KEY POINTS:
Fat Freddy's Drop keyboardist Iain Gordon has plastic surgeons to thank for saving his music career after his arm was savaged by a barracuda, leaving him with serious tendon damage and paralysed fingers.
Gordon was swimming in warm water near the mouth of the Waikanae River, Wellington, last week when a barracuda bit into his left arm with its razor-sharp teeth.
"It was excruciating pain like nothing I've experienced before. I just ran like hell from the water."
In a panic, he grabbed the fish's head and ripped it off his arm while it was still under the water. "It probably would have let go - I don't know if that caused more damage or not."
Gordon said there were children swimming nearby so it was lucky the barracuda chose him to chew on.
Once he managed to get out of the water he was taken to hospital where his wound was examined.
"I didn't know what had happened to begin with, if it was a barracuda or a stingray. I knew it wasn't a shark because they just shred your arm."
Three holes in his arm looked more like stab wounds. "They were more like knife marks. My tendons were sliced, I had nerve damage and had paralysed fingers," he said.
It was at this point he began to think his music career was over.
"I was thinking that I might not be able to play again - you can't have a one-armed keyboardist. A musician's worst fear is losing fingers or your arm and I find it hard enough as it is."
He said yesterday he was in no doubt the plastic surgeons at Lower Hutt Hospital saved his arm.
"I owe them all right. I knew before I went under the knife it was serious but they were confident things would be okay and took extra time with me to make sure it was tidy." But Gordon - whose stage name is Dobie Blaze - was happy the attack hadn't set the band's schedule back too much.
"It was actually not that bad timing. It could have happened before New Year's."
Fat Freddy's Drop's next gig is a Bush Party at Matakana on February 23, giving him plenty of time to get the use of his arm back. "It's still bloody sore and I start physio on Monday."
The handicap has meant a recording reshuffle with Gordon in a producing rather than performing role, but the rest of the band were just happy he still has use of his arm.
The dub act will now concentrate on finishing their next album, due out later this year, and are planning a tour to Paris, London and Lisbon.
