Michael Edward Welsh (April 20, 1971 – October 8, 2011) was an American artist and musician who played bass for several bands, including the rock band
Weezer
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...
. During Weezer's hiatus, he played with Weezer frontman
Rivers Cuomo in the band
Homie, during Cuomo's time in Boston. Following original bassist
Matt Sharp
Matthew Kelly Sharp (born September 22, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Until 1998, he was the bassist for the Rock music, rock band Weezer, which he co-founded in 1992. He appears on their first two albums, the ''Weezer (B ...
's departure from Weezer, Welsh joined as bassist and played with them from the time that they unofficially regrouped in 1998 until August 2001, when he experienced mental health problems. Shortly afterwards, he retired from music to focus on his painting career.
Welsh died from a drug overdose on October 8, 2011.
Career
Welsh was born on April 20, 1971, in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
. He began his career as a
Boston-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower.
[Luerssen D., John. ''Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story''. ECW Press, 2004, p. 259][Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 260][Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 261][Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 262] He was a touring bassist for
Juliana Hatfield and
Verbena.
[Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 264] In 1997, he joined the first incarnation of the Rivers Cuomo Band, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.
He joined Weezer following the departure of Matt Sharp in 1998.
During Weezer's hiatus, he played with Verbena and the first incarnation of
Patrick Wilson
Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty (musical), The Full Mont ...
's band
the Special Goodness. He wrote a large number of basslines in this period, recorded them and sent them to Rivers Cuomo for writing inspiration,
although Cuomo never used any of them. Instead, he contributed four of these to
Juliana Hatfield's 2000 album ''
Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure''.
[Luerssen D., John, 2004, pg. 279] Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs.
He toured with Weezer beginning with their resurgence in the summer of 2000 and first appeared on their limited edition ''
Christmas CD'' EP later that year (re-released in 2005 as ''Winter Weezerland''). He subsequently played on 2001's
Green Album as well as a number of B-sides and unreleased songs from the era, and also performed with the band most of the way through tours supporting the album.
Mental illness and exit from Weezer
In 2001, Welsh suffered a breakdown brought on by drug use, undiagnosed mental health problems, and the strain of touring. After attempting suicide by drug overdose, he left Weezer. The reason for his exit was not made public until some time later.
He was checked into a psychiatric hospital in August 2001.
He later spoke about the ordeal in an interview with the website ''Rock Salt Plum'':
Weezer shot a new version of the video for their song "
Island in the Sun" without Welsh.
[Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 362][Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 363] Following Welsh's departure in 2001, the band hired
Scott Shriner to replace Welsh.
[Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 372]
Retirement from music
In late 2001/2002, Welsh returned to the Boston music scene by temporarily joining
the Kickovers, the band of
Nate Albert, guitarist for
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
[Luerssen D., John, 2004 p. 366] In an interview, he expressed his distaste for the corporate music process, stating that, "It's actually fun to just be playing in the studio without some major-label idiot standing over your shoulder."
Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist.
He, his wife and their two sons lived in
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
.
Welsh attended a Weezer show on July 12, 2005, in
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...
. Cuomo dedicated "
Hash Pipe" to him, drawing cheers from the crowd.
On September 2, 2010, he joined the band on stage at a show in
Essex Junction, Vermont, to play bass on the song "Hash Pipe". On July 29, 2011, Welsh played guitar on the song "
Undone" with Weezer and
the Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...
at a show in New York.
Art career
Welsh became an artist and, as of August 2008, had 13 exhibitions of his artwork.
He was a member of ''Outsider Art''.
A quote from Welsh's official website explained his methods of creating his art:
Welsh's artwork is featured on a
Burton snowboard, in a line of snowboards titled "The Farm". He designed and painted the album cover for Twin Berlin's debut album.
Death
On September 26, 2011, Welsh wrote on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
: "dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today."
On October 8, 2011, Welsh was found dead in a Chicago hotel room from a suspected
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
overdose, leading to a heart attack.
His death was not formally declared a suicide, despite his prior attempt by the same method.
Discography
Left Nut
* 1990 – ''Bad Attitude No Apologies''
Heretix
* 1993 – ''The Adventures of Superdevil''
Jocobono
* 1995 – ''Jocobono''
Juliana Hatfield
* 1997 – ''
Please Do Not Disturb''
* 1998 – ''
Bed''
* 2000 – ''
Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure''
* 2002 – ''
Gold Stars 1992–2002: The Juliana Hatfield Collection''
Weezer
* 2000 – ''
Christmas CD''
* 2001 – ''
Weezer
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...
''
The Kickovers
* 2002 – ''
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, Mikey
1971 births
2011 deaths
20th-century American musicians
21st-century American musicians
Alternative rock bass guitarists
American alternative rock musicians
American rock bass guitarists
American male bass guitarists
Musicians from Syracuse, New York
Outsider art
Artists from Syracuse, New York
People with bipolar disorder
People with borderline personality disorder
People with post-traumatic stress disorder
Weezer members
Guitarists from New York (state)
The Special Goodness members