dealing with a suicide

[andris]

On January 16th I had a short session with a local musician that was laying down some acoustic demos of songs he had written. I didn't know the guy that well, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary while he was in. I found out that he hung himself within a week of laying down the demos. Just wondering if anyone else has dealt with something similar. It is a strange feeling to listen to the tracks.

[Mudcloth]

Oddly enough, yes. Just yesterday in fact. I found some old 4 track mixes from my old band and listened to them. My friend who played sax had committed suicide a few years ago and listening to him brought back a lot great memories. I'm glad I have them. I'm still pissed off at him, though. Motherfucker left a lot of friends behind.

There was another thread about this a while ago:
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... ght=mother
Edit to say that the above mentioned thread isn't about suicide but about recordings of lost friends and family members.

I recorded my family's Christmas dinner last year with this in mind.

[Nick Sevilla]

In my first band, when I was 17, the bass player commited suicide. He was 16. His parents blamed me and my other bandmates. Later we found out the stepfather had been abusing him in many different ways. So we spray painted their house in all kinds of colors.

They moved away. I never heard from them again.

He was very talented, sensitive, and a good person. we all could not imagine what went on in his head for him to end his life.

Suicide sucks.

[@?,*???&?]

One band I worked with on MCA called Sugarspoon suffered something similar.

One of the writer/guitar players had these massive, painful migraines that would overtake him while we were recording. We'd have to stop and he'd go in the bathroom and just howl in pain for an hour or more. Doctors had looked at him and it was just something he lived with.

The record came out, the band toured and a few months after the tour he blew his head off to the shock of everyone involved.

I can't imagine what his chronic pain was like, but I do know there was nothing we could do. One could certainly understand his viewpoint- sort of.

Record was tracked at Sound City in Los Angeles in the Nirvana/Fleetwood Mac room and overdubbed and mixed at Master Control. Good, open sounding record. We used over 20 amps on that album. Everyone played great. I remembe those sessions as sort of one long party as we'd practically lived at the studio- at least everyone other than the producer. Lots of friends of the band hung out after hours and there was always alot of beer around.

[Babaluma]

one of my best friends, jim, commited suicide the day after laying down his final guitar part at real world studios, about 4 years ago, for the first "hope of the states" album. he was only 21. it was very difficult for everyone concerned. we'd released the band's first piece on our hermetech label, and they had gone on to do truly great things. sad.

[calaverasgrandes]

yeah a good friend of mine and former bandmate, Stephan, hung himself a few years ago. Over some stupid girlfriend shit. His brother and another of our bandmates found him. I cant imagine how bad that must have been.
Still, I play back some of the rehearsals time to time. Its pretty heart wrenching because the recordings we do have are filled with arguments and petty snarky comments.
Fucking appreciate each other you assholes!

[Electro-Voice 664]

.....petty snarky comments.
Fucking appreciate each other you assholes!

Totally, maybe you should put the finger down and give this group a hug.

[Aj]

This is a poignant essay about Doug Hopkins, ex-Gin Blossoms songwriter who killed himself with a .38 several years ago. Very appropriate to this discussion, sort of tries to find some shred of reason in the unexplainable mess that is suicide. The story was published in a local Detroit paper, so most of you probably haven't seen it:

http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12123

A tough read, but very affecting. It was written by a former co-worker of mine, who knew Doug pretty well.

Aj

[xonlocust]

not from suicide - but i recorded my friend chris saathoff days before he was killed by a drunk driver

http://www.chrissaathofffoundation.org/

very difficult to mix in the aftermath. i wanted to make the most amazing mix i could possibly do to honor him. he wasn't just a ciient, but one of my friends and coworkers. fuck at that point i had no clients, they were all just my friends bands.

i heard it on random on my itunes the other day - made me wistful and sad but made me smile thinking of the good times he brought into my life, of that session - and that he gave me a chance to record his band when i didn't have much experience. i still think about that i know what he had for lunch on his last day on earth. pizza hut. motherfucker loved his pizza hut lunch specials god bless his soul.

great dude. RIP