NEW YORK (Billboard) -- Dave Blood, bassist for defunct Philadelphia rock act the Dead Milkmen, committed suicide Wednesday, according to a post by his sister on the band's official message board (http://deadmilkmen.com).

In a subsequent post, Milkmen drummer Dean Clean confirmed the news.

"This morning Dave Blood is no longer with us," wrote Blood's sister,
Kathy. "David is my brother. Since the breakup of the band David has
never really found his niche in life. My brother was a smart, clever and
talented person. Inner peace has seemed to elude him for the last many
years. Sometime last night David chose to end his life. He left a note
that I don't know all of what it said, he was not elaborate -- but he
said he just could not stand to go on any longer."

A memorial service will be held in the Delaware County area of
southeastern Pennsylvania at some point in the near future, with details to be
announced.

"I'll miss Dave as a friend and a bandmate," Clean wrote. "He helped
make lots of folks here very happy with the music we all made together.
He will not be forgotten."

The Dead Milkmen formed in 1983 and quickly rose to prominence in the
college radio circuit. Their 1985 debut album, "Big Lizard in My
Backyard" boasts the cult-classic single "Bitchin' Camaro," but was
overshadowed in 1988 by "Punk Rock Girl," which was an MTV staple of the time.

The band dissolved after releasing "Stoney's Extra Stout (Pig)" in
1995. In late 2003, Restless/Ryko released a retrospective of early and
rare recordings, "Now We Are 20," and the "Philadelphia in Love" DVD,
which compiled all of the band's videos.

But yeah, that's really tragic about Dave.

Here's a direct link: http://www.markprindle.com/blood-i.htm

Mark has some very eloquent things to say about depression, suicide, etc. in the intro.
A VERY good read. His whole site is fucking amazing.

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"You have the option to drill additional holes in the label,
causing the record to rotate off the side of the turntable"

quote:

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Originally posted by Tangento:
Here's a direct link: http://www.markprindle.com/blood-i.htm

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"namklim daed" a yllaer s'eh won sseug I

*RECORD*

There. You didn't say that. Respect the memory.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tangento:
.........Here's a direct link: http://www.markprindle.com/blood-i.htm

Mark has some very eloquent things to say about depression, suicide, etc. in the intro.
A VERY good read............

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I read the intervju earlier today. Dave could no longer play the bass because the terrible pain he suffered from, it must be a "hell" not being able to do those things that means so much to you!

quote:

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Originally posted by nuclear delusion:
.......... No one can ever really judge someone for doing something like that because YOU ARE NOT THEM.

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My afterthoughts: Try to never give up! (This is and was my own selfish thought).

But I can't judge and I never did, I still respect my friend who was one of them. But I miss him very much. I try to understand, and as time goes by I remember things and I'm able to understand more about what he was going through.

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Whew, I feel better!

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quote:

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Originally posted by slugbutt:
..........It's easy for someone to say "smile, be happy, you'll be fine, don't give up, etc". But to me, this is a disease. It is going to take more than encouraging words, which is helpful and appreciated, to get me thru.

Whew, I feel better!

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Hey.
i'm glad you had the courage to tell us all this way. Words like "smile and be happy", doesn't help!
Yes, I've been there myself but I haven't had your courage.

Thanks!

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quote:

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Originally posted by slugbutt:
Effexor is my drug of choice to keep me 'level'.

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I've been on the same anti-depressant since '97, although I started taking it for anxiety, not necessarily for depression. Before I started it, I was having major anxiety attacks, I thought my world as I had known it, was finally coming to a horrible and terrifying end. Effexor saved me...literally.

The problem that I have with it now, is that I'm up to 300 mg a day, (way too much, imo) which is raising my blood pressure, and I'm not as clear headed as I would like to be. Not that I have shit "swirling around" upstairs incoherently, but it's more like a feeling of emptiness and forgetfulness...perhaps TOO calm sometimes, ha!

But I'd rather feel cool, calm, and collected...than feeling like I'm losing control.

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quote:

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Originally posted by slugbutt:
It's easy for someone to say "smile, be happy, you'll be fine, don't give up, etc". But to me, this is a disease.

