Blood, Groupies and the Swiss: Nothnegal tours Europe

So when Avo, vocalist for the Maldivian band Nothnegal, accidentally smashed his forehead into the bassist’s guitar during the band’s third performance on its recent European tour, thousands of German fans in spikes and black make-up went wild.

“I was going down to headbang just as he brought up his guitar. As soon as the crowd saw blood they went ‘Woah!’ and got really excited. They thought it was part of the show,” Avo recalls.

“We didn’t stop the show, we continued. By the time we finished the set the entire microphone and stand was covered in blood, the places where I stood – everywhere there was blood. But people came up afterwards and wanted to take pictures while I was still bleeding: ‘Stay like that, I want to take a picture with you!’ They thought it was part of the stage act, but at the time I was getting dizzy.”