Mikey Welsh
Encyclopedia
Michael Edward "Mikey" Welsh (April 20, 1971 – October 8, 2011) 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. Welsh died on October 8, 2011.
. He began his career as a Boston
-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower. He was a touring bassist for Juliana Hatfield
. In 1997 he joined the first incarnation of The Rivers Cuomo Band
, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo
.
He joined Weezer
following the departure of Matt Sharp
in 1998. 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., 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
. Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs.
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
.
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
. He was checked in to a psychiatric hospital sometime during August 2001. 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. In the fall of 2001, the band hired Scott Shriner
to fill Welsh's place in the band.
's (guitarist for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
) band, The Kickovers
. 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."
Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist. He, his wife and their two sons lived in Vermont
.
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
.
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.
.
A quote from Welsh's official website explains his methods of creating his art:
His artwork is featured on a Burton snowboard, in a line of snowboards titled "The Farm". He recently designed and painted the album cover for Twin Berlin's debut album.
, from a suspected drug overdose leading to a heart attack. 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" followed by "correction - the weekend after next". There has been discussion of whether his prediction was a self-fulfilling prophecy
.
Americans
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
artist and musician, best known as the former bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
of Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
. He played with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
during Cuomo's time in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
during the hiatus in the band Homie
Homie (band)
Homie is a side project of Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of the band Weezer. Homie, as it stands now, was a one-time effort. Homie has released just one song, "American Girls", for the soundtrack of the 1998 film Meet the Deedles...
. Following original bassist Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp
Matthew Kelly Sharp is a founding member and former bassist for the band Weezer. In 1994, he started a band called The Rentals and released their debut album shortly after Weezer's first release, their second album in 1999, and an EP in 2007...
's decision to leave Weezer to focus on his group, The Rentals
The Rentals
The Rentals are an American rock band fronted by vocalist Matt Sharp, best known as the former bass player for rock group Weezer. The band is best known for their mid-1990s hit single, "Friends of P.". The group has released two albums, Return of the Rentals and Seven More Minutes on Maverick...
, 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
Mental breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
. Shortly afterwards, he retired from music to focus on his art career. Welsh died on October 8, 2011.
Early musical career and joining Weezer
Welsh was born April 20, 1971 in Syracuse, New YorkSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. He began his career as a Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower. He was a touring bassist for Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfield , is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter and author from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies and Some Girls. She currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
. In 1997 he joined the first incarnation of The Rivers Cuomo Band
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
.
He joined Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
following the departure of Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp
Matthew Kelly Sharp is a founding member and former bassist for the band Weezer. In 1994, he started a band called The Rentals and released their debut album shortly after Weezer's first release, their second album in 1999, and an EP in 2007...
in 1998. During Weezer's hiatus he played with Verbena
Verbena
Verbena , verbenas or vervains, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the New World from Canada south to southern Chile, but some are also native in the Old...
and the first incarnation of Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson (musician)
Patrick "Pat" George Wilson is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Weezer. He joined the band in 1992. In addition to his work in Weezer, he also fronts his own band, The Special Goodness....
's band The Special Goodness
The Special Goodness
The Special Goodness is the side project of Weezer’s drummer Patrick Wilson. It currently features Wilson on guitar and vocals, and Atom Willard on drums...
. He wrote a large number of bass lines in this period, recorded them and sent them to Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
for writing inspiration., although Cuomo never used any of them.
Instead, he contributed four of these to Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfield
Juliana Hatfield , is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter and author from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies and Some Girls. She currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
's 2000 album Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure
Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure
Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure is the fifth album by Juliana Hatfield, released in 2000. Of note about this album is that the songs "Total System Failure" and "Leather Pants" use the same music with different lyrics...
. Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs.
He toured with the band from their resurgence in the summer of 2000 and most of the way through tours supporting The Green Album
Weezer (The Green Album)
Weezer, also known as "The Green Album" due to the lime-green cover, is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Weezer, released on May 15, 2001. Produced by Ric Ocasek, it was the band's third studio album released on Geffen Records. This is the first, and only Weezer album to...
, 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
Winter Weezerland
Weezer's Winter Weezerland EP is an EP released in December 2005 exclusively for iTunes users. It features songs that had originally been recorded by the band in 2000 as part of a special Christmas CD that was sent out to Weezer fan club members...
) and on a number of b-sides and unreleased songs. He also played on the road and in the studio with Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson (musician)
Patrick "Pat" George Wilson is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Weezer. He joined the band in 1992. In addition to his work in Weezer, he also fronts his own band, The Special Goodness....
