Thursday, September 27, 2007

R.I.P. Mikey Offender

He will be missed...

Mikey "Offender" Donaldson passed away in his sleep on September 22 in Barcelona Spain where he had recently relocated from Amsterdam. The cause is unknown at the moment. He was 46. He is survived by his brother Joe Donaldson, sister Marie Donaldson Ward, and sister Sumiko Hakari, all of Killeen, Texas.

Mikey was the bass player for Austin punk band the Offenders from 1978-86. He also recorded bass tracks on MDC's groundbreaker "Millions of Dead Cops" and DRI's "Dealing With It." Mikey also performed regularly with MDC in the early 1980s. He moved to San Francisco in 1986 and went on to play and record with Gary Floyd (Dicks) and Lynn Perko (Imperial Teen) in Sister Double Happiness. After leaving the music scene for ten years or so, Mikey returned to Austin and reunited with the original Offenders line-up for a gig at Emo's in March 2002. In 2003 MDC recruited Mikey and their original line-up, recorded a new album, and have been touring all over the world ever since.

Mikey is universally regarded as one of the most innovative and inimitable masters of the bass guitar. He played his Rickenbacker like it was a out-sized rhythm guitar. Taking cues from Jack Bruce and Lemmy, Mikey pioneered an aggressive speed-picking style and liberal employment of bass chords that few have been able to emulate in the past 20 years. He will be sorely missed, certainly in Austin and his hometown of Killeen, but also across the globe. A memorial celebration in Austin is pending and the date will be announced soon.

You can download the Offenders - I Hate Myself 7" HERE



And you should buy the Died In Custody CD from Grand Theft Audio Records and the We Must Rebel CD from Bitzcore.

Mikhail

3 Comments:

Blogger Pogel said...

Damn I feel like my time is numbered.

September 30, 2007 6:38 AM  
Blogger gone said...

BEEN A FEW THE LAST YEAR THAT HAVE GONE,I,M ONLY A FEW YEARS YOUNGER MYSELF

September 30, 2007 6:55 AM  
Blogger gone said...

hey ponk,i,ve put the doggystyle dont hit me up lp on the same post as ds 11 if you still want to give it a blast

October 03, 2007 6:58 AM  

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