Bill Doss, co-leader of indie psych cult heroes The Olivia Tremor Control, died on July 30th at age 43. Gabe Vodicka of Athens’ Flagpole broke the news on twitter (below), followed by further confirmation tweets from friends(also below) and the group’s website. The latter now simply states, “We are devastated by the loss of our brother Bill Doss. We are at a loss for words.”
Today fans and fellow musicians – including Bear In Heaven, Jason Isbell, The Antlers, Hopital Ships, The Whigs, and Pitchfork writers too to twitter (shooting his name up to “trending” status) and other social media to pay their respects. Read their comments and more about Bill’s musical work here. A message from Flaming Lip Kliph Scurlock posted on facebook today is below:
“One of the funnest afternoons of my life happened in the summer of 2000. The Lips had a day off in Athens and I was hanging out with my dear friend Jackie Lyons Burton. We went over to Bill Doss’s house, where he was working on this song….
He asked if I’d play a quick scratch drum track so he could start the overdubbing process. I was thrilled to do it as I loved Bill and the songs he wrote. We then jammed for a while and sat around listening to records for a few hours. We got stuck on this thing where we were trying to call up all the versions of “Hey Joe” that had been recorded by garage rock bands in the 60’s. Steven Drozd came over and called us dorks. A few months later, Bill called and asked if it was okay to use my drum track on the record. Trying to be Mr. Cool, I said, “sure. Just send me a few copies.” I don’t think I ever told him how honored I was to be on his record and how much fun I had had that day. I also don’t think I ever told him how much I loved him. R.I.P. Bill. Thank you for being such a wonderful person and a great friend and a fabulous songwriter. I love you and will miss you.”
More here.
The Future Heart 