Benjamin Curtis (September 23, 1978 – December 29, 2013) was an American

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

. He was a member of bands

Tripping Daisy Tripping Daisy is a neo-psychedelic pop rock band that was formed in Dallas, Texas, by lead singer/guitarist Tim DeLaughter in 1990 along with Jeff Bouck (drums), Wes Berggren (guitar) and Mark Pirro (bass). The group disbanded in 1999 fo ...

, Secret Machines and School of Seven Bells.

History

Curtis cited guitarists such as

Michael Rother Michael Rother (; born 2 September 1950) is a German experimental musician, best known for being a founding member of the influential bands Neu! and Harmonia (band), Harmonia, and an early member of the band Kraftwerk. Early life and educat ...

Yoshimi P-We Yoshimi (born on February 18, 1968) is a Japanese musician best known for her role as the longest consistent drummer in the Japanese rock band Boredoms. Alongside her drum playing skills with Boredoms, she performs the vocals for the all female ...

, and

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...

of U2 as some of his primary influences on guitar. He played a heavily

effects Effect may refer to: * A result or change of something ** List of effects ** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality Pharmacy and pharmacology * Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug ** Therapeutic effect, ...

-laden spacy style of guitar, reminiscent of late 1960s and early 1970s

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

.Tim Sendra, "Now Here is Nowhere Review '' Allmusic.com''

Personal life

Curtis was in a relationship with his School of Seven Bells bandmate Alejandra Deheza from 2005 until 2010. The pair remained close friends and bandmates until Curtis' death. In the liner notes for School of Seven Bells' final album ''SVIIB'', Deheza refers to Curtis as her "best friend and soulmate."

Illness and death

Curtis announced in late February 2013 that he had been diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. A benefit concert was held in New York in August 2013 and included performances by members of the Strokes and Interpol. Curtis died on December 29, 2013, at

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

in New York.

References

External links

Secret Machines official website

School of Seven Bells
Official website - archived on November 5, 2012. 2013 deaths American male guitarists American rock guitarists 1978 births {{US-rock-guitarist-stub