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My girlfriend suffers from depression too and this is exactly how she feels about it. Encouraging words can be of some help, but the actual problem lies within.

quote:

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Originally posted by LEGION:
Before I started it, I was having major anxiety attacks, I thought my world as I had known it, was finally coming to a horrible and terrifying end.

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quote:

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.........Of all the problems commonly associated with depression, the one my girlfriend fears the most is the lost of control. She felt it a few times and she panicked.[/QB]

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For me that was the worst feeling of all: Losing control! Depression followed of all problems with the anxiety attacks.

In 1993 these problems seemed to be more and more common, at least in media. There was an organisation in Stockholm for people with anxiety disorders and depressions. I talked to them on phone and we decided that I should try and start a group in my hometown. First I put up some notes at health care centers. The respons was enormous. So many people called me. ( I had an "oath of silence".)

We formed a group and try too meet once a week, some of us had so much anxiety that we could not go out the front door. This didn't stop us from seeing eachother, we were more or less in the same situation and felt safe together. We actually had fun together, we trained to confront our "fobis".

I stayed in the group as a "contact-person" for five years. During these years I got more selfconfident, strange....... we all got better, the feeling that we were not "alone" helped us. Of course almost all of us was on medications (anti deppresants).

Together we felt stronger and could go out to supermarkests, restaurants, cinema and do fun stuff, because we knew that if one of us had an axiety attack, the others would know how to help and handle such......

Legion: I did not know Effexor had been around that long. And that is a high dose. Do you still need to take it? If it is raising your blood pressure I wonder if a anti-anxiety med would be better. I started on one and moved up to Effexor when I realised it was more than anxieties.

Annki: That's a cool idea you had. I also had trouble leaving the house at times even when I had to go to practice. And that is supposed to be the fun part of my life, playing music and hanging with the guys. it did become a drag but lately it's been fun again.

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quote:

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Originally posted by AnnkiZ:

Together we felt stronger and could go out to supermarkests, restaurants, cinema and do fun stuff, because we knew that if one of us had an axiety attack, the others would know how to help and handle such.

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Agoraphobia was, and sometimes still is, an issue....I think that's why HOME always feels TOO good sometimes!

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quote:

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Originally posted by slugbutt:
Legion: I did not know Effexor had been around that long. And that is a high dose. Do you still need to take it? If it is raising your blood pressure I wonder if a anti-anxiety med would be better. I started on one and moved up to Effexor when I realised it was more than anxieties.

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I'm not sure how long it's been around, but in the beginning....it became my SAVIOR!...actually, it still is. I played the guinea-pig role with two others, namely: Paxil and Zoloft...both gave me side effects I found very NON-arousing. But I found that Effexor worked out just fine!

Yeah, I play it almost day by day with my doctor.

Cheers.

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When I started up that group in 1993 I had already come that far I could go downtown into big shopping centres just because I was so happy I finally could do it without the agoraphobia and the fear of having an axiety attack. The recovery came slowly and procceded over years, I can't say a specific date when I started to recover.

This group we formed is still active, and as I know groups was formed all over sweden. We had our "umbrella organisation" in Stockholm, the society paid one person there so we could have some kind of service to all of those who called us up and wanted advice and information.

We had a book we always recommended, it was written by "Christer L. Nordlund" and to us is was the best informative book we could think of. I don't think it has been translated into english.

I recall that we got a lot information from US about anxiety disorders. I checked "our" site for links. I found one from "America": Internet Resource
It seems like it recently started up. I hope it's a good "link". Our group were always careful about letting any "specialist", or people who provided "successful treatments" advertise in our "news-paper" (4 issuees a year) because in many cases they were trying to get patients to pay for a treatments that never had been properly evaluated.

So be careful and don't belive too much if you here about some "miracle-treatment". And, very important, always ask your doctor if you have any questions about your medication.

Ohhh... ...Sorry if it sounds like I'm some kind of teacher here!
Seems I "fell back" in my old role as "contact-person"....

Wishing well!

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