Al Barile, first wave hardcore icon and founding guitarist for SSD, has passed away following his long battle with cancer.
The sad news arrived this morning (April 6th) through Barile’s wife, author Nancy Barile, who posted on Instagram that Al was surrounded by friends, family and SSD bandmates when he passed. The musician had been battling rectal cancer and other health issues since an initial diagnosis in late 2022.
“I never met anyone who was his own person as much as Al was,” Nancy Barile wrote. “No one made me laugh more. There was always a story. We loved each other unbelievably, and my heart is crushed into a million pieces. I am so incredibly grateful for our 43 years together. I can’t even think of how to go on without him, but I know he will ALWAYS be with me. I take great comfort especially, in knowing he and Flippy are now reunited.”
Before forming SSD — initially known as Society System Decontrol, and often billed as the “original straight-edge band” — Barile grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts as a hockey-loving hard-rock fan. By the early Eighties, his love of Cheap Trick and AC/DC had funneled into a brutalist guitar style also inspired by hardcore bands like Black Flag and Minor Threat, all of which culminating in the intense and speed-driven sound of SSD.
The band’s debut album, 1982’s The Kids Will Have Their Say, and 1983 follow-up EP Get It Away remain landmark first wave hardcore releases, each release featuring socio-political commentary and defiantly straight edge lyricism penned by Barile. While initially pressed-up through Barile’s own X-Claim records, both had been re-pressed in more recent times through the Trust Records imprint.
SSD broke up following the release of their more hard-rock-driven 1985 swan song, Break It Up, at which point Barile sold all his guitar gear to buy a jetski. He’d later form the alt-rock group Gage in the Nineties.
SSD had been planned to reunite and perform in late 2023 when The Kids Will Have Their Say was re-issued, but Barile’s health problems, including neuropathy in his hands, prevented the band from playing again. The legendary act were inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame earlier this year.
In recent months, Al was a prolific Instagram poster, often providing health updates. His last post on Friday (April 4th) was made from the hospital following a surgery, and he noted, “I almost died today. My heart stopped. My prognosis isn’t good. I hope I have a few more days, weeks, months, but it looks like days. This may be my last post. I love Nancy.”
“I want you all to know how much Al appreciated your outpouring of love to him. It truly meant a great deal to him,” Nancy Barile wrote in her Instagram post today. “You know I will have a lot to say about Al’s time on this earth and his impact and his legacy, as the days go on, but for now, I’m going to need some time to be with my closest friends and family.”
Below, you’ll find Nancy Barile’s post in full, as well as additional in memoriam salutes from friends and hardcore musicians like Agnostic Front, Youth of Today’s John Porcelly and Sammy Siegler and many more, while musicians including Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament, American Nightmare, Sick of it All and more added condolences in the comments.