Modest Mouse drummer Jeremiah Green died yesterday (December 31) at the age of 45, the band have confirmed on social media.
The musician was diagnosed with stage four cancer last month, his mother shared on Facebook on Christmas Day.
Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock later confirmed the news to fans but said Green’s treatment was “going smoothly and making a positive difference”. However, in a post to Instagram last night, the band told fans: “I don’t know a way to ease into this: Today we lost our dear friend Jeremiah.”
They continued: “He laid down to rest and simply faded out. I’d like to say a bunch of pretty words right now, but it just isn’t the time. These will come later, and from many people.
“Please appreciate all the love you give,get, have given, and will get. Above all, Jeremiah was about love. We love you.”
Green, who grew up in the Seattle area, co-founded Modest Mouse with Brock and bassist Eric Judy in 1993. He later quit the band in 2003 when he suffered a nervous breakdown, telling NME in 2021: “I felt like something bad came into me – not bad, but like a spirit… I started acting really rebellious… I was out for trouble. I was really anti-war and if [other people] weren’t down, I would just go nuts – weird revolutionary type stuff. I was like, ‘I’m gonna do something about this Afghanistan war! It’s bullshit!’”
He rejoined the group in 2004, but his absence meant he did not appear on the band’s most successful album, ‘Good News For People Who Love Bad News’. Green featured on all other Modest Mouse records, helping steer their sound with his acclaimed style – he is often considered one of the best drummers in modern indie and was named one of the Top 50 sticksmen in rock by Stylus Magazine in 2007.
Outside of Modest Mouse, Green also performed with a number of other artists, including Satisfact, Red Stars Theory, Peeved, Vells, and Psychic Emperor. In 2008, he also released a seven-inch of drum breaks in collaboration with Plastiq Phantom under the alias World Gang.
Green had been taking part in Modest Mouse’s tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their breakthrough second album, ‘The Lonesome Crowded West’, but had had to leave the dates before their end due to his diagnosis.
Tributes have begun to be paid online by fellow artists and the band’s fans. Johnny Marr, who joined the band for their 2007 album ‘We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank’, described Green in an Instagram post as “my friend, bandmate, and the most creative musician I ever met”.
The Cribs’ Ross Jarman, whose band toured with Modest Mouse earlier this year and have shared a musical connection for years, wrote on Instagram: “Hard to believe. Sending love to all of the @modestmouse family/ loved ones. Jeremiah, I’m grateful for the time we spent with you in 2022. Rest In Peace.”
The Moldy Peaches‘ Kimya Dawson wrote on Twitter: “One of the sweetest. Fuck cancer.”
One of the sweetest. 💔 fuck cancer https://t.co/lXZ83dtpPH
— Kimya Dawson (@mrskimyadawson) January 1, 2023
See more tributes below.
jeremiah green. what can you even say? the man played a drum set like he'd been locked in a room with it since age 4 without ever hearing rock music, and then was loosed on the world as soon as he met isaac and eric. so inventive, so complementