A few months ago, David DiSanto, singer/guitarist for the sci-fi metal band Vektor, went and got himself arrested. Thankfully for him and the rest of the world, he didn't do something incredibly stupid—that is, unless you consider dousing a Christian protesting outside the Scion Rock Fest in Memphis, Tennessee to be stupid. The Memphis PD certainly felt it was stupid, dragging DiSanto to prison and, because there was no one to help get him out and no money for bail, leaving him languishing there for the weekend. Well, we couldn't resist tracking down DiSanto to get the full story on his arrest and his stay in the clink. We were lucky enough to catch him before he and the rest of his band took off for their first trip to Europe to play this year's Hellfest in Clisson, France.Noisey: So, in your own words, tell me what happened…
David: I had just got finished watching the Melvins and I had stepped outside to have a smoke. I had been…drinking for much of the evening. I just saw this guy preaching outside. He had a big sign, and—I don't know—something just snapped inside of me. I got really pissed off and threw my beer at him. I'm just really sick of seeing those guys around, whether it just be [that or] out on the street. I went to Arizona State University and I have my BA in biology. I'd see those guys constantly on campus spouting off the most foul language at everybody walking around. I'm sick of it, man. Anyway, I didn't see that there were two cops literally standing 10 feet away from me, so it was two seconds from when the beer left my hand that I was tackled to the ground. They scraped up my shoulder, too.What did they charge you with?
"Disorderly conduct" is what the charge was.And they ended up holding you for the whole weekend?
Yeah. They cuffed me at about 10 or 10:30. They threw me in the car. Never read me my rights. At first, I was assuming that they're running my ID and doing a background check. They didn't even tell me what was going on. All of a sudden, I got passed off to to some other officers and they told me I was going to the station. By the time I got processed, it was probably about midnight. I got the whole thing: fingerprints, mug shot. For some reason, all that took three to four hours. It must have taken longer than that, actually, because by the time I got into the holding area, it was about five or six in the morning.Had you ever been arrested before?
When I was a minor, I think I got in trouble for being drunk in public, but nothing ever happened like that since I was 17.How did you finally get out?
The bail was set at $1,000 'cause I was from out-of-state. I ended up missing my flight out on Sunday morning because I was stuck in jail and couldn't pay bail. I had a court hearing on Monday inside of the jail. That was Monday morning. When I got out of the holding area, they move you around all these different rooms and you're stuck with all this random people. There's everything: petty stuff, misdemeanors, and rapists and murderers. So I was waiting around for a couple more hours, and had my hearing at noon. And the charges were dropped. I had a really cool lawyer. I don't know how it happened. He was a fan of the band. I got lucky there. He got all the charges dropped. I guess he's going to try to wipe it off my record. It was kind of bullshit, though. The charges were dropped at noon, but they continued holding me until 4AM the next day. They were telling me, "Oh yeah, you'll probably get out in about four hours." I kept asking the guards, saying, "The charges were dropped. When am I getting out?" They're just fucking assholes, man. I understand, yeah you're in jail, it sucks. But the guards were kind of dicks.That's awful.
Yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to understand it from their perspective. They don't know who they're talking to. They deal with all kinds of people. I got lumped in there with everybody. I was the only dude there with long hair, too, so I stood out like a sore thumb. I got a bunch of shit for that, but I survived. No real horror stories. It was kind of nerve-wracking while you're in there. Two bunks down from me, this guy got punched in the head, and this other dude stole his mattress out from under him, so he had to sleep there on a bare metal bunk all night.But that's it, right? You don't have to go back to Tennessee for anything more.
Nope, that's the end of it. I got real lucky.@bob_ham
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David: I had just got finished watching the Melvins and I had stepped outside to have a smoke. I had been…drinking for much of the evening. I just saw this guy preaching outside. He had a big sign, and—I don't know—something just snapped inside of me. I got really pissed off and threw my beer at him. I'm just really sick of seeing those guys around, whether it just be [that or] out on the street. I went to Arizona State University and I have my BA in biology. I'd see those guys constantly on campus spouting off the most foul language at everybody walking around. I'm sick of it, man. Anyway, I didn't see that there were two cops literally standing 10 feet away from me, so it was two seconds from when the beer left my hand that I was tackled to the ground. They scraped up my shoulder, too.What did they charge you with?
"Disorderly conduct" is what the charge was.And they ended up holding you for the whole weekend?
Yeah. They cuffed me at about 10 or 10:30. They threw me in the car. Never read me my rights. At first, I was assuming that they're running my ID and doing a background check. They didn't even tell me what was going on. All of a sudden, I got passed off to to some other officers and they told me I was going to the station. By the time I got processed, it was probably about midnight. I got the whole thing: fingerprints, mug shot. For some reason, all that took three to four hours. It must have taken longer than that, actually, because by the time I got into the holding area, it was about five or six in the morning.
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When I was a minor, I think I got in trouble for being drunk in public, but nothing ever happened like that since I was 17.How did you finally get out?
The bail was set at $1,000 'cause I was from out-of-state. I ended up missing my flight out on Sunday morning because I was stuck in jail and couldn't pay bail. I had a court hearing on Monday inside of the jail. That was Monday morning. When I got out of the holding area, they move you around all these different rooms and you're stuck with all this random people. There's everything: petty stuff, misdemeanors, and rapists and murderers. So I was waiting around for a couple more hours, and had my hearing at noon. And the charges were dropped. I had a really cool lawyer. I don't know how it happened. He was a fan of the band. I got lucky there. He got all the charges dropped. I guess he's going to try to wipe it off my record. It was kind of bullshit, though. The charges were dropped at noon, but they continued holding me until 4AM the next day. They were telling me, "Oh yeah, you'll probably get out in about four hours." I kept asking the guards, saying, "The charges were dropped. When am I getting out?" They're just fucking assholes, man. I understand, yeah you're in jail, it sucks. But the guards were kind of dicks.That's awful.
Yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to understand it from their perspective. They don't know who they're talking to. They deal with all kinds of people. I got lumped in there with everybody. I was the only dude there with long hair, too, so I stood out like a sore thumb. I got a bunch of shit for that, but I survived. No real horror stories. It was kind of nerve-wracking while you're in there. Two bunks down from me, this guy got punched in the head, and this other dude stole his mattress out from under him, so he had to sleep there on a bare metal bunk all night.But that's it, right? You don't have to go back to Tennessee for anything more.
Nope, that's the end of it. I got real lucky.@bob_ham