METALOBIT

American Head Charge guitarist Bryan Ottoson has been found dead on the band's tour bus.

Police reports suggest that Ottoson may have overdosed on prescription drugs; Ottoson was reported to have been drinking heavily before the tour bus left Jessup in Maryland; his body was discovered Tuesday morning when the bus pulled in to North Charleston, South Carolina.

Formed by Martin Cock (actually Cameron Heacock) and Chad Hanks, AHC grew from a chance meeting in a Minnesota rehab facility, which would set the tone for the band's course. The band quickly developed a reputation for onstage and offstage excess, as Ottoson acknowledged in an interview with Crave magazine:

I don’t think it was a conscious decision, we didn’t sit down and say were going to focus on the music more and not have the excess and people playing naked and all that, we just kind of kept it in our heads that we wanted it to be about the music a lot more this time, because I think we got pigeon holed into a shock rock band which I don’t think we are. I understand why we got that, but I think we’re much more about the music at heart, so we have definitely been a lot more focused on performance and not being a jackass on stage. We are still pretty crazy on stage, we kind of wanted it to be scaled down but we get bored and we can’t help our selves and we just do whatever the fuck we do. I almost got knocked out on stage the other day, and Karma got arrested for allegedly kicking a security in the card that was fucking with some people or something. So it’s starting to get a little crazy again. We just do what we do and end up being fucking weirdos I guess.

The band's official website biography ends on what now seems a fate-tempting note:

In the end, Order prevails - if just barely - which is a good thing for American Head Charge and their ever-growing legion of fans. If Chaos had come out on top, this dangerously self-destructive but supremely talented band would've surely imploded, leaving nothing but wrecked gear, lost souls and mangled body parts. Instead, with all their limbs still attached and pulsing with the endorphins of catharsis, AHC will spend 2005 on the road - and this time, hopefully, not the road to perdition.

The remaining members of the band have pulled out of the next few dates of the shared tour with Mudvayne, Life of Agony and Bloodsimple, but understandably they've yet to decide on a long-term plan.

music bryan ottoson american head charge metal obit obituary