MORE VIDEOS OF ONE OF BROOKLYN’S GREATEST DRUMMERS: JERRY FUCHS (1974-2009)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 4:00pm by Kip WingerschmidtI’m still shocked about the unbelievably terrible tragedy that occurred this past weekend — Georgia-born Brooklyn fixture, masterful metronomic drummer Jerry Fuchs (Maserati, Turing Machine, !!!, The Juan Mclean, and more) fell down an elevator shaft late Saturday night and died shortly thereafter.
My interactions with Jerry were minimal, but every time we spoke I felt an overwhelming sense of kindness that informed me right away how good a person I was talking to. Even the first time we briefly met, I found Jerry to be so affable that we ended up deeply laughing at something or another like we had been friends since the 2nd grade. These are the types of people that we should always hope to surround ourselves with, and obviously the incredible news of his untimely death seems just plain wrong.
Before I ever met the man, I was a HUGE fan from afar — the first time I ever saw the fiery robo-prog band Turing Machine, there was no question from the beginning moments of the first song that the drummer up there was something extra-special. He played with such intensity and restraint, and witnessing Jerry’s talents behind the kit often reminded me how strong a musician can be simply with extreme precision, power, and spirit. For anyone who has ever seen him play live, you know how quickly he could get a crowd dancing and furthermore, how hypnotic the most straightforward basic rock beat always became in his hands.
Not to mention his crispy technique — those one-handed filles were deliciously ridiculous.
I can’t help but feel like the world has been robbed of a magnificent talent that was sure to have grown and grown to neo-Bonham-like status. But I also feel honored to have heard the music and met the man for a few fleeting conversations — whether it was down at SXSW or running into him at the music store up here in Brooklyn, every single conversation and live set I was ever fortunate enough to experience left me feeling a little better.
It seems friends and fans will be gathering this Thursday night at Enid’s in Greenpoint, Brooklyn at 7pm for an impromptu gathering to memorialize this legendary talent.
Links and videos after the jump.
Go here for a collection of thoughts on Jerry from former bandmates and colleagues.
Go here for a well-written tribute from a close friend of Jerry’s.
Go here for my SSTGST on Turing Machine.
Go here for a collection of video-art pieces made by Jerry’s bandmate Scott DeSimon of Turing Machine to their music.
Visit Turing Machine on MySpace.
-KW
Wow, my colleague was just telling me a story about this guy not 15 min. ago. Apparently he was a acquaintance of hers. She told me that he was at a “loft party” and the elevator that he and a friend was on stalled. His friend was able to get the door open and jumped out to the floor (don’t know if above or below). When Jerry tried jumping, a piece of clothing got caught on something on the elevator and tragically, he didn’t make the jump. Fell 5 floors down the elevator shaft.
RIP and condolences to his family. I personally have no idea who he is, but it’s very sad nonetheless.
Yep, that’s what the story said yesterday.
Jerry will be missed for years to come. Although I never met him or had the priviledge of seeing hime live, his music will live on forever. He seemed liked a great guy who just loved to jam. So sad.
Thats a pretty fucken rock and roll way to go, or not? :/
Fred Durst outlives another one
The one handed fill he does in the second video is unreal. I’ve watched it about 15 times and I still have no idea what he is doing. Such a tragic accident.
Damn, that’s a pretty crappy way to die. Haven’t heard of any of the bands he was in other than !!!. And even though the drumming in !!! seems so simplistic, it’s that simple interlocking funk groove that helped makes them so good.
it’s all about the subtleties, you know? no disrespect to anyone who can play gravity rolls or 300 bpm double bass like a metronome, but i’ll take a drummer like jerry fuchs over one of those guys any day of the week.