Remembering Mitch Lucker Of Suicide Silence

REMEMBERING MITCH LUCKER OF SUICIDE SILENCE

First of all, I'm going to be blunt. I hate Suicide Silence. I've always hated the band and never could find myself getting into their music. But I've recognized their following and applaud them for it. However, Mitch as many of you already know; was in a motorcycle accident that took his life the very next morning in the hospital. He was only 28 years old. As I looked at his picture in Revolver, I saw what to me looked like a young man who had been taken in his prime. He was still doing what he loved in life and had just got done talking with one of the men who invented the genre of Nu-Metal, Jonathan Davis. It's no secret that he was famous, well known and well respected. I remember reading in an interview that Mitch admitted to having some psychological disorders, (quite like myself, as I have a slight touch of Aspergers) and I could certainly relate to how he was feeling at times. I know what that's like sometimes, when your head is all over the fucking place. When you've got all this anger and frustration - but he channeled it through his music, just as I do with my projects.

But what hit me hardest was that I was looking at a man who wasn't but a year older than myself. Yes, I'm 27 years old and hopefully will reach 28 in July - but the fact that you can be ejected from life so quickly and without a moment's notice, is pretty damned frightening to say the least. This could've been anyone. It wasn't some drug or alcohol related death, it was a simple accident. Any of us could have one of those tomorrow. Granted motorcycles aren't that safe, but motor vehicles aren't necessarily beacons of protection either.

But what I'm trying to get at is a message that's old, simple, and extremely blunt: Don't take for granted the time that you have here on this planet. Because you never know when your number is up. Mitch had no idea that when he hopped on his motorcycle, that that was going to be the last ride he was ever going to take - and in this world of hustle and bustle, where all we're concerned about is tweeting, sending pictures on Instagram and sharing statuses on Facebook; we need to be mindful (there's a good word for you - stick that one in your pocket) of the limited amount of time that we have. Whether or not the world ends on December 21st, 2012 or December 21st, 3057 is irrelevant. While speaking to an older gentlemen, he told me simply that "Eventually the world will end. For you. When your number is up, your world has ended." And it's very true. These wonderful atmospheres that we create in our heads, these unique worldviews that we have, (no one is like the other) they will all cease to be. Mitch's outlook on life is certainly gone, that's a fact.

But this isn't an attempt at fear-mongering, or an attempt to scare you with the unknown world beyond; it's the sheer fact that we need to accept that we can (and will) be ejected from this life in a flash. With every breath that you take - no matter what emotion you're comprised in at the time, be thankful that you have that breath and thankful for another. We are weak, fragile and the complete opposite of durable. As Sentenced said, "We weren't made to last."

I'm sure that this isn't the end for the band, just as Slipknot said that they will continue on without Jim Root; and they'll probably continue to make extravagant noise that I can't stand nor make heads or tails of; but Mitch's legacy will always live on through that music. People will listen to him and once again feel as if they knew him. This is the same way with me and Woods Of Ypres frontman David Gold when he died, also in an accident. I wear songs like "The Mirror Reflection And The Hammer Reinvention" like badges, and I got very emotional when I heard the news. Then there was Type O Negative frontman, Pete Steele, who will NEVER be replaced, no matter how many bands have tried to copy his style in the years since his passing. And Dio... well, let's not even get into that. All that I can say is that I remember reading an interview with his wife and how she talked about how brave he was, losing the battle to cancer - that rancid horrible thing that takes too many good lives - and I damn near started to cry right there on the pages.

But their music, ladies and gentlemen - their music will always remain. Anytime you want to hear their voices again, just play an album - maybe just in your headphones so that only you can hear it - and feel that record of life that they've left within that piece of music. But that is what the very core of music is, isn't it? It's life. When you watch a film of the band playing, or perhaps even view something on youtube; it's forever immortalized. And even when all of that fades away, your own mind will still play back their voices, their sounds, their songs... on and on and on... until your world also, comes to an end.

Rest In Peace, Mitch Lucker. Thanks for sharing your music and your voice with us all.