Lost a friend...
Well, it's not an easy post to make, this. But I'm afraid the rumour mill is right for once.
An old friend of mine, Brian 'IAmNotAUserName' Shields, known on here as spasmaton took his own life some time on Sunday morning. I don't have any further details, and here's not the place for them anyway. To the best of my knowledge the important people, his family and girlfriend have been informed.
I knew Brian for the last eight or nine years, originally as part of the old Rock City, and later Sell-Out forum crew. Brian was a clubbing stalwart, first in and last out, and longest on the dancefloor. He had a habit of turning up in the most unusual places as well. Obscure gig in the back end of beyond? Yeah, there was Brian, down the front. Brian shared some good festival times with us, wandering off to find people awake when all around him were turning in. And there were some crazy clubbing missions, including the infamous 'Three All Nighters, Three Cities' some five years back. Six on a February Sunday morning, on a cold metal bench in Manchester Picadilly? There he was again. Walking into a lamp post after Nightmare? Yeah that was a good one. Throwing up in a stranger's alleyway after a night in Leicester? Well why not. Convincing the editor of Mixmag to do a feature on us entitled 'rock vs. rave', well, see for yourself...
Brian also deserves thanks for being the man to send me the first Atmosphere tracks I ever heard, 'The Bass & The Movement', 'Cats Van Bags' and of course 'Trying to Find a Balance'. It was through that I started listening to hip hop. Brother Ali, El-P, Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, P.O.S. all came from that. Also my love of the Twin Cities music scene, Lifter Puller, Brokerdealer, the Replacements, Dillinger Four and The Hold Steady, they all came, one way or another, from those first tracks. In fact the last time I saw Brian was when he came to see Atmosphere and crashed over at ours after, drinking whiskey until the small hours.
And outside the club is where we spill our drinks in memory of
all those guys that didn't make it till the dawn"
RIP, Brian.
An old friend of mine, Brian 'IAmNotAUserName' Shields, known on here as spasmaton took his own life some time on Sunday morning. I don't have any further details, and here's not the place for them anyway. To the best of my knowledge the important people, his family and girlfriend have been informed.
I knew Brian for the last eight or nine years, originally as part of the old Rock City, and later Sell-Out forum crew. Brian was a clubbing stalwart, first in and last out, and longest on the dancefloor. He had a habit of turning up in the most unusual places as well. Obscure gig in the back end of beyond? Yeah, there was Brian, down the front. Brian shared some good festival times with us, wandering off to find people awake when all around him were turning in. And there were some crazy clubbing missions, including the infamous 'Three All Nighters, Three Cities' some five years back. Six on a February Sunday morning, on a cold metal bench in Manchester Picadilly? There he was again. Walking into a lamp post after Nightmare? Yeah that was a good one. Throwing up in a stranger's alleyway after a night in Leicester? Well why not. Convincing the editor of Mixmag to do a feature on us entitled 'rock vs. rave', well, see for yourself...
Brian also deserves thanks for being the man to send me the first Atmosphere tracks I ever heard, 'The Bass & The Movement', 'Cats Van Bags' and of course 'Trying to Find a Balance'. It was through that I started listening to hip hop. Brother Ali, El-P, Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, P.O.S. all came from that. Also my love of the Twin Cities music scene, Lifter Puller, Brokerdealer, the Replacements, Dillinger Four and The Hold Steady, they all came, one way or another, from those first tracks. In fact the last time I saw Brian was when he came to see Atmosphere and crashed over at ours after, drinking whiskey until the small hours.
And outside the club is where we spill our drinks in memory of
all those guys that didn't make it till the dawn"
RIP, Brian.