Sad sad day to hear about Erik Kish of Fear City Choppers and Hi Fi and the Roadburners losing his life in a motorcycle accident in Chicago. I first heard of them through Victory Records in the early 90's with their contemporary bands such as Warzone, Earth Crisis, Strife and many more. One of the bands we used to played with were an oi street punk ethos and our drummer in our hardcore band was of the same mindset. They quickly learned of Hi Fi and the Roadburners and we were all quickly hooked on the songs as they were so damn good and ultimately fun to listen to compared to our normal sounds which was heavily influence by Killing Time, Pantera, Integrity, Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All.
One night Hi Fi was actually playing a few hours away so we all decided to roll and check them out as they were playing with a few openers and funny enough one of them was Anti Flag. Needless to say, they blew us away and we ended up chatting with them for hours after the show and I was forever hooked on them. Next time I got to see them was in North Beach in San Francisco and once again they were on the bill with hardcore bands. Erik, when I chatted with him that time was just as cool as he was when I met him at a tiny club in Maryland.
Hearing sad news such as this about him getting in a bad wreck is a loss for us in the music community as well as the bike community. We wish his family the best and do yourself a favor, dig into the life of Erik Kish, he was a talented individual and some of his music is forever burned in my mind. Sit back, pop a cold one and this goes out to all the folks putting heart, soul and integrity into what they enjoy.
RIP Erik or better yet, raise some more hell and team up with Dio, Dimebag and others for a show on the other side.
