Allen Blickle — Baroness’ founding drummer and an integral force behind the metal band’s first few albums — has passed away at the age of 42. Friends of the musician confirmed his death over the weekend.
News of Blickle’s passing began circulating on Saturday (September 6th), with label Weedian delivering a tribute post to the drummer on Facebook, with no further details. The next day, Kylesa/The Discussion guitarist-vocalist Laura Pleasants spoke on her friend’s passing in an Instagram post.
“I feel so lucky to have reconnected with you after moving to L.A. a few years ago,” Pleasants wrote. “Spending time [with] you out here, playing music, going to shows, hanging at a pool party, rocking the Hell out to FEAR… getting to know you on a deeper lever was a real privilege. You were a REAL one! So talented, so rad.”
Today (September 8th), Baroness co-founder John Dyer Baizley delivered a tribute of his own on Instagram, captioning an old live photo of the band, “I treasure every moment we shared.”
“It breaks my heart to have to share the news that my dear friend, creative partner and former bandmate Allen Blickle passed away a few days ago,” he continued. “I’m still in shock that he’s gone. We ask for understanding as his family and this band process his passing and grieve his loss. Allen, I love you and miss you.”
Blickle and Baizley co-founded Baroness in Savannah, Georgia in 2003, alongside guitarist Tim Loose and bassist Summer Welch. They recorded and self-released a demo that same year, and pressed up their First EP a year later.
Blickle’s percussive rumble anchored the first round of much-loved Baroness full-lengths: 2007’s Red Album, 2009 follow-up Blue Record and 2012 double-LP Yellow & Green.
The drummer and the rest of the group were involved in a traumatic bus accident while traveling Europe in the summer of 2012. The crash left Blickle and then-bassist Matt Maggioni with fractured vertebrae, while Baizley suffered multiple broken limbs. Blickle left the band shortly after the accident.
In the intervening years, Blickle would go on to play with ALPACA, A Place to Bury Strangers and, most recently, soul group Romantic Dividends — the latter, L.A.-based outfit released their debut album, GIALLO, in May.
Baroness are currently out on their “Red and Blue” tour celebrating the music of those first two albums.