For me yesterday began as any other, get to work, yak about the football for 10 minutes, stumble down to the kitchen to make a coffee and checking Facebook on the way.
A life lost in the tragedy of routine you might say...
One simple glance on the news feed put all my worldly woes for the day into perspective; a simple statement read:
Members of Alice in Chains are mourning the loss of their friend and ask that the media respect their privacy - and the privacy of the Starr family - during this difficult time. Their thoughts & prayers are with the Starr family.
RIP Michael Christopher "Mike" Starr April 4, 1966 – March 8, 2011.
The tragic, but somehow inevitable death of the former Alice In Chains bassist came 8 years and 11 months after the much publicised death of their lead singer Layne Stayley and will naturally generate less column inches, but is no less of a loss to the rock world, another huge talent first lost then snuffed out by addiction.
Mike Starr, the subject of the book Unchained : The Story of Mike Starr and His Rise and Fall in Alice In Chains was an original member of Diamond Lie and integral in their morph into Alice In Chains. He played on their Facelift, Dirt and Sap releases, contributing his rumbling basslines to some of the bands most definitive music.
Starr is probably best known for being the 'dude on bass with curly hair' such is the media focus on Cantrell and Stayley and it is something of a shame that his replacement in Mike Inez shares a similar image and yesterday I had to correct a guy who thought Starr played on the Unplugged album...
Like the rest of the band Starr had a fondness for heroin and struggled to maintain a working relationship in the band. Let's face it, to be asked to leave before Stayley due to your ability to function on drugs is a pretty hardcore thing to have happen.
After leaving AIC Starr played in Sun Red Sun with Ray Gillen and Bobby Rondinelli who were both hired guns who spent time standing behind Tony Iommi in whatever version of Sabbath was pretending it was still relevant at the time, however bad luck was not far away and the project was cut short when Gillen died.
Since then Starr battled with his demons and recently resurfaced on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2010 and spent time living in the spin off Sober House.
Cantrell and Kinney both spoke out about their former bandmate and aired their views on the show:
"I totally back Mike and I back his efforts to get clean and remain somebody that I and the band really care about — he’s a friend of ours, you know, and we wish him the best." Jerry Cantrell
"So I don't support that show at all and I think it's pretty disgusting. But Mike getting his life together or anybody doing that, I'll support that." Sean Kinney
Sadly his six month clean stint would be cut short in the November of 2010 when he was arrested for possession and all reports of his recent passing indicate an overdose.
He will be eulogised in the press for being a addict who is a loser in the Charlie Sheen sense that he died, but I for one will always remember that incredible sound that he brought to Alice In Chains and the impact those first two albums had.
If you've got five minutes look up Would? on YouTube, dig out Dirt from your record collection and celebrate the good of the man's life.
Thank you Mike, you were genuinely part of something that changed my life as a teenager and speaking to friends over the course of the last twenty four hours I know I am not alone in this.
You are free now and I hope you find peace.
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