Mikey Welsh

Michael Edward Welsh (April 20, 1971 – October 8, 2011) was an American artist and musician who played bass for several bands, including the rock band Weezer. During Weezer's hiatus, he played with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo in the band Homie, during Cuomo's time in Boston. Following original bassist Matt Sharp's departure from Weezer, Welsh joined as bassist and played with them from the time that they unofficially regrouped in 1998 until August 2001, when he experienced mental health problems. Shortly afterwards, he retired from music to focus on his painting career.<ref name="page 366"/> Welsh died from a drug overdose on October 8, 2011.<ref name="nerv">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

Welsh was born on April 20, 1971, in Syracuse, New York.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He began his career as a Boston-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower.<ref name="page 259">Luerssen D., John. Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story. ECW Press, 2004, Template:ISBN p. 259</ref><ref name="page 260">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 260</ref><ref name="page 261">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 261</ref><ref name="page 262">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 262</ref> He was a touring bassist for Juliana Hatfield and Verbena.<ref name="page 264">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 264</ref> In 1997, he joined the first incarnation of the Rivers Cuomo Band, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.<ref name="page 262" /><ref name="page 264" /> He joined Weezer following the departure of Matt Sharp in 1998.<ref name="page 259"/><ref name="bio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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 basslines in this period, recorded them and sent them to Rivers Cuomo for writing inspiration,<ref name="page 11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="page 279">Luerssen D., John, 2004, pg. 279</ref> Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs.<ref name="Credits">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He toured with Weezer beginning with their resurgence in the summer of 2000 and first appeared on their limited edition Christmas CD EP later that year (re-released in 2005 as Winter Weezerland). He subsequently played on 2001's Green Album as well as a number of B-sides and unreleased songs from the era, and also performed with the band most of the way through tours supporting the album.

Mental illness and exit from Weezer

In 2001, Welsh suffered a breakdown brought on by drug use, undiagnosed mental health problems, and the strain of touring. After attempting suicide by drug overdose, he left Weezer. The reason for his exit was not made public until some time later.<ref name="nerv2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}</ref> He was checked into a psychiatric hospital in August 2001.<ref name="Island">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He later spoke about the ordeal in an interview with the website Rock Salt Plum:

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.{{#if:Mikey Welsh|{{#if:|}}

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Weezer shot a new version of the video for their song "Island in the Sun" without Welsh.<ref name="page 362">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 362</ref><ref name="page 363">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 363</ref> Following Welsh's departure in 2001, the band hired Scott Shriner to replace Welsh.<ref name="page 372">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 372</ref>

Retirement from music

In late 2001/2002, Welsh returned to the Boston music scene by temporarily joining the Kickovers, the band of Nate Albert, guitarist for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.<ref name="page 366">Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 366</ref> 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."<ref name="Diff">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist.<ref name="page 366"/> He, his wife and their two sons lived in Vermont.<ref name="bio"/><ref name="artist">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Welsh attended a Weezer show on July 12, 2005, in Lewiston, Maine. Cuomo dedicated "Hash Pipe" to him, drawing cheers from the crowd.<ref name="ham">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On September 2, 2010, he joined the band on stage at a show in Essex Junction, Vermont, to play bass on the song "Hash Pipe". On July 29, 2011, Welsh played guitar on the song "Undone" with Weezer and the Flaming Lips at a show in New York.

Art career

Welsh became an artist and, as of August 2008, had 13 exhibitions of his artwork.<ref name="mikeywelsh.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was a member of Outsider Art.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A quote from Welsh's official website explained his methods of creating his art:Template:Cquote

Welsh's artwork is featured on a Burton snowboard, in a line of snowboards titled "The Farm".<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> He designed and painted the album cover for Twin Berlin's debut album.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Death

On September 26, 2011, Welsh wrote on Twitter: "dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today."<ref name=":0" /> On October 8, 2011, Welsh was found dead in a Chicago hotel room from a suspected heroin overdose, leading to a heart attack.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His death was not formally declared a suicide, despite his prior attempt by the same method.

Discography

Left Nut

• 1990 – Bad Attitude No Apologies

Heretix

• 1993 – The Adventures of Superdevil

Jocobono

• 1995 – Jocobono

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

Weezer

• 2000 – Christmas CD
• 2001 – Weezer

The Kickovers

• 2002 – Osaka

External links

• Template:Official website
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