Brian Childers, R.I.P.
Jesus, I’ve had two friends younger than me die in the past two months. I’m depressed about it, depressed about the loss of Brian and of Liza, and don’t really have the energy to write an obit for Brian that does him justice, but….
Brian Childers was a great guy. Met him in Charlottesville, Virginia 1984 when I started playing guitar in his band, The Beef People. We stayed in touch, and he later moved to New York and was in the popular hardcore band, Crawlpappy. At some point, Brian joined my band Bomb for one tour, singing some and playing bass some, to free me up to just sing.
Brian lived in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, which is literally the Last Exit To Brooklyn, and the setting of the novel and movie by the same name. Rough place. Last time I saw him (when Bomb played at CBGBs and was recording with Laswell at Greenpoint Brooklyn in 1990), we stayed at Brian’s house (directly across from the Red Hook Projects, the largest housing projects in the world, and a damn dangerous place to be). Brian showed me the spot three blocks from his home where some kid had shot him through the shoulder from a distance for target practice. He thought the kid was aiming for his head and missed. Brian was a tough motherfucker, and sweet as hell.
I am told Brian died of kidney failure.
Brian died last Saturday, November 17th, 2007, in Washington DC. I’ve confirmed this with two friends of his, including Rick from Crawlpappy.
Photo at top of Brian from six years ago sent to me by J Braltar. Thanks man! More photos of Brian are here.
(I have been trying to find Brian on the Internet for a few years, and don’t have a photo more recent than the one below, of me playing guitar and him singing, in the Beef People in 1985. If anyone has a more recent photo, please e-mail it to me and I’ll post it.)
November 21st, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Very sad news, indeed. I was just thinking about him the other day and also had done ‘net searches trying to find him. He was a great guy.
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:38 am
I remember him playing in Bomb… yes, sad news.
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:33 am
brian was an amazing guy… this is truly shocking and sad news.
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 am
wow…
Flood of 1980’s Virginia punk era memories:
shows, partys, bands, lovers, friends…
I’m glad that I was there and glad I made some friends…
… and glad I met you Brian …
sorry to hear about this
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:47 am
Brian lived in Cleveland in the late 90’s. He was working on a comedy claymation project about a struggling band that was being pitched to mtv, and taking classes to be a fireman. He was a good friend to me. He really believed in my music at the time and was instrumental in getting my band released and distributed in Europe. I seem to remember that he was living there for a time… Netherlands…? in the mid 90’s. I remember his 33rd birthday, a bunch of us went to some show, forget who…Euclid Tavern… he was particularly tweaked that eve… crazed and laughing…I remember him saying that “Jesus died when he was 33″… and he had a “33″ on his neck from what I remember… there was something with the number 33. He moved down to Athens, Ohio and I eventually lost track of him. I recently read somewhere that he was a volunteer in the Katrina hazmat clean-up in New Orleans. I then just found out this very sad news. I’ve got real good memories of Brian… really fun, smart, kind guy…
R.i.p.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Really sad news…I had the pleasure of meeting Brian on a couple of different occasions throughout the years when he was singing for Crawlpappy….damn nice guy….years ago here in Boston I wrote for a fanzine called Look Again and we had the great fortune of interviewing Brian and the rest of Crawlpappy after a show they played at Bunratty’s….excellent interview in which he had some great stories to tell…great band too……the guy was just super cool….he’ll be sorely missed.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Sad indeed - he’s one who will be missed. I knew Brian in NYC and had the distinct pleasure of touring w/ him in Europe & working w/ him on the claymation stuff, called Master Volume - The Rock Band! He was an original.
If you want to hear a small bit of his goofiness in the claymation stuff, there’s a short available at:
http://www.mastervolume.com/newfilm.html#
December 1st, 2007 at 7:58 pm
By the way, the “I’m happy all the time” and the “ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHH!” scream at the beginning of the Bomb song “Power of Suggestion” (AKA “Happy All the Time”) on the Warner Bros’ Bomb record (Hate Fed Love) is Brian.
MWD
December 4th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Brian’s family has an obit page and guestbook on the WashingtonPost.com site. There is also information regarding a memorial service on 12/9/2007 in DC:
http://tinyurl.com/2ecfkm
or
http://www.legacy.com/washingtonpost/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=98899083
I met and hung out with Brian in the mid 80s in Athens, Ohio. I visited him in lawless Red Hook, and we ran into each other here and there over the years. Last I saw him was in Athens, Ohio, a few years ago. Same old Brian with a voice that filled the room. I will deeply miss the guy.
