Big Brother 13 2nd runner-up Adam Poch is a huge metalhead, and not surprisingly, a huge fan of reality TV. He’s recapped Big Brother 14, which featured former Kittie bassist Jennifer Arroyo, and “team headbanger” on The Amazing Race 21, which featured former White Lion drummer James LoMenzo and entertainment lawyer Mark “Abba” Abbatisata. The CBS reality show that started it all, Survivor, is back with their 26th season, and with metalhead Matt Bischoff among the contestants, Adam will once again be recapping on behalf of metalheads and reality show fans everywhere.
Anyone else noticing the trend of netalheads on primetime Reality shows lately? Over the summer we had Ms. Jenncity, formerly of Kittie on Big Brother. Then in the fall there was James LoMenzo formerly of White Lion & his manager Mark ‘Abba’ Abbattista on The Amazing Race. This winter the new TBS Reality show King Of The Nerds featured Jon Paprocki who would throw up his horns and let out a metal roar every now and then for no reason (hmm, wonder where he got that from?). Now this upcoming season of Survivor (premiers Wed Feb 13 8pm on CBS) we have Matt Bischoff, 38, from Cincinnati, OH, a BMX Bike Salesman by day – but singer for the metal band Moonbow by night.
Moonbow is not just a couple of friends that get together and jam, the band has some great musical roots. On guitar is David McElfresh from the 90’s prog metal band Lethal. He has also played with Hank 3’s metal band. On drums is the original drummer for The Afghan Whigs, Steve Earle. He has also gone on to play with Hermano – a project by Kyuss founding member John Garcia. Rounding out the band on bass is Ryan McAllister from the Cincinnati stoner rock band Valley Of The Sun. Moonbow’s style is similar to bands like Monster Magnet & Down. You can check them out on Facebook if your’e so inclined.
From 1992 – 1998, Matt also hosted a Metal video show called Urban Discipline, which was similar to Headbangers Ball. He would play videos as well as interview bands. Matt has been a metal fan for years – wearing Judas Priest t-shirts since the age of 9.
His CBS bio is here,but one thing that stands out to me personally is he says he is similar to previous Survivor Rupert – “he has a big heart and loved to play the game. His teddy bear personality and tough looks remind me of myself.” Umm – hey Matt – I am the HEAVY METAL TEDDY BEAR!!! I was on CBS first – so come up with your own shtick. Haha! Just kidding. If he does possess the same qualities as I did, and can use his social game as well as I was able to on Big Brother 13 – he should be able to stick around for a while & hopefully do what all of us other metalheads failed to do.. WIN! Not only is he a long hair – but he is a long beard! He’s been known to do some beard competitions & belongs to the Queen City Beard and Mustache Society. It’s always fun to watch all the men on Survivor go from clean shaven to beards as the season goes on. With him we’ll hardly even notice.
It is not going to be an easy task – as this season of Survivor is Fans vs. Favorites. 10 previous Survivor contestants are coming back to play the game again, and in the past when this happened, the vets controlled the game and the newbies were wiped out. Will this group of fans be able to change the game and flip the script on the favorites? Tune in every Wed. night on CBS and find out – then every Thursday, as long as Matt is still on the show, come back here and read my recap.
