Michael Edward "Mikey" Welsh was an American artist and musician, best known as the former bassist of Weezer. He played with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo during Cuomo's time in Boston during the hiatus in the band Homie. Following original bassist Matt Sharp's decision to leave Weezer to focus on his group, The Rentals,
Welsh was chosen to take over for him. Welsh played with Weezer from
the time that they regrouped in 2000 until August 2001, when he suffered
a mental breakdown. Shortly afterwards, he retired from music to focus on his art career.[2] Welsh died on October 8, 2011.[30](April 20, 1971 – October 8, 2011)
Early musical career and joining Weezer
Welsh was born April 20, 1971 in Syracuse, New York. He began his career as a Boston-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower.[4][5][6][7] He was a touring bassist for Juliana Hatfield.[8] In 1997 he joined the first incarnation of The Rivers Cuomo Band, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.[7][8]He joined Weezer following the departure of Matt Sharp in 1998.[4][9] During Weezer's hiatus he played with Verbena and the first incarnation of Patrick Wilson's band The Special Goodness. He wrote a large number of bass lines in this period, recorded them and sent them to Rivers Cuomo for writing inspiration.,[10] although Cuomo never used any of them.
Instead, he contributed four of these to Juliana Hatfield's 2000 album Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure.[11] Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs.[12]
He toured with the band from their resurgence in the summer of 2000 and most of the way through tours supporting The Green Album, the only Weezer album he would ever appear on. He would also appear on their limited edition Christmas EP (re-released in 2005 as Winter Weezerland) and on a number of b-sides and unreleased songs. He also played on the road and in the studio with Patrick Wilson's band The Special Goodness.[13]
Mental breakdown and exit from Weezer
Mikey Welsh left Weezer in 2001 for reasons that were left unclear to the public for several years after it happened. It was eventually revealed that he did in fact have a nervous breakdown due to drug use, undiagnosed mental conditions, and the constant wear of touring. The combination of these factors ultimately led Welsh to attempt suicide via drug overdose.[3] He was checked in to a psychiatric hospital sometime during August 2001.[14] He later spoke about the ordeal in an interview with the website Rock Salt Plum:Weezer shot a new version of the video for their song, "Island in the Sun" to exclude Welsh.[15][16] In the fall of 2001, the band hired Scott Shriner to fill Welsh's place in the band.[17]Basically, a lifetime of doing drugs and being undiagnosed as having bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder finally caught up with me when I was 30 years old. At the beginning of a 3-month European tour with Weezer, I started slowly falling apart. Without getting too graphic, by the time the tour was winding up, my weight had gone down to about 140lbs (I'm 6'2") [63,5 kg - 1,88 m] and mentally completely wiped out. When I returned to the States, my family had made plans for me to see a psychiatrist in Boston. First though, we had to play a few dates around the U.S., and perform on The Tonite (sic) Show (which ended up being my last performance with Weezer). By the time I got to Boston, I was having a complete nervous breakdown. It ended with a severe suicide attempt (an overdose). I was found and rushed to the hospital where I had come to within minutes of my heart completely stopping. I was in a coma for a few days, and woke up in a lockdown psychiatric ward.—Mikey Welsh, Feb. 2007 Rock Salt Plum Interview[3]
Retirement from music
In late 2001/2002, Welsh returned to the Boston music scene by temporarily joining Nate Albert's (guitarist for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) band, The Kickovers.[2] In an interview, he expressed his distaste for the corporate music process, stating that, "It’s actually fun to just be playing in the studio without some major-label idiot standing over your shoulder."[18]Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist.[2] He, his wife and their two sons lived in Vermont.[9][19]
Welsh attended a Weezer show on July 12, 2005 in Lewiston, Maine. Cuomo dedicated "Hash Pipe" to him, the very mention of his name drawing forth cheers from the crowd. Welsh also got to meet current Weezer bassist Scott Shriner.[20]
On September 2, 2010, he played bass on the song "Hash Pipe" with Weezer at a show in Essex Junction, Vermont.
On July 29, 2011, Welsh played guitar on the song "Undone" with Weezer and Flaming Lips at a show in New York.
Art career
Welsh became an artist. As of August 2008, he had 13 exhibitions of his artwork.[21] He was a member of Outsider Art.[22]A quote from Welsh's official website explains his methods of creating his art:
| “ | Welsh attacks his canvases with pure spontaneity and aggression, almost never using a brush and preferring to work only with his hands and fingers. This technique gives him the opportunity to get as close and "inside" to his paintings as he needs to be. For him, this is a necessity. Welsh also works in sculpture, working with found objects. Constructing creatures out of broken and dismantled chairs and furniture, to vacuum hoses, tupperware, wire, and rope. All painted with his usual explosion of color.[21] | ” |
Death
On October 8, 2011, Welsh's Facebook page announced that he had "passed away unexpectedly", with a memorial image attached. It was later announced that Welsh had been found dead in a hotel room in Chicago, from a suspected drug overdose leading to a heart attack.[25][26] [27] He had posted on Twitter on September 26, 2011, "dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today"[28] followed by "correction - the weekend after next"[29]. There has been discussion of whether his prediction was a self-fulfilling prophecy[30].Discography
With Weezer
- 2001 – Various Weezer singles
- 2001 – Weezer
- 2005 – Winter Weezerland
With Jocobono
- 1995 – Jocobono
With Juliana Hatfield
- 1997 - Please Do Not Disturb
- 1998 – Bed
- 2000 – Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure
- 2002 – Gold Stars 1992–2002: The Juliana Hatfield Collection
With The Kickovers
- 2002 – Osaka
With Heretix
- 1993 – The Adventures of Superdevil
With Left Nut
- 1990 - Bad Attitude No Apologies
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