I met Adam Jones! They say never meet your heroes, this absolutely isn't true for this guy.

Story time! Thought I'd share my experience - might be a long one, but thought people would be interested.

So I was fortunate enough to be one of the few hundred peeps that got to meet the man himself at the signing in London on 2nd June. I was pretty nervous but incredibly excited as Adam is the reason I picked up guitar 6 years ago and really delved into music.

For anyone who is yet to meet him, or wondering what he is like, let me tell you, this man is so incredibly appreciative to each and every one of his fans, and the most down to earth, friendly and downright cool dude. He took the time to have a conversation with every single person, and even introduced himself as though it was a casual conversation with a friend. Here's the story of my brief but awesome conversation. (also, I got a poster signed to my name which is already one of my prized possessions).

So I'm toward the front of the line, and while me and a couple of like-minded Tool fans (who are awesome) are chattering excitedly, he takes a look around the room between signing and talking to people, meets our eyeline, and I shoot him a friendly nod. He waves back at us and smiles. When we get to right before the steps up to the stage, there's this tall, chatty guy who is managing the next fans to go up on stage and approach the table. Again, between people coming up to him, he looks at me (who is about to talk to said guy) and gestures towards him and says "that's my big brother!" I reply "really? no way!" and he nods before another fan goes up to shake his hand. Turns out that guy was Alan Jones, Adam's big brother and Tool's tour manager. He was super funny and great to talk to and we had a small conversation about how he loves the UK, the show I'd seen in Birmingham, and Smashing Pumpkins.

Then, it was my turn to hop up the steps and meet Adam. I get up, and introduced myself "Hey, it's so great to meet you". He smiled and said "Hey, I'm Adam, great to see you!" (as though I didn't already know him). I told him about how I went to the show in Birmingham, and he asked if I enjoyed it. I told him it was really great to hear Rosetta Stoned live and the whole show was awesome, He said "Man that's great to hear, I'm so glad you liked it".

This is one of my favorite parts of this interaction.

I mentioned about how I had looked up to him since I first picked up guitar 6 years prior, and that I wouldn't be the guitarist i am now without that inspiration. He smiled and responded "You know, when I was 14 years old and playing guitar, I never thought I'd have someone come up to me and say that, that means a lot to me, thank you".

At this point I asked if he could make the Signature out to my name, and he was more than happy to do that, it read "To Steve!" and then that familiar signature, dated 2024.

I asked one more question before I left, as I didn't want to take up too much time, about how he got a specific effect on 10,000 days pt 1 (the song), and he enthusiastically explained to me how it was achieved. And then, that was it, I thanked him again for his time, and he said "Hey, good luck with the music man, hope it goes well for you".

The signing was meant to be from 2pm until 4pm, but Adam stayed until around 7pm to make sure everyone got a signature and conversation. I am super grateful for the opportunity and I can't stress enough how humble, appreciative and kind he was to every single fan. It's something I'll remember for a long long time.