Mamaleek’s Eric Livingston Dead at 38
The surviving members of experimental black metal band Mamaleek have confirmed that member Eric Livingston died at the age of 38. He joined Mamaleek in 2015, playing drums on the album Via Dolorosa and officially signing on in 2019. He also played on 2020’s Come & See and 2022’s Diner Coffee. Livingston also created artwork for bands like Mr. Bungle and Dead Cross, as well as art for Mamaleek.
The future of Mamaleek is still unclear but the band has confirmed memorial performances at Roadburn and Oblivion Access. MetalSucks sends our condolences to Livingston’s family and friends. You can read the band’s official statement below.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts to report the death of one of our members. Eric Alan Livingston was a close friend to each of us, long before he joined Mamaleek. He was my best mate in middle and high school, which we endured together through the shared love of music. He showed me Devo, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Naked City, King Crimson, and Kraftwerk for the first time, and I was forever changed by its power.
“Eric had a lot of power that flared within him, which he was able to channel in any medium, whether skateboarding (nollie flips on lock!), art, design, performance, stage production, fashion, activism, comedy…you name it. He dripped personality, as anyone who met him would know immediately. He looked out for us and was extraordinarily generous with his time. We would walk for hours in the evenings and pour our guts out, laughing all the while. It was better than any therapy I ever experienced, and I never wanted those nights to end. I still can’t believe that we took our last walk together, an excruciating reality to bear.
“In Mamaleek, Eric played keyboards, saxophone, violin, bells/percussion—anything that he could get his hands on, really. His intuition and free-form style elevated our sound and created an unbridled dynamism that would be hard to behold anywhere else. Eric also designed the celebrated artwork for Diner Coffee. This was a boon to the record, animating it in a visual mode that we previously thought impossible.
“For those of you who appreciated Eric’s unique voice, amplified in his extraordinary art and ferocious playing, Eric felt that, and it meant the world to him and to us. Our upcoming performances at Roadburn and Oblivion Access will be in homage to the life and memory of our dear brother and fellow musician, in that order. In the meantime, we encourage you to love and support one another in as many ways as humanly possible.
“Rest in power, Eric.
-B, J, G, T”
