The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (209 page)

The fact that shortlived Seattle post-grunge supergroup Mad Season was conceived in a rehab facility won’t come as much of a shock to anyone who recalls the group, its members and their one 1995 album,
Above.
Bassist Saunders had rallied Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, who in turn called upon Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin for the project. US radio picked up on the remarkably commercial-sounding ‘River Of Deceit’, but Staley’s disappearance brought the band to an abrupt halt. Saunders had had a murky past with blues bands in Minneapolis, and also toured briefly with Seattle mainstays The Walkabouts. The bass-player was found dead in his Seattle apartment from an apparent heroin overdose, having battled addiction to the drug for some time.

See also
Layne Staley (
April 2002)

Sunday 31

José Ángel ‘Pepe’ Farias

(Monterrey, Mexico, 1975)

Silvestre Rodríguez Jr

(McAllen, Texas, 1971)

Intocable

The last day of January 1999 saw Tejano’s fastest-rising unit lying shattered on a highway, having been on their way to a concert in Monterrey.

The sprawling Intocable – José Ángel ‘Pepe’ Farias (MC/percussion), Silvestre Rodríguez (bass/vocals), Ricardo Muñoz Solis (lead vocals/accordion), René Martinez Santos (drums), Sergio Serna (various percussion) and Daniel Sánchez (guitar) – integrated contemporary styles to win over a new generation of fans to the splinter genre of Norteño, a traditional North Mexican folk style. In just five years, the group, whose name means ‘Untouchable’, seemed just that, accruing four gold albums (starting with 1994’s
Fuego Eterna)
and in 1998 playing to 65,000 at Houston’s Astrodome. Then just months later, it all seemed to be over: Intocable’s speeding station wagon blew a tyre and skidded off the highway near Reynosa at around 11 am. While each member of the act suffered injuries of varying degrees, Farias and Rodríguez were confirmed deceased at the scene. The band’s newly appointed manager, José Ángel González, died on his way to hospital. Although the tragedy didn’t shake the Tejano world in quite the same way as the death of Selena (
March 1995),
it came as a huge shock to the many fans who gathered at the scene within hours to pay their respects. But who says adversity shouldn’t make you stronger? With new MC Juan Hernandez and replacement bassist Felix Salinas, the seemingly unflappable Intocable survivors reemerged with their biggest-selling album yet,
Contigo,
just months after the accident.

Intocable suffered further tragedy in May 2010, when five audience members died during a stampede during their concert in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

FEBRUARY

Tuesday 2

David McComb

(Perth, Australia, 17 February 1962)

The Triffids

(The Blackeyed Susans)

(Co-star)

Echoing the sparse terrain of their homeland, the music of Western Australia’s Triffids offered vast open spaces and often quite beautiful detail. A fan of The Velvet Underground and Leonard Cohen, musician and vocalist David McComb relocated to Sydney after graduating from university to realize his vision during the eighties. He’d originally recruited his talented multi-instrumentalist brother Robert while the siblings were still at school – the band, then known as Dalsy, inspired by drummer/vocalist Alsy McDonald. Completed by bassist Martin Casey and (eventually) Jill Birt on keyboards, The Triffids drew attention with the impressive debut album
Treeless Plain
(1983) – but it was a move to London and the splendid third record,
Born Sandy Devotional
(1986), that cemented their reputation. The languid but compelling mood continued with
Calenture
(1987), though the lack of a commercial breach saw the band’s magnum opus ‘Bury Me Deep in Love’ later licensed to Aus-soap
Neighbours
(perhaps the only black mark against McComb in his entire career, though one can see why he allowed it). After the dissolution of this perennially underrated band at the back end of 1989, McComb embarked on a variety of ventures, including his acclaimed solo album,
Love Of Will
(1994), which stood up to most of The Triffids’ output, as well as the lower-key bands The Blackeyed Susans and Co-Star, a band he formed after re-enrolling at college.

Gwen Guthrie: ‘Rent’ asunder

On 30 January 1999, McComb was involved in a traffic accident and had to spend a night in St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, after which he was released, believed to be OK. In a sad twist, reminiscent of the death of Stiv Bator
(
June 1990),
David McComb died suddenly three days afterwards. It transpired, however, that McComb had suffered for many years from a heart condition – undergoing a transplant in 1995 – but was still experimenting occasionally with drugs. While a combination of these factors would seem to have been responsible for his passing, a verdict of heroin toxicity is now the generally accepted reason.

Wednesday 3

Gwen Guthrie

(Gwendolyn Guthrie - Okemah, Oklahoma, 14 July 1950)

(The Ebonettes)

(The East Coast Band)

Best remembered for her hypnotic UK Top Five hit ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ on But the Rent’ (1986), sultry-voiced New Jersey resident Gwen Guthrie was a well-respected singer for many years before and after this moment of fame. Guthrie began singing with a pair of groups, The Ebonettes and The East Coast Band (later The New York City Players, boasting future Cameo star Larry Blackmon among their ranks), at other times singing jingles for television commercials and also co-writing songs with Patrick Grant for the likes of Sister Sledge and UK singer Linda Lewis. She crashed the US music scene on a bigger scale during the early seventies as support vocalist to Billy Preston and Steely Dan, and in 1974 toured with her friend Aretha Franklin. With help from reggae luminaries Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Guthrie launched her own recording career, culminating in her huge 1986 success– she would not enjoy another hit of the calibre of ‘Rent’.

A tireless campaigner for AIDS and other charities, Gwen Guthrie– whose husband had also died prematurely – lost her own battle with uterine cancer in hospital in Orange, New Jersey.