It will be a cold rest of the week in Boston as one of its sons is gone. Eric Stevenson, former drummer of the legendarily underrated band Only Living Witness, passed after a five-month battle with melanoma. He was 46.
Stevenson was the father of a six-year old son and only three years ago had performed a reunion concert with OLW in Cambridge. The loss in the music community, but especially the Boston scene, is palpable. As J. Bennett noted in our Hall of Fame article for the band’s ’93 release Prone Mortal Form, “They were the best band you never heard” and noted what the hardcore pioneers were able to accomplish with only two albums, influences that can be found in bands such as Converge, Shadows Fall and Isis.
As we think Stevenson would like to be remembered, here are some clips that span from the Only Living Witness’s early days to the aforementioned reunion, proving that another talent has been taken away too soon.
