration for that child and other people with the same physical problem. It is an inspiration for us too. We were all insecure about the future of the band. We wanted to return a couple of times and we couldn’t because we were not prepared. Then, we saw him how he started playing the battery with the prosthesis and we believed it. We convinced ourselves that the band’s return would be possible. ”
The return of this band that was in hell is a reality. Andrew Tkaczyk touches the drums with a huge force before a room enfested by The Ghost Inside songs. The rest of his teammates are equally delivered on the stage of the Riviera, especially Jonathan Vigil, the singer, who does not stop and interacts with the public in all the songs as if he wanted to take everyone home. “You have to live in a way in which you cannot regret leaving something without doing. That there is nothing pending on the table. It doesn’t matter how much you plan things because life changes when you least expect it, ”says Jim Riley, who, after the accident, had to go to a psychologist and says he has found peace in meditation.
It is one of the learning that has come after the tragedy, but not the only one. “We should all be dead and, on the other hand, we are playing here,” he explains. “That has made us change deep things and others like knowing how to take advantage of life even on tours. Before, when we came and played in Spain, for example, we did not leave the bus and spent a lot of time sleeping there, and now we want to know the city, visit and learn from its culture. Our motto is now: life sways strongly, but we sway stronger. This phrase is a mantra for the band because life has given us some very hard blows, but we have to continue swaying, and be stronger.
The Ghost Inside, therefore, it is more than a music group: it is about overcoming obstacles, of perseverance, of never giving up. ” And Andrew Tkaczyk, the drummer capable of taking fire to the battery with one leg and a unique prosthesis, the only smile of the day escapes and sentence: “That is. It’s about hope. Hope. And it’s wonderful. ”
