Gone but not forgotten: Mike Browning

Another legend left us - Mike Browning. Together with Trey Azagthoth, they formed Morbid Angel but he left the band due to personal friction with Trey. Subsequent indulgences, Nocturnus / Nocturnus AD, still shocased his drumming prowess. These bands also feature very capable guitarists so they were a hit with me.

Pic: JRmetalzone

Ho!

A quick tribute to Chris Ho, perhaps the only local radio DJ to have embraced extremity till the end. Early this morning he succumbed to stomach cancer. I remember him for his very outward & non-conformist embrace of music & read about him in Big O magazine all the time. For him to go this far in his treatment, from one cancer patient to another, I must say it had been a good fight. RIP.

Pic: Gold 905

RIP: Lars Goran Petrov

Read about the sad passing of Lars Goran Petrov (Entombed) yesterday. He was battling cancer. Cancer is a critical illness & its turn for the worse, despite intense medication, is real. From one cancer patient to another - it's been a good fight, my good man. Rest well.

Pic: Loudwire

Thank you & RIP: Yustech GT

Received news last Monday that fellow blogger & tech, bro Yusri Yusof (aka Yustech GT), has passed away. We met up once in 2019 at JB to hand over some repair related items. Bro Yusri was a mild-mannered individual & very into electronic repairs. Prayers & thoughts are with his family. 

Pic: Khalid Fadil FB

RIP: Alexi Laiho

Just in - Alexi Laiho passed away, no cause of death announced yet. I look up to him as one of those who dares to stick to only one pickup in a guitar. 

I think you know what will happen to his signature models. If you own one, good for you.

PICS: Globalnews/ ESP

RIP: Reed Mullins

This was a little difficult for me to accept but Reed Mullins (Corrosion of Conformity) passed away just days ago. He's one of my favourite drummer despite me playing guitars & not knowing how to drum for nuts. However, I'm intrigued to play after hearing inspirational drumming more than some shred-worthy guitar passages. The thing about Mr. Mullins here is that he's able to pull things off with just a single bass drum & not sounding less heavy than his peers. 

Here's Mine are the Eyes of God as the perfect example of his drumming prowess - still my firm favourite after all these years. I saved up $18 just to but the cassette version of this album way back boy bands were starting to make headlines in the music world.

RIP: Neil Peart

This was yesterday's sad news; the passing of RUSH drummer, Neil Peart. Preliminary reports cited brain cancer. We reserve comments till further disclosure. He is indeed one of the best in this genre & noted for his song lyrics in addition to his helm at the drum stool. 

This is still my favourite RUSH track from their Counterparts album, Stick It Out. One of the reasons I like it is because it's one of those heavy numbers by the band with prog elements in tact; they don't do too many of such stuff.

RIP: Richard Brunelle

Late news; Richard Brunelle just passed away late September. Part of the low key announcement was family members keeping it a hushed affair & we respect that. Growing up listening to Morbid Angel (when cassette tapes were it), Brunelle highlighted the fact that guitarists in the death metal genre were legit players; the ability to play is real. All this in the midst of music media trashing the genre for the musicianship & the vocal delivery especially. Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness merited a Top 10 metal album of the year under Guitar World magazine's annual ranking exercise that year & Blessed Are the Sick moved the band on steadily thereafter. To a great loss in talent - Rest in Peace, Richard Gene Brunelle.

Surf's Out

The King of Surf guitar had left us on 16th March 2019. RIP, Dick Dale.

PIC: COS

RIP: Jim Dunlop

RIP: Jim Dunlop. Playing only Dunlop picks this weekend. 😔

RIP: Pat Torpey

Planet rock mourns the loss of Mr. Big's one & only ace drummer, Pat Torpey (13/12/1953 - 7/2/2018)

RIP: Martin Ain

RIP: Martin Ain (1967 - 2017), bassist of Celtic Frost. The metal camp knows the role of CF in metaldom. Enough said.

