Rick Froberg, Singer and Guitarist in Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, Dies at 55

Rick Froberg, the singer, guitarist, and visible artist greatest identified for fronting the influential post-hardcore bands Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, died Friday night time (June 30). His pal and longtime collaborator John Reis confirmed the information on Instagram. He was 55.

“Rick handed away all of a sudden final night time from pure causes,” Reis wrote. “His artwork made life higher. The one factor he liked greater than artwork and rock n roll was his associates. He’ll perpetually be remembered for his creativity, imaginative and prescient and his capability to deliver magnificence into this world. I like you, Rick. I’ll miss you for the remainder of my life.”

Born in Los Angeles, for years Froberg lived in Encinitas, California the place he performed in a number of bands within the San Diego space. He shaped the band Pitchfork with Reis (who would later discovered Rocket from the Crypt) as a teen; after Pitchfork disbanded in 1990, the 2 shaped Drive Like Jehu with Mike Kennedy on bass and Mark Trombino on drums, taking their identify from a Biblical passage that describes a very aggressive chariot driver. They launched their self-titled debut in 1991, the identical yr as Rocket from the Crypt’s Paint as a Perfume. 

Drive Like Jehu had been energetic for 4 years—dissolving shortly after the discharge of their major-label debut Yank Crime in 1994—however had an outsized affect on hardcore’s evolution into emo. Yank Crime particularly would go on to turn into a traditional inside post-hardcore and rock circles. In 2014, Drive Like Jehu reunited for a free, one-off concert. Nonetheless, the band would go on to play a correct reunion tour in 2015 and 2016 comprised of primarily festival sets.

Whereas Reis would proceed to carry out with Rocket from the Crypt, he shaped the band Sizzling Snakes with Froberg in 1999. They launched three albums in the course of the band’s unique run—Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice, and Audit in Progress—till breaking apart in 2005. Sizzling Snakes reunited to go on tour in 2011, and would keep collectively afterwards, releasing the brand new album Jericho Sirens in 2018. Their music “This Mystic Decade” was featured on the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack.  

As an illustrator, Froberg created album artwork, promotional art work, and merchandise designs for every of his bands, together with Rocket from the Crypt and Reis’ Swami Data label. After transferring to Brooklyn, New York within the early aughts, he based the band Obits in 2006 with former Edsel guitarist Sorab Habibion. Their most up-to-date album, Die on the Zoo, was launched in 2021. Froberg has additionally performed with the Final of the Juanitas and Thingy. Two weeks earlier than his loss of life (June 14), he posted to Instagram that Sizzling Snakes had been engaged on a brand new file and that it was “very close to completed.”