Who is Stu Manx?

Who is Stu Manx? I could suggest going down the biographical route and telling you that he is the bassist for Order. Or, I could give you a background on his work with DANG!...but I'd rather just tell you who he really is.

Stig, is special. When I was first commissioned by Kjetil for the video, Stig and I became friends shortly after. I never in my 32 years of living would come to find out exactly how special this human being enriches my life. Out of all the members of Order, he is the one I am most close to. Between his humor, his calm demeanor, his statuesque appearance that quite literally makes me a midget, his shiny, silver shoes, and his ability to make me piss on myself (true story)--he's such a wonderful human being.

When I first came to Norway, I was very eager to meet my new friend. Jim and I sat at the Clarion bar and awaited his presence. After a nice cocktail and beer, the man of the hour showed up. He was dressed in Hawaiian-style hibiscus shirt, with raggedy pair of Converse. In the land of black metal--he was the complete antithesis of what I had seen some days prior. He was warm immediately and gave me and Jim a huge bear hug. His wife, Annett, was equally just as sweet. She is a very small woman with a very sweet, soft voice and personality. We sat, shared some beers, conversed, and met up with Billy...who was very proud to bring his musk sausage to dinner, by the way.

Walking to Kjetil's house for dinner, all of us (band and the wives) made our way to Kjetil's house for a lovely Saturday dinner. As I explained in some posts back--dinner was truly a special moment. But, to add onto the Saturday dinner, Stig, Annett, me, Jim, Lena and Kjetil stayed after Anders and Espen left for the festival. I can't recall how much wine and beer we had that night, but I can recollect my memory of silly selfies with Stig, watching Kjetil try to play the same song eight times...all of which did not work, and our stories of how my store is a literal shithole. We were all rich with booze, but even more exuberant with laughter. I laughed so hard that night I cried all my eyeliner off. It was months, and I finally got to meet the dude who I shared memes with every day.

Stig's shiny silver shoes are some of my favorite things I enjoy, and honestly, his "fuck you" attitude to how anyone feels about him is why I respect him so much. He's been supportive of me since day one, and him wearing my shirt onstage. That was a moment I'll never forget. Our family member on here, Haydn, who made the stickers for me--I gave Stig. He placed the stickers on his handmade bass and played it with ferocity. Stig has always been kind to my Jim, and anyone who is kind to Jim is a friend of mine.

Stig is a man that definitely is an inspiration to me. In some way, I consider Stig my spirit animal, and I wish that I could have hung out with him more. He kindly gifted Jim and I ORDER beer, along with a very lovely holder and bottle opener built onto the side. I don't know, man, he's cool as fuck.

Gonna miss those shiny shoes and tin foil outfit he tried to make that night in the street.

P.S. The musk sausage was, indeed, very delicious.