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.
Noise rock legends Mclusky always put humor in the forefront, but that never stopped them from creating some wickedly grating punky rock tunes (and a couple softies to boot). 
In 1994 Ved Buens Ende released their demo For Those Who Caress the Pale and from then on everything, well, everything pretty much stayed the same as if it had never been released. Mayhem’s De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse were released the same year, and I can only imagine that the whole underground metal scene worldwide was too busy trying to pick its collective jaw off the floor to notice a lo-fi demo from a band with a funny foreign name. The next year, VBE recorded their full-length Written in Waters and broke up without much notice in 1997. The band reformed briefly in 2006 but broke up again in early 2007 without having fulfilled any of their promises of live performances or new material, leaving Written in Waters as their first and final album.
Methinx even Mortiis itself would likely crack a lil smile at some point during this tune…any of your hearts too dark for a bit o’sunshine?
Raw
VAST was a pretty big deal for a minute in the late ’90s in the wake of the heavy industrial rock boom. Nine Inch Nails’ bursting popularity in the middle of the decade ushered in a record label feasting-fest on a hundred Sister Machine Guns, Gravity Killses, and Filters. VAST, aka 13-year old Jon Crosby, was the beneficiary of a nice-little major label bidding war after building a name for himself with his guitar chops and home-recorded demos which received some local radio airplay. A band was hastily assembled around Crosby after he decided to sign with Elektra, and his debut album Visual Audio Sensory Theater came out in 1998.
This is a merging of two of old indie’s greats: dance-punk electro-rock originators (at least in its second coming) Trans Am, and defiantly bass-player-less twin lead mega-metal guitar heroes Fucking Champs. Taken as a supremely rocking experimental mixture of rock/metal subgenres in a rather classically rocked-out manner, the record is a pure success.
Like most guys, I will never forget the girl who popped my cherry. Her name was Georgia, and she was a couple of years older than me. One day she approached me and my friend Jonathan in the school gym.
For the next five days, leading up the release of Marilyn Manson’s new album, Eat Me, Drink Me, on June 5, we’ll be looking back at Manson’s catalogue (LPs only – no EPs, live albums, or remix collections), closely examining the work of one of metal’s most important figures. We’ll conclude with our official review of Eat Me, Drink Me, but today, we continue with Manson’s fifth album, The Golden Age of Grotesque.
For the next five days, leading up the release of Marilyn Manson’s new album, Eat Me, Drink Me, on June 5, we’ll be looking back at Manson’s catalogue (LPs only – no EPs, live albums, or remix collections), closely examining the work of one of metal’s most important figures. We’ll conclude with our official review of Eat Me, Drink Me, but today, we continue with Manson’s fourth album, Holy Wood. 
