RIP Mike Starr

Mike Starr, former bass player for Alice in Chains, died earlier today, TMZ is reporting. He was 44. Starr reportedly passed away in a home in Salt Lake City. He was arrested a few weeks ago for possession of prescription drugs and had appeared on a recent season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

There's a fairly lengthy discussion of this on the Alice in Chains messageboard, but as of yet no official statement from Jerry Cantrell or Sean Kinney, now the only two surviving original members of one of grunge's most influential bands.

This week in reunions... Remy Zero!

* Remy Zero, who broke up in 2003, reunited last year for a few scattered shows as a tribute to their drummer, who died of cystic fibrosis in January 2010. Now they've released a new single that's available as a free download here. Will there be a new album, or more shows? No plans as of yet. I wonder if they made so much money off the Smallville theme song that they still don't need day jobs?

* Not sure what the status of the Rage Against the Machine reunion is; they played a few dates in South America last fall, but have made no progress toward releasing any new music since their reformation in 2007. Tom Morello, meanwhile, spent last week in Wisconsin protesting with union leaders. Zack de la Rocha was not in attendance.

* Stone Temple Pilots are touring the US again. Antiquiet reviewed one of the first shows, in an Oklahoma casino.

* Chris Cornell tells Spin that Soundgarden starts recording their new album soon. Adam Kasper, who produced 1996's Down on the Upside as well as albums by the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and Pearl Jam, is producing.

RIP Mark Linkous

Mark Linkous, the driving force behind Sparklehorse, has died, reportedly by suicide. Sparklehorse didn't have a ton of mainstream success, but were well-regarded by critics. Here's their one modern-rock hit, "Someday I will Treat You Good," which hit #35 in 1996.



While catchy, that song isn't that representative of Linkous' entire output, which often seemed to split the difference between Mercury Rev and the Eels.

RIP Allen Shellenberger

Lit drummer Allen Shellenberger has died after a battle with brain cancer. The band has posted a tribute video to him:


I was going to post my favorite Lit song, "Zip-Lock," but BMG disabled the youtube embed, so if you want to hear it, you gotta go here.

No word on the future of Lit; main songwriter Jeremy Popoff spends a lot of time in Nashville writing country songs now. The band does have one date scheduled for October in Charlotte, N.C.

RIP Jerry Finn

Jerry Finn, producer of several major '90s albums, died of complications Thursday following a brain hemorrhage in July. He was 39 years old.

Finn was most famous for his work with Blink-182, producing their breakthrough album, 1999's Enema of the State. During his career, he also produced albums by Rancid, Pennywise, Fenix TX and Fastball, and did mixing work for Green Day and the Presidents of the United States of America. He produced and engineered one of my favorite albums of all time, Superdrag's Head Trip in Every Key, as well as the under-rated classic ReadySexGo! by Marvelous 3. More recently, he had worked with Sum-41, AFI, Vendetta Red, Alkaline Trio, and Morrissey. You can see his complete list of credits here.

Here's Fenix TX's "Threesome," produced by Finn.

RIP LeRoi Moore: 1961-2008

Some sad news this morning: Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore has died of complications following an ATV accident earlier this summer. The band had been touring without him, using a different saxophonist, and their show in Los Angeles last night went on as scheduled. The DMB tour continues on the West Coast and in South America through early October.

Moore also played flute with the band, and co-wrote a few of their '90s songs, including "Stay (Wasting Time)":


One of Moore's last performances with the band, a June 7 show in St. Louis, will be released as the 13th installment in the band's Live Trax series at the end of September.

DMB has not released a studio album since 2005's Stand Up. A follow-up was reportedly scheduled for last summer, but more recent reports indicated the band was still in pre-production and planned to work with producer Rob Cavallo (Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morrisette, Green Day, My Chemical Romance). There has been no word on whether or not recording will continue, after Moore's death.

The band's longtime keyboardist Butch Taylor left the group in May. Their most recent release is Live at Piedmont Park, which came out last December.