Suicide Silence vocalist Mitch Lucker passed away 10 years today, November 1, after suffering grave injuries from a motorcycle accident. In an interview with Consequence, Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza and bassist Dan Kenny discussed their mindset 10 years later and how they feel Lucker is still with them today both on and off the stage.
"As a friend, he was everything. As a frontman, he was everything," said Kenny. "We think about him every day because we're playing songs every day [that had his vocals originally]. It's hard not to think about him. I think about him every day I'm on stage. I'll see someone who is really good friends with him backstage and I'll think of him right then. He's still here, you know? He's not gone at all. But yeah, I miss him and I wish he was still here. But we're still honoring his legacy every day."
"It's a trip. I say this a lot, you know, he's still in band," said Garza. "I say this all the fucking time – I try not to get spiritual but like, I still feel like he's in the band helping us make those hard choices of [moving] on. We lost our brother, my best friend, and [the face of the band] all in one fucking second dude. I was there. I saw it happen."
Garza added: "Now being around like the younger bands playing a similar style of music, it's like man, look what he fucking did for the heavy metal scene and for the deathcore scene."
Garza and Kenny also spoke about vocalist Eddie Hermida, who joined the band in 2013, and how he essentially saved the group from calling it quits.
"I think he's done a phenomenal job, you know? For me, if it wasn't Eddie being the singer for Suicide Silence and stepping into those impossible shoes, then no one could do it on this planet," said Garza. "There's only one guy that can do it to me and that was Eddie. If it wasn't Eddie we wouldn't be a band anymore."
"People were like, you guys could pick anyone," added Kenny. "No, we can't pick anyone. We can pick the one motherfucker that could do it."
Remember… You Must Die, the new Suicide Silence record due out in 2023, was produced by Taylor Young (Terror, Nails, Twitching Tongues, etc.) and features current live drummer Ernie Iniguez. Suicide Silence had parted ways with drummer Alex Lopez earlier this year, who played in the band between 2006 and 2022.
