I was sad to hear that Michael Belfer died this weekend.
I was sad to hear that Michael Belfer died this weekend. Michael was the founding guitarist of Black Lab and played on our debut album, as well as songs from the soundtracks of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Permanent Midnight, Can’t Hardly Wait, and others.
Michael was a seminal figure in the early San Francisco scene, co-founding art-punk bands The Sleepers and Tuxedomoon, influencing Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth among many others, and always inventing new ways to make wild sounds with a guitar, echoplex, ebow, looper, and wah pedal.
No one sounded like Michael. His guitar work flowed between acid aggression and hypnotic soundscapes, but it always came from his hands and it always had his singular stamp of ingenuity.
Michael and I didn’t always agree in terms of art and business, but he was a great guy and a pure heart. He struggled mightily with substance abuse and the brutal world he came from, his world-class collection of tattoos a map of his incredible life.
I guess I’m sad we never reconciled. It would have been great to do some kind of reunion thing. I still miss the surprise I felt at what would leap out of his amp, the shock of the new: poppy and strange, ethereal and abrasive, delicate and brutalist. He contained multitudes.
#RIP, brother. We’ll get together again on the other side.
#michaelbelfer #thesleepers #tuxedomoon #sonicyouth #guitarist
