Joe Troutman and Johnny Winters

Joe Troutman, one of the few local independent music promoters, has outlasted most the venues he’s booked over 16 years. North County’s Jumping Turtle, Royal Dive (formerly owned by this reporter), Metaphor Café, Del Dios Country Store, and Longshot Saloon no longer exist. UCSD’s Porter’s Pub and M-15 (Corona) have also gone away.

He’s now best known as the guy who brings all the European death-metal and black-metal bands to Brick by Brick.

Petting cheetahs with Rachel, Barney from Napalm Death, and Paul from Cannibal Corpse

His mild-mannered personality doesn’t jibe with his booking preference of extreme metal and punk.

He says his career highlights include selling out his Cannibal Corpse, Fleshgod Apocalypse, D.R.I., and Primal Fear shows.

“My first sell-out was Rotting Christ [Greece] and Belphegor [Austria] in 2007 at the Jumping Turtle.... Plus, I got to have a rock-and-roll wedding (including members of Green Jello, Megadeth, and Helstar).”

On the downside of the biz, he said he’s had to deal with a “sleazy” bar owner and territorial DIY promoters who tried to sabotage his shows.

“One owner who I won’t name would make false police calls and spread lies on the internet. He burned every bridge he could. Karma caught up with him. He lost everything and everybody....”

At Joe and Rachel Troutman’s 2015 wedding: Green Jello lead singer Bill Manspeaker (who performed), Megadeth bassist David Ellefson (who officiated), Rachel, Joe, and “wedding singer” James Rivera of Helstar.

Troutman, who has also put on shows at Soma, the House of Blues, and Escondido’s Iceplex skate mecca, says he learned a long time ago metalheads are different than punks.

“There is passion on both sides. But the metal fans won’t flinch at paying a higher ticket price if the band warrants it. Punks will complain no matter what the ticket price is. They’ll complain over a three-dollar ticket.” He says metalheads behave better. “Bar owners are always surprised at how well behaved metal fans are. I’ll have more ejections at a punk or alternative rock than at a metal show with five times the people.”

But he still gets grief.

“We had this Swedish black-metal band Marduk August 20th at the Brick. Some lady from Antifa decided Marduk was Nazi-affiliated and she got the police to cancel their Oakland show back in May due to safety concerns. Marduk has dark imagery in their songs about World War II, but they aren’t Nazis. But the problem for us was that because of the publicity, people showed up here wearing swastikas. The band wanted them out. They had to remove their swastika belt buckles before we let them back in.”

He says the contract rider for his sold-out David Allan Coe show in 2010 at Ramona Mainstage only called for a 12-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Vinnie Appice, Vivian Campbell, Joe, Jimmy Bain

“But Swedish guitar god Yngwie Malmsteen had a huge rider. It took a trip to four different stores to get everything he needed. He wanted two packages of reduced-fat swiss cheese slices. But we could only come up with one regular and one low fat. He had a temper tantrum onstage during soundcheck. He said onstage he wouldn’t play unless he got two packages of reduced-fat swiss cheese....

“Everyone panicked, but I found it amusing. I knew that his band strongly disliked him, and if he didn’t play, he wouldn’t get paid. Plus, he and his band would have had to load his ridiculous stack of amps. He had 27 cabinets and 35 guitar heads. And there were no dummies [fake amps]. He ended up playing the whole show with one package of lowfat cheese.”

Troutman says his hassles with bar owners led to him “coming close” to opening a 400-capacity showcase/bar called Limelight in 2011 in an abandoned restaurant building on Valley Parkway and Midway Drive in Escondido.

Yngwie Malmsteen in Barcelona, 2008

wikipedia photo by Alterna2

“It had always been a dream to have my own place. The police chief, the mayor, and the entire city council wrote letters of support.” But he says the San Marcos division chief of the Alcohol Beverage Control “would not transfer a liquor license to me. She wouldn’t say why. I feel I was never given a clear reason.” He says that, and the fact the building needed a sprinkler system forced him to abandon plans after spending “a substantial amount” on improvements and applications.

In 17 years, which local bands should have broken out to national fame?

“Damcyan, melodic death metal from Santee; and Whither, doom/goth-rock from Escondido. They were both amazing but it was just bad timing. They both came up in the mid 2000s, when the record industry was so shaken by downloads. Labels were shedding bands so fast and they weren’t picking up any new ones.”

Joe Troutman presents Carach Angren (melodic death metal from Amsterdam) in their only Southern Cal appearance November 4 at the Boiler Room in Temecula. His upcoming shows at Brick by Brick include Society One on Saturday (October 7), nu-metal bands Dope and Hed PE on November 9, thrash/punkers D.R.I. on November 10, Graham Bonnet Band (formerly of Rainbow and Alcatraz) on December 11, Green Jello on December 22, and German power-metal band Hammerfall on January 26.