RIP Dave Lepard

[A Katt Named Raggz]

Believe me...I've went thru depression myself.
All I have to say is...not once did I think of death. I do know one thing though...I got help.
I was diagnosed with Thyroid Disease where the doctors were amazed how terribly out of balance my Thyroid was. This was the reason for my depression. Now look at it this way...if I hadn't gotten help due to me having a anxiety attack and finding out the cause of depression....and say if I was all suicidal, which I never was, Then could I have just wasted away?. People...How hard is it to say " I NEED HELP"?. Three simple words SAVE a LIFE.

<font color="#FF0099" size="1">[ January 27, 2006 11:45 AM: Message edited by: Katt68 ]</font>

[Ian Rich Rags]

All power to you and your honesty does you credit. A friend of mine topped himself a couple of years back and, as you say, some people could win the lottery and still do it. Cowardice has nothing to do with it. It is rooted in dispair and not fear.
Unless you have had your head in the blackness of Satans toilet you cannot expect people to understand how it feels.

Your point is vaild Marcus but It's not blanket solution. Honesty time here. I did nothing in my life other than play in bands from being 17 to 30. Thirteen years of mostly great but ofen tough times. You nuture a mental culture within yourself that you can only rely on yourself. You get used to being let down most of the time. If its not flakey band members, its liar promotors, bullshitting managers, or machiavellian record companies trying to fuck you at every opportunity. You develop a mentality that gets yout through. Its a mentality that revolves around your own belief in yourself, your ability to deal with your own fuck ups but not with others. Without it you would get a desk job.
Unfortunately it creates that barrier when it comes to saying 'I need help' because you cannot truly believe that anyone can help you apart from yourself. Its not true but it is a fact.
You were lucky and , dare i say it, well adjusted enough, to see that you needed to do that. Not everyone can. That doesnt make them weak.

<font color="#FF0099"><font size="1">[ January 27, 2006 11:55 AM: Message edited by: IH Rich Rags ]</font></font>

<font color="#FF0099" size="1">[ January 27, 2006 11:57 AM: Message edited by: IH Rich Rags ]</font>

[A Katt Named Raggz]

Yep, I can say I went thru all the band crap and left it cold-turkey...these days I could care less to be in a band. I'm happy just sitting down with my acoustic and writing a song. No bands for me anymore. It's not something I care to do in this time of life. I've done it and just moved on to newer things. Today, I'm more about picking up an acoustic guitar and writing a song that has meaning. Something people can relate to. Oh and believe me...I hear ya on getting screwed by the music biz...and bandmates as well.

[A Katt Named Raggz]

Oh by the way...Nothing gets me down these days...I've learned to just move on...and look for better things. There's no use wasting time holding your head down because something failed.
Learn and move on.

<font color="#FF0099" size="1">[ January 27, 2006 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Katt68 ]</font>

[Panurge]

First, thanks to everyone for being so civil after my first post; I feel like I was talking out of my ass a bit in a few places there. Again, thanks.

OK, a few points:

"IMAGE" AND ORIGINALITY: If we can have The Darkness, we can have Crashdiet. If we can have The Flower Kings, Anekdoten, or Anglagard (three more Swedish bands, incidentally, making '70s-style "art-rock"), we can have Crashdiet. If we can have the Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz, Phish, Chris Isaak, Brian Setzer, the "indie-rock" scene, Wynton Marsalis, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and the freakin' Squirrel Nut Zippers, we can CERTAINLY have Crashdiet and Dave's (and Peter's, let's not forget) "ratted hair".
Really, why does '80s glam come in for slagging for being "retro" when that's what it seems *the whole culture* is about these days? *Everything's* got some retro in it nowadays, sometimes a whole heapin' helpin' of it; in their own way, Crashdiet actually "threw back" less than most other rock acts. (Remember, punk and new wave were always throwbacks of a sort.) In times like these, it's hard to know just what makes something "more modern" (unless it's got something to do with being uglier; in the wake of the '80s, officially regarded as the Surface-Glitz-Without-Substance Decade, people just don't seem to trust great beauty anymore). For myself, I actually agree that some "modernization" would be good, but rather than trying to shoe-horn something trendy into the equation, what I'd do is find a way to bring something new and original to the '80s-glam style and look--take it to the next level. I mean, it shouldn't be like glam to try to tone down for the sake of audience approval, which is what "modernizing" would usually amount to these days; it'd just work at cross-purposes.
Besides, people can see calculation; just think of all the '80s glam and "post-glam" bands that "went grunge"--how many of them made it? They might as well have just stayed as they were. If Crashdiet had tried for "a more modern image", they might've come across as *less* honest--and if they'd come across as more honest, that'd say something very bad about how we detect "honesty". At least this way they *stood out*. (Just as a matter of my own tastes, I'd much rather modernize the *music* than the "image"; as far as I'm concerned, the full-out Sunset Strip glam look, when done right, is one of the great looks of all time, and I suggest we use it.)

SUICIDE: I'm told that some people who've decided to do it are so far gone they're practically impossible to dissuade; they'll find a way eventually. Maybe; I don't know what to think here. All I can say is, some dreams are so compelling that it may be impossible to walk away from them. (DISCLAIMER: I have a personal interest here, too, but I won't go any farther than that, under orders from a higher authority, namely "Mom".)

CAREER: Going for what you can in the moment is a difficult lesson for some of us to learn; we're too wrapped up in our hearts' desire--it defines us; it'd do us a certain kind of violence just to walk away from it. We know *exactly* what we want, and we're not interested in putting forth tons of effort on stuff we don't care for just for the off-chance that we might get a career out of it. Not that I've got much company, though; "It beats workin'" probably motivates musicians even more than World Domination. Sometimes I wonder if I should've given in a bit more, admitted that "it beats workin'" is a legitimate way of looking at things, but I look back on the times I tried to do that, and every time...months, even years of effort, almost no payback. I can't sell my soul if I tried. No band, no career (despite some talent), not even really much support, because who wants an over-the-top glam dude with a jones for Serious Composing? But I have to do what makes me happy first, or else what's the point?

Oh, yeah: The Darkness is a new-wave band.

OK... What I mean is that I get the impression we're supposed to relate to them in the same way. They just happen to use, as the vessel for their Goofy Post-Modern Irony <tm>, the very styles of rock that roughly predominated when "new wave" came along, rather than the mid-'60s music out of which "new wave" was originally made. (But something about '70s rock keeps the whole thing from getting too "ironic".)

[Stacey0471]

Only a few weeks ago, a lot of us here were rating Rest In Sleaze as one of our favourites of 2005. Not able to rate them on their live show, as I never saw it, I can say that album created a new buzz and made an impression on the scene that we're all here for.

[Ian Rich Rags]

A bit more info on this. My mate Tom plays bass in a band/ come side project with Crash Diets drummer. He had spoken to him in the wake of events. Apparently Dave Lepard had history of very erratic behaviour. They had been at meeting with Universal just prior to his disappearance and, although Tom wasn't specific about it, apparently DL took what was said at this meeting very badly. You can draw your own conclusions from that.