's band The Special Goodness
The Special Goodness
The Special Goodness is the side project of Weezer’s drummer Patrick Wilson. It currently features Wilson on guitar and vocals, and Atom Willard on drums...
.
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 breakdownNervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
due to drug use, undiagnosed mental conditions, and the constant wear of touring. The combination of these factors ultimately led Welsh to attempt suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
via drug overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
. He was checked in to a psychiatric hospital sometime during August 2001. 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. In the fall of 2001, the band hired Scott Shriner
Scott Shriner
Scott G. Shriner is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.-Early life:Shriner was born in Toledo, Ohio. He took up bass in high school. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he found his high school bass teacher Mark Kieswetter, with whom he studied until moving to Los...
to fill Welsh's place in the band.
Retirement from music
In late 2001/2002, Welsh returned to the Boston music scene by temporarily joining Nate AlbertNate Albert
Nathan Albert is an American musician best known as a guitarist for ska-core band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He left them to go to Brown University in 2000. Soon he started a new band, The Kickovers, that released one album, Osaka, and disbanded in 2003.On July 15, 2008 he was named the Vice...
's (guitarist for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. Since the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer Ben Carr have remained constant members...
) band, The Kickovers
The Kickovers
The Kickovers were a pop punk band formed by Nate Albert, former guitarist of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.After Nate left the Bosstones to go to Brown University, he started writing songs, which were not like his previous band. In 2001, he got a band together with Bosstones drummer Joe Sirois,...
. 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."
Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist. He, his wife and their two sons lived in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
.
Welsh attended a Weezer show on July 12, 2005 in Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
. Cuomo dedicated "Hash Pipe
Hash Pipe
"Hash Pipe" is a song by American alternative rock band Weezer. Released in 2001, it was the first single off the band's long-awaited third album, Weezer , and the only one of the SS2K The Summer Sessions songs to make it onto the album, although "Dope Nose" and "Slob" were released on Maladroit...
" to him, the very mention of his name drawing forth cheers from the crowd. Welsh also got to meet current Weezer bassist Scott Shriner
Scott Shriner
Scott G. Shriner is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.-Early life:Shriner was born in Toledo, Ohio. He took up bass in high school. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he found his high school bass teacher Mark Kieswetter, with whom he studied until moving to Los...
.
On September 2, 2010, he played bass on the song "Hash Pipe
Hash Pipe
"Hash Pipe" is a song by American alternative rock band Weezer. Released in 2001, it was the first single off the band's long-awaited third album, Weezer , and the only one of the SS2K The Summer Sessions songs to make it onto the album, although "Dope Nose" and "Slob" were released on Maladroit...
" with Weezer at a show in Essex Junction, Vermont
Essex Junction, Vermont
Essex Junction is a village in the town of Essex in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The population was 8,591 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated on November 15, 1892....
.
On July 29, 2011, Welsh played guitar on the song "Undone
Undone – The Sweater Song
"Undone – The Sweater Song" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on their self-titled 1994 debut album. It was released as their debut single in 1994...
" 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. He was a member of Outsider ArtOutsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
.
A quote from Welsh's official website explains his methods of creating his art:
His artwork is featured on a Burton snowboard, in a line of snowboards titled "The Farm". He recently designed and painted the album cover for Twin Berlin's debut album.
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 ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, from a suspected drug overdose leading to a heart attack. 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" followed by "correction - the weekend after next". There has been discussion of whether his prediction was a self-fulfilling prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. Although examples of such prophecies can be found in literature as far back as ancient Greece and...
.
With Weezer
- 2001 – Various Weezer singles
- 2001 – Weezer
- 2005 – Winter WeezerlandWinter WeezerlandWeezer's Winter Weezerland EP is an EP released in December 2005 exclusively for iTunes users. It features songs that had originally been recorded by the band in 2000 as part of a special Christmas CD that was sent out to Weezer fan club members...
With Juliana Hatfield
- 1998 – BedBed (album)Bed is the third solo album by Juliana Hatfield, released in 1998.-Track listing:all songs by Juliana Hatfield#"Down on Me" – 2:56#"I Want to Want You" – 4:08#"Swan Song" – 3:32#"Sneaking Around" – 4:15#"Backseat" – 6:05#"Live It Up" – 3:37...
- 2000 – Juliana's Pony: Total System FailureJuliana's Pony: Total System FailureJuliana's Pony: Total System Failure is the fifth album by Juliana Hatfield, released in 2000. Of note about this album is that the songs "Total System Failure" and "Leather Pants" use the same music with different lyrics...
- 2002 – Gold Stars 1992–2002: The Juliana Hatfield Collection