“Sharpy” Steve Brannon
December 4th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Brian was a unique and singular personality - his generosity as big as his voice. It was because of Brian that I returned to NYC in 1989 to play in Crawlpappy - he put me up, supported me, and we became great friends. I was excited to hear from him after about 10 years, and we talked about getting together - that was 3 years ago, and I only wish I had had the time to make it happen. He will be missed, around the world.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Wow…
I hadn’t seen him in years Michael. But remember him well, especially the period of nuttiness after you brought him out here as yer slave… (uh, just kidding methinks).
Sorry to hear of this, the say death moves in 3’s, and Evel Knievel & Kevin DuBrow of Quite Riot left the building, I should have known another hardcore hero would go down. Brian never enetered my mind until I saw yer website… Sheeesh.
Saw a clean & sober Greg Dale last night ripping it up with Doug by his side on slide guitar, they covered Echo & Bunnymen “Killing Moon”.
anyhoo…i’m driving down towards La La Landia this weekend, if yer making it anywhere nears the “big town” Friday night gimme a buzz… I’ll be in some generic corporate type hotel downtown … but we usually leave after check out Sat morn and head back up to SF on the I-5 by afternoonish.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
All true dat, Li’l Mike.
I never go to the “big town” again. Come out to the sticks and see me!
December 5th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
DAMN SHAME!!
WE (BOMB)CALLED BRIAN “SHEEPY”
ONE SHOW WE PLAYED WITH HIM WE HAD A RAFEL FOR A BOMB TATOO. HE REALLY WANTED TO WIN IT BUT A BEAUTIFULL GIRL NAMED BERNADETTE WON IT INSTEAD. SHE GOT BOMB IN SUPER THICK LETTERS ON THE BACK OF HER NECK! SHEEPY WENT AHEAD AND ONE ANY WAY>>A HUGE BOMB TATOO ON HIS STOMACH …A BIG^ 6 INCHES WIDEROUND BOMB WITH A WICK JUST ABOVE HIS NAVEL. ALL IN BLACK! UNFORTUNATLY IT LOOKED ALSO LIKE A BIG BLACK CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT Wooo00OOOPS!
BRIAN WAS AN ANGEL, A SWEET FUN TRUCK OF A MAN WHO I CAN STILL HEAR LAUGHING HAPPILY ALL THE TIME. I AM GLAD TO HAVE RUCKUSED AND PILLAGED AND PLAYED AND SMOKED AND GROPED LIFE WITH HIM .
SHEE YA ON THE NEXT PLANE, SHEEPY!
LOVE,JAY
December 5th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Beautiful words Jay. I love you deeply still, brother.
———-
Hey….how come every time a friend dies, I start chain smoking tobacco again? Is it just dealing with the stress, or a twisted desire to get to see them again sooner?
———-
On the other topic, Bernadette later dated Dave Navarro.
Back when I was a lesser man, I used to get a kick out of the thought that Dave had to look at my band’s name every time he took her from behind.
—-
MWD
“Bomb is as beautiful as being black.”
December 5th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Whaddya mean “back when [you were] a lesser man”? That’s some funny shit about Dave Navarro! He did a fucking cover of Def Leppard’s “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” with Mariah Carey! Makes me ponder the people that had to look at my Bomb tattoo…
I think that tobacco/stress thing is pretty normal. It could be much worse. Sorry to hear about Brian, he was a pretty fun dude as I recall. I didn’t realize you hadn’t seen him at all since that time in NY (the only time I ever met him).