RIP: Bill Collings

A little late but better than never. A sad day in the acoustic universe as Bill Collings passed away on 15th July 2017. We have big name acoustics here in the stores but we don't see Collings largely due to its boutique price tag but we know Bill made some of the best out there. RIP, Bill Collings (August 9, 1948 - July 14, 2017)

RIP: Chris Cornell

Yesterday- the demise of Chris Cornell (1967 - 2017). I first heard him in Sound Garden's Badmotorfinger (on cassette tape). That era when guitar's secondary, everything else on slack mode was hype. But Badmotorfinger was alright, Kim Thayil's good & Cornell sang like no other. 

Everyone out there has a Cornell song to call their own, I have one but it's not a landmark tune per se, just something different he did while still having Sound Garden going. As above. RIP: Chris Cornell.

LATEST: Cornell's death verdict- suicide by hanging (Wayne County MEO).

RIP: Allan Holdsworth

Sad passing of the master, nothing pressing to say right now, just this announcement. More in time to come.

RIP: ALLAN HOLDSWORTH (6 AUGUST 1946 - 15 APRIL 2017)

RIP: Granny

During my bachelor days, I lived in limited confinements with my mother & grandmother. These are the very people who tolerated my guitar shenanigans, surprisingly, without complaints. They were pretty much happy to see me rooted at home instead of keeping bad company elsewhere. 

My granny, despite here age, tolerated my guitar nonsense very well. She would while her time away with bite-sized sewing when I was playing guitar. Some other grannies might tell such individuals off for want of peaceful resting moments but not my granny.

Last Thursday, my granny answered the Lord's calling. She was 94. It's times like these we remember the moments we had with our elders. In time to come, we would become grandparents ourselves &  would wonder if the subsequent generations treasure our moments with them. I am grateful that there were no pertinent conflicts between my granny & me. We shared good memories together especially so when she resided with me in her latter years.

We might find our elders annoying & out of touch with the current hype. We see them as irrelevant as time goes by. It seems that time displaces relationships & makes some of us obsolete. But time also teaches us the meaning of loss & the need to hold onto the current moments dearly. RIP, granny.

Rick Parfitt (RIP)

Sad to read the passing of Status Quo's Rick Parfitt on a festive morning. I remember him for his pride of not knowing too many chords- or so he said 👍

Fender ever did a limited run of his Tele which featured that bridge eccentricity; partial ash tray + Gibson-esque hard tail + string through body... wicked!

They are well know for this song which I recall watching on TV. Back then when I was younger, the remote control for channel switching was a status symbol more than anything else. Enjoy.

RIP: Victor Bailey

Sad passing of Victor Bailey, one of the bass greats out there. RIP (March 27, 1960 – November 11, 2016)

Thank you & goodbye

PIC: CNA

Exactly this time last night, former President of Singapore, SR Nathan, passed away.

I used to frequent the East Coast beach when I was younger (OK, not that young, it was a post-NS blues period), cycling from one end of the stretch to the other, watching the sun set at times. Mr. Nathan loved to jog there & he was often seen with his bodyguards who kept a distance but within proximity to exercise  contingencies, of course. I cycled past him once, I waved at him & he returned the wave. I didn't even call out to him, just a simple gesture & he reciprocated it. I remember Mr. Nathan for this brief encounter, it is forever etched in my mind. Clearly, there was no ego getting in the way, someone waved to him & he returned the wave. He was not obliged to do so, especially to complete strangers but he did it anyway; a great down-to-earth attitude we could all learn from. For that, he earned my respect.

RIP, sir. Thank you for all you've done for the people.

RIP: Justin Lowe

On a sad note, Justin Lowe, guitarist of After the Burial, was found dead under the Wisconsin Bridge by a hiker. I wouldn't want to speculate on his cause of death but he was under tremendous mental stress prior to being missing & reported to the authorities by his sister. 

Let's take time to reflect if we truly care for our fellow human beings, regardless of the relationship we have with them. The human emotion is very fragile, sometimes, the slightest of afterthoughts is a life-saving move. If you sense a disturbance of any degree amongst your loved ones, a simple listening ear might be it.

RIP.