Meet & Greet
Enter a Meet & Greet reimagined—an open environment where artists create their own realms, inviting you into direct connection and authentic exchange. Wander freely, discover unique expressions, and explore a curated lineup of special vendors adding to the atmosphere. Followed by War Stories Panel and live entertainment from people that made the Bay Area music scene thrive.
Graham Bonnet
Metal Relixx Expo is proud to announce a special Meet & Greet with the one and only Graham Bonnet.
From hard rock royalty to heavy metal history, Graham Bonnet is a voice that carved its own lane in the late ’70s and early ’80s — powerful, melodic, and unmistakably his.
Bonnet first hit international recognition with Rainbow, stepping in after Ronnie James Dio and delivering the legendary album Down to Earth, featuring arena staples like “Since You Been Gone” and “All Night Long.”
He was later featured on MSG’s Assault Attack, bringing his vocal firepower to “Desert Song” and the crushing title track. ”Then came Alcatrazz, where Bonnet helped launch the careers of guitar legends Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai — cementing his place in metal’s DNA.
Why every metalhead should meet Graham Bonnet
- You’re meeting a bridge between eras.
Bonnet stood at the crossroads of hard rock and the birth of neoclassical and shred metal. That era shaped everything from power metal to modern thrash. - He’s part of the guitarist legacy chain.
Few singers can say they fronted bands with both Malmsteen and Vai. That alone makes him part of the blueprint. - The stories.
Touring in the wild west days of rock. Studio battles. Lineup changes. The evolution of metal. If you care about where this music came from, this is living history. - The voice still carries.
Bonnet didn’t ride trends — he brought class, melody, and grit into heavy music without leather clichés. That confidence still defines him.
If you respect the roots of metal — the albums that built the scene, the vocalists who could actually sing over crushing guitars — this is your moment.
Come shake the hand of a man who helped write the soundtrack to heavy metal’s rise.
Metal Relixx Expo — where the legends live.
Nefarious (Meet & Greet)
Rick Hunolt (Exodus, Die Humane, Doug Piercy, Will Carroll, Sean Rivera, Tom Gears and Hectic/Bleeding Priest Records)
Parabellum (Meet & Greet)
David Galileo, Emre Aube, Jacey Knecht and Kyle O’Connor
Mel Smith with Wild Card Ink – Comic Creator (Meet & Greet)
Born in Evansville, Indiana, Mel Smith began his career in 1985, at the ripe age of 16, penciling and writing for Pinnacle Comics. He has worked in the field ever since, and during those twenty plus years he has produced countless pages for many companies. In 1991, Smith helped develop “Chainsaw Bob” as well as expanding artistically towards work for the music industry, designing material for many popular groups. Today he is happily back involved with comics, first producing the charity comic Feed America’s Children and then the 2007 Eisner Award Winning Gumby series with his own imprint Wildcard Ink and Acme Ink. Concurrent with this he has developed new series for other publishers, such as Dead Ahead with Image Comics, 7 Lives of Dr. Phibes, Death Race: Lords of the Road for BlueWater Productions, Iron Siege for IDW, Dead Alive with Kevin Eastman and Tony Salmons for Heavy Metal Magazine, God’s Janitor, Recoil, Dead Ahead 2, and a number of other special projects coming soon.
Mark DeVito
Mark DeVito has been drawing skulls and Led Zeppelin logos on everything he could get his hands on, since he was 11. Bedroom walls, jean jackets and school desks were defaced on a regular basis with Mark’s scribblings. Painting banners he brought to Sabbath, Rainbow, Iron Maiden and Dio shows replaced homework duties, for this aspiring n’er-do-well. After having Satriani suggest practicing design over guitar lessons, Mark set his sights on slathering the world with Heavy Metal logos and emblems. He started working with Legacy, Lääz Rockit and Ruffians. After painting backdrops and designing flyers, the next step was creating t-shirts. Soon Mark found himself working for Aerosmith, Megadeth, and in 1988 Mark designed his first shirt for Metallica. From there, the skies were the limit. Mark went on to work for The Rolling Stones, Green Day, Anthrax until he got the tap to design an album cover for his all-time heroes, Motörhead. Mark would work for Lemmy and company for the next 9 years (until Lemmy’s passing), designing everything from Motörhead t-shirts, stage scrims, a total of 3 album covers and even designing Mikkey Dee’s Sönor drum kit. Today Mark is hammering out graphics for WASP, Metallica, Jason Newsted, Exodus, Forbidden and Ruffians, while driving a school bus, kicking cancer in its butt and writing novels.