December 7th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Kurt Shute and I had a little wake for Brian on Thanksgiving and we talked and drank some beer and remembered….
and Michael, I don’t restart smoking, I just have a few too many beers…
And thanks for the obit link above…
-David
December 8th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Hey, I googled…”brian childers athens” when i found out about his death and primarily found this great little memorial. i think i can fill out a little chunk on the time line for ya. i was the nanny to his niece fionna and nephew, elliot. his sister jeni and her husband, al employeed me. that is how i met brian. he gave me one of his first tatoos. he worked for art apocolypse while i knew him. the shop was conveniently next to a bar, the union. that is where he could be found. he was always upbeat, and a genuinely nice person. ..actually his family was the same. real good people.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Brian was a cool dude at our boarding school The Blue Ridge School in Charlottesville where the Beef People started I am sad to hear of his passing and will his old Blue Ridge buddies know.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:12 am
What can I say. Brian was my best friend and the reason I moved to NYC from Ohio (to Red hook no less). We played in bands in Ohio. He moved to NYC and I followed a year later. He got me a job, helped me find a band and was my best friend and my protector. I lived with him and Barbara in Red Hook and we saw it all. It was as crazy as Michael describes..and then some. We drank, ate, smoked, and had guns pulled on us and then woke up every morning and did it again. It was one of the best periods of my life. We had no money and it didn’t matter. We had friendships, music and adventures ahead.
There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t tell someone one of the stories from the time we lived there together. People still think I’m making it up…but it’s all true. And it’s all true that Brian was one of the best, most honest, people I’ve ever known. We’ll miss him, but I wont forget all the great times and laughter…boy did we laugh…even in the midst of getting guns pulled on us by undercover cops that thought we had just stolen a car and were going to ditch it in our neighborhood. As we sat in the car with our arms in the air, the gun toting cops looked at Brian’s drivers license and luckily it had our address 139 Dwight Street…they just looked at us shaking their heads with amazement and said “What the hell are you two doing, living down here?”. We just laughed and kept laughing through it all. I’ll miss him dearly.
G
Someone mentioned Kurt Shute…if anyone can send me his email I would much appreciate it..I’ve been trying to find him.
Jay, what’s up…not sure you remember…but I have pictures of the time you hung with us in NYC…smoking cigars with our shaved heads…good times.
January 5th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
[...] free MP3s of Brian Childers‘ band, [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I am surprised to see no one has mentioned Brian’s time as vocalist for NYC based band SCHOOL OF VIOLENCE. This is how I met him, and his presence on stage and off is one of the reasons they became my all time favorite band,and I their unofficial Fifth Member. For years after they disbanded in 1990, I’d wanted to get in touch with S.O.V.’s members to stage a comeback. Now half the band is gone. Those were some good years…
I have a CD with demos (and one crappy bootleg) of Brian singing for SCHOOL OF VIOLENCE. How can I get it to you?
February 28th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
WOW, I’m shocked that he’s gone. He lived a full life. I thought he would live forever. My neighbor at Blue Ridge boarding school and the person who got me into punk music. He was always the same person. Always! no matter what…very cool. Never forget those dipping sessions we had during break from classes. He always had a dip of cope in his lip at school. Real cool cat! Im sorry i have not seen him in so long. It was my loss.RIP
March 14th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I will miss you brother. I haven’t seen you since school but have many fond memories of hanging out with you and the boys and getting into trouble from time to time. I have this sad smile smile on my face as I type this, I wish I could have seen you again and met your wife.
I hope you are in pain free world right now!
Regards
Carter Latham
March 24th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I met Brian a few times when he was singing in School of Violence in 1988, I was joining S.O.V. on Bass when he was just about ready to move on, so our time in the band together over lapped a bit I think….he always seemed like a really cool, easy going guy, …I think Michael Dean probably said it right “Brian was a tough motherfucker, and sweet as hell”. Maybe he’s workin’ on a band with Mark Evans (SOV drummer who passed) now… RIP
Scott Helland
March 31st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Went to Blue Ridge with Brian. I was a few years younger. Remember the Beef People. From what I remember Brian was a very nice guy. Sounds like he had a good run at it and spent his life doing what he love to do. RIP Brian. Michael Ferguson Blue Ridge class of 1986.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I feel blessed to have known brian in a way that very few do. I met brian down when we were volunteering for hurricane katrina. he was known as being incredibly intimidating, passionate, and getting the job done no matter what. all for the victims of katrina. he was really there for the right reasons and was a great leader. i believe he created the first ever disaster recovery hazardous materials team.
On one occasion that Brian wasn’t working, he went and stopped a local house fire in New Orleans. then he went back to work.
seriously this guy was no joke about helping those in need.
he was one of my closest friends down there and i think we held on to each other for dear life listening to punk, meditating, and partying so we could get through to the next day.
the man was pure love. i miss him so much it hurts. so glad to see how many others loved him as well.