We're stuck in traffic.
I just want to go to the monster truck show,
[DAN MEYER, VICE] but we're stuck in traffic.
I don't think they're going to wait for us.
[MONSTER TRU CKS]
[ON ACID!]
My name is Dan Meyer, I live and work in Brooklyn, NY
I'm good friends with the producer of the 'On Acid' series,
and he asked me if I'd like to do an episode at a Monster Truck rally
This is Monster Trucks on acid.
I've never been to one of these things.
[JONATHAN SMITH, ONLINE EDITOR, VICE]
- What are you doing back there? - Switching seats.
What the hell?
Man, you guys have got like three different kinds of pants on.
So much farbric.
So much...
There's a lot of fabric back there.
We were driving from New York to Hartford, Connecticut.
To the monster truck rally.
Oh, yeah, this is pretty good, serious stuff.
So, this was the first time I'd done liquid LSD.
Before, it'd always been paper.
I took two hits, thinking that my tolerance
to psychedelia was pretty high.
Like, my body, feels very strange.
The back of my, like...
It feels like there's something inside my head.
That wants to come out.
Why don't you just drink some water?
Yeah, yeah, chill out for a sec.
Yeah. I do think I maybe underestimated the strength of it.
I need a moment.
By the time I got there, I was already fully in the throws of an acid high.
I need to take a second. Okay, hold on.
Let's come over her for a second.
I've got a guy with the camera behind me. Following me.
Glen, can you stop for a second.
As if I was like, a host of like, a news program.
And, rolling.
I'm in Hartford, Connecticut...
Oh no...
We're in Hartford, Connecticut.
Uh, home of...
Apparently, car culture. It seems like.
We're going to go watch some monster trucks,
On acid.
Our media host, she had been calling and texting us.
To make sure we were going to be there.
I think she was expecting some sort of normal media group to show up.
She handed me like, a release form to sign.
And I didn't even know, how to write my name.
Can you just vouch for me, that this is okay.
I guess I have to.
I couldn't obviously read it.
And I'm asking the guys I'm with to read this for me.
[JAMIE LEE CURTIS TAETE, WEST COAST EDITOR, VICE]
- Did I sign that okay? - Yeah, you did.
You know, she wasn't sure I was the host, at first.
I did some research, you know started to figure out who's who,
but it's tough, you know?
There's a lot of them. People go crazy,and the music is the...
And the crowd. They always put the lights down.
She didn't know I was on acid, at all.
And, I was trying not to let her figure it out.
Honestly could have. No one told me I shouldn't.
But it just seemed like the right thing to do was to not tell her.
Because, I figured, that would probably give her the creeps.
So, that was like, an element of secrecy
that I'm, you know, not really used to.
That we had to maintain.
Where? Where are the judges?
And, then all of a sudden we hear the noise the first time.
It's just this extremely abbrasive noise
It just like, shakes you to the bone.
Just, ripping.
This is like, okay, here it is
Dan, like, you are like, fucking high as a kite.
The tire tracks in the dirt, when they would turn, they would create a spiral
into the earth.
And I was like, just staring at that,
and like, light was coming in and out it.
And then you'd be ripped back to reality, and the cars would jump off.
At this point, I'm like losing track of reality.
Holding on to my sanity.
And there's this truck, it was supposed to be like a school bus.
And I'm like just completely bewildered
as to what is the point of all this.
Like, who are these people that have come here?
And then, there was a truck that looked exactly a dog.
Named, Rottweiler Mutt.
It's got dog ears. It's got a face of a dog. It's got a tongue.
And that's just, strange enough.
It was hot.
The air is just thick,
with exhaust, and dust that's being kicked up.
I'm like, by myself, just like, losing it.
That was when, I would say, I was 'tripping balls.'
I just wanted out.
I'm completely overwhelmed.
Does anybody stand out that you'd like to talk to?
And I had to put on this front. Like I was a host of something.
And, I've never hosted anything before.
I need someone to tell me who to talk to.
I can't make decisions right now. And these guys are all just
[CHRIS GROSSO, PRODUCER, VICE] telling me to do stuff.
Okay, sure. Why don't you just get that plugged in.
They just handed me this thing.
When they handed me the microphone,
I didn't know what the hell to do with it.
And, Grave Digger is who you said you'd like to see.
But, who do you got, er, I don't know, I'm confused.
You know, I want to have interview questions to ask people but,
it was impossible for me to talk to anybody.
Yup...
Well...
Excuse me, what are you guys making?
Snow cones.
- Can I talk to you about it? - Sure, yea.
I was, terrified of everyone.
Nobody looked normal to me.
I don't know anything about this world.
Different creatures. Gigantic beasts.
This is just. I can't, I can't explain this. I can't explain it.
And I'm like, I can't, I can't talk right now, guys. Sorry.
Like, I know I'm supposed to be talking, but I can't.
I've got my notepad.
And, that's when I realized, how high I still was.
Smells, it smells really bad.
You guys keep forgetting what is going on in my head right now.
Just go with it.
It's like, you keep acting like this is normal Dan who works with everyone.
But, I'm like...
And, I am just like, literally want out. I'm finished.
I'm like, Okay, we've seen it. We've done it.
I've been here, I've done that.
But she's telling us that we've got to wait,
because we're going to interview one of the drivers.
I had a few words with the producer.
I need help coming up with questions for this guy.
I don't know what I'm going to ask this driver.
How do you, how do you feel the show went?
Like, ask them if they were bummed to lose or happy to win depending...
I'm not going to ask them if they were bummed to lose.
How long they've been doing it for.
Just general questions.
We're late to the interview.
I was teriffied. The thought of having to interview a truck driver
at this point, was so upsetting to me.
I was sweating. I was, so upset.
As I rush in to interview this guy, who I think hates me.
He's ready...
And then the driver's standing beind the table.
And it would have only made sense
for me to go around the table and probably sit down with him.
Alright. And uh, sir, what is your name?
I'm Pat Summa.
And your truck is?
- Thrasher. - Thrasher.
And you're from, uh...
But, instead, the thought of that is too bewildering for me
So I just say, fuck it,
I'm going to just interview him from across the table.
I look over, and every one of my crew is not even watching.
Because, apparently it's so awkward that, they don't even want to watch.
If you, uh, rank this on a scale of one to ten
this weekend, what would you say it would come in at?
Oh, definitely ten.
I don't remember one word of the conversation.
And, I was actually just paranoid at that point.
That the truck driver was going to kill me.
And that, ya know, I was pretty paranoid the whole night.
It was nice to meet you. Have a good trip.
- Yeah thanks. - Back home.
You and our guide seemed to really bond when we were down there.
Yea, I kind of like, came to like her. A lot.
Are you guys coming?
Yeah, come on in.
We're going down, downstairs to where there's some fresh air.
Always a good thing.
She takes out to this cold garage.
And, i don't know where we're going.
Can we just get a shot, like over there, real quick.
And then we start walking by all the crash cars.
Which is like, still my favorite zone.
'Cause, it was like, peaceful. And kind of beautiful.
The reason they're all these bright colors,
Is so they can see them. Sometimes they're blue, sometimes...
Oh, so the drivers can see them better.
So the drivers can see them when they're sitting behind those ...
How do you view the experience?
A few of my friends have asked me if it was fun.
I wouldn't use the word fun, at all.
I would say it was challenging.
And, like, difficult.
Do you look back on it as an acomplishment?
I mean, I sort of look at it as an accomplishment,
but in the most pointless sense of the term.
Like, there was no point to it. So, yeah.
A pointless accomplishment.
- That's a good area though, right? - Oh yeah.
- Or is that just me? - No, it is.
That's my favorite area, so far.
I could just hang out here all day.
Talk about it later.
What are they doing in there? I just want to get the fuck out of here.