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Luc Ferrari, 1929-2005

Le Monde has reported that experimental composer Luc Ferrari died of pneumonia on Monday evening, August 22 while on vacation in Arezzo, Italy.  Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound once said in an interview, "my true love is the Italian born Luc Ferrari of whom United Dairies would give their testicles to issue some of his material here in England." He was 76. 
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Richard Zvonar: 1946 - 2005

Richard Zvonar, the composer and innovator of electronic music, died this August 3, 2005. Richard worked with me on Wild Women with Steakknives, Eyes Without Blood, Tragouthia apo to to Aima Exoun Fonos, and Panoptikon, which we were planning on
redoing this year.
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Bob Moog, 1934-2005

As posted on Moogmusic.com, Bob Moog died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Asheville, NC after a short battle with brain cancer. A public Memorial Celebration is planned for The Orange Peel for noon, Wednesday, August 24th. Fans and friends can also direct their sympathies or remembrances to Caring Bridge.
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John Loder, dead at 59

The Crass producer and Southern Records and distribution owner died on August 12th at 59 after an 18 month battle with a brain tumor. The Guardian published an obituary on Friday, August 19th.  A blog can be found at johnloder.blogspot.com.
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Michael Dahlquist of Silkworm

We are sad to report the untimely passing of Michael Dahlquist, the drummer for Silkworm. Although Silkworm aren't a band who's hosted on Brainwashed, the members are dear friends of the Kadane brothers from Bedhead and The New Year. Michael died in a car accident in Chicago along with two other musicians, John Glick and Douglas Meis. Our thoughts go out to the victims' friends and family. For more information, see this story on the Seattle Post-Ingelligencer.
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Bob Moog

Some may or may not know that one of the most important inventor/technicians of electronic music, Bob Moog, is battling brain cancer. Please visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bobmoog and send him your best wishes.
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john peel, dead at 65

We regretfully announce the passing of an international legend, John Peel. John Peel could easily be the last employed authentic radio DJ. He was instrumental in breaking new bands constantly and always had fresh groups perform live on the radio for his Peel Sessions. Although his radio broadcasts aired on the BBC in the UK, his name was well known for the Peel sessions, of which, thousands upon thousands were produced and hundreds have been released over the years. Peel died of a heart attack while on a working holiday in Cuzco with his wife, Sheila. John Peel will sorely be missed and our thoughts go out to his friends and family.
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John McGeoch remembered

John McGeoch, inventive and influential guitarist for post-punk luminaries Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Limited, passed away in his sleep on March 5th aged 48. Having met Howard Devoto in 1977 as he was departing the Buzzcocks, McGeoch became a founding member of Magazine and many memorable riffs are featured on their first three albums Real Life, Secondhand Daylight and The Correct Use of Soap. By 1980 he was moonlighting with Visage and Siouxsie and the Banshees and went on to largely affect three of the latter's most lauded albums, Kaleidoscope, Juju and Kiss In The Dream House. In late 1982 McGeoch suffered a breakdown and was subsequently hospitalized and replaced in the Banshees by The Cure's Robert Smith. In the mid-80s he formed The Armoury Show with ex-members of The Skids, appeared on two solo debuts (Peter Murphy's Should The World Fail To Fall Apart and Matthew Sweet's Inside) and, finally, joined Public Image Limited. He became their longest serving member barring John Lydon and helped to re-invent Pil into a "rock" band with Happy?, 9 and That What Is Not. By 1993 Pil dissipated and McGeoch returned to England from Los Angeles where he continued making music in various low key or unfinished projects. In 1995 he became a qualified nurse but chose not to follow the profession and lately had been writing music for television. John McGeoch is survived by partner Sophie and daughter Emily.

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JOHNNY CASH, 1932-2003

In case you've been living under a rock for the last week, the world is mourning the loss of a legend, as Johnny Cash died early Friday morning, September 12th of complications from diabetes. Johnny Cash was the Man in Black long before there were dance clubs with weekly nights named after Joy Division songs. Cash always spoke his mind, often resulting in his songs being banned from radio stations, but survived and managed to have a successful music career, his own television show, and undying love and respect from fans and industry worldwide. His legacy will live on.
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Warren Zevon loses his life to cancer

Singer/songwriter Warren Zevon died on Sunday after a battle with lung cancer. Zevon's first album surfaced in 1969 but it wasn't until his hit, "Werewolves of London," from 1978's Excitable Boy that he gained a considerable amount of attention. Although Zevon never had any hit singles as memorable as that, he made and worked with a number of friends throughout the music industry, including George Clinton, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Garcia, and members of REM, Fleetwood Mac, David Letterman's Late Show band, and the Eagles. Zevon learned of his cancer in September of 2002 and was given two months to live. He set out to make his final record, which was finally released in August of this year. He was 56.
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edwin k. starr

The singer known best for his anti-war single (and quite arguably the most well-known anti-war hit song) "War," died on Thursday, April 3rd from a heart attack. Starr, 61, was born in Nashville, Tenn. as Charles Hatcher and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. While "War" was originally a Temptations song, it was considered too controversial for the group and was released as a single for Edwin K. Starr in 1970. He passed away in his home outside of Nottingham, England. For more information, see www.edwinstarr.info.
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joe strummer dies at 50

Joe Strummer, most famous for his work as the Clash guitarist and singer, passed away on Sunday. Strummer, who's birth name was Mellor, was born in Turkey and was the son of a British diplomat. In addition to playing with The Clash, Strummer had a solo career along with a short run in The Pogues. He was touring with his newest band, the Mescaleros as recently as November. He leaves behind a wife and children. More information about Joe can be found at www.strummersite.com.
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Mary Hansen, 1966-2002

The staff and contributors of Brainwashed are saddened by the loss of Stereolab guitarist/backup singer Mary Hansen. Mary died on Tuesday, December 10th in a bicycling accident in London. She will be missed.
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FRANK TOVEY (FAD GADGET)

I was excited when Frank Tovey's booking agency emailed me asking about suggestions or recommendations for concerts in North America. I had been a fan of Fad Gadget for nearly 20 years and have never even dreamed of seeing him live. The best thing I could think of was to contact people who owe their entire careers to this man. So I dropped emails to the bands (and booking agent of) The Faint, Adult and I am Spoonbender, but sadly got no response.

Tovey could very well possibly be one of the most important pioneers in post-punk electronic synth music. While he may have not sold as many units as label mates Depeche Mode or contemporaries like Human League or OMD who had to change their sound to top charts, he was demonstrating that synth music didn't always have to be happy pop anthems and love songs. Unlike Gary Numan or Kraftwerk, he didn't paranoiacally or idealistically fanticize a future world ruled by robots and computers, which has completely worked to his advantage, giving his songs an amazing timeless feel. While his tunes were undoubtedly catchy, futuristic pop anthems with sinister lyrics, his live performances were raw and vicious, often ending with large amounts of blood loss and paramedic assistance.

In a time where Fischerspooner can sign a ?2M recording deal, Tovey was poised for a strong comeback—he had been recording new material and played a number of shows in the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, the exponentially growing scene of these modern groups may never truly understand how much they really owe to Tovey. There's a nice picture accompanying a short obituary at mute.com as well as some recent live pictures at the French web site, fadgadget.free.fr. He will be missed. -
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John Watermann, 1935 - 2002

It's with great sadness that we have to announce the death of John Watermann. He died at 5:50pm, Tuesday, April 2nd, Ward 4B Royal Brisbane Hospital in Australia. He died from infection associated with myeloma. John Watermann was one of the truely underground sound and visual artists. In the late eighties his name surfaced out of knowhere, when a double CD was released by Walter Ulbricht in Germany. Starting out in Berlin, Germany, where he was born, as a filmmaker and photographer, he found out that he needed soundtracks for his films. He started composing music in the mid sixties and moved to Australia in the early seventies. Although he was collecting sound equipment, his first releases do not surface until the late 80s. In the nineties his music was released on CD's by ND, Dark Vinyl, Walter Ulbricht and Raum 312. He also recorded a collaborative work with Merzbow. One of his last big projects was a CDRom "A Rose Is A Rose", which he released himself and has his visual work and music.

Much of his work incorporated field recordings, which were heavily treated by electronics, resulting in highly rhythmic music, through the extensive use of cut ups. Although in the later part of the nineties he was less actively involved in producing music (mainly due to his illness), his output will not be forgotten.

Mid-2000 he wrote me that he was terminally ill, but that he would love to do a sound project with me in the remaining time. We exchanged environmental recordings and exchanged e-mails over the practical nature of composing our works. Only a few weeks ago, he wrote me that he was still working on it, despite all the treatments he was getting. In exchanging these e-mails he came forward as a very practical person, with clear ideas as to what he wanted. I will continue to work my part of this work in order to keep his memory alive.
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Juan Garcia Esquivel, Dead at 83

The composer, band leader, space-age popster, lounge godfather, and the most swingin'est fella died on January 3rd at his home in Mexico.
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George Harrison

George was not only the youngest Beatle (joining at the age of 16), but he was arguably the most musically adventurous. Contractually granted only one song per side of every album, George's Beatles output may have been limited to the most pop-friendly tunes, but more experimental and electronic tunes managed to find their way out, surfacing through obscure releases here and there. Harrison lived a full life and left behind a legacy of amazing songs. He will be missed.
Thank you Christmas message from George and John
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Michael Karoli, 1948-2001

Can's guitarist, Michael Karoli, died early Saturday morning unexpectedly at the age of 53. Karoli and Holger Czukay met in 1966, two years before they formed Can (Czukay was a music teacher and Karoli was a student in his class). Despite numerous lineup changes, the two worked together throughout Can's lifespan and remained in contact through the end. Can's influence can be observed on more bands than can be named. Karoli will be missed. More information can be found at Holger's website's news section at www.czukay.de/news.
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Rob Mitchell, (Warp Records founder), dies of cancer

We are sad to report that Rob Mitchell, who founded Warp Records back in 1989 lost his battle with cancer on Monday morning, October 8th. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family, friends and all at Warp.
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Carl Crack: 1971-2001

We are sad to report that Carl Crack, best known as MC and frontperson for Atari Teenage Riot died on September 6th, after years of struggling with psychiatric problems. In reaction, Alec Empire has said, "People like us can?t even imagine how hard it must have been for him to deal with those (psychotic) attacks, to record and perform, and on top of that to take care of his personal life and relationships. I just wish we had talked in person one more time, even though we cleared things in the letters. I will miss him. Carl, we'll never forget you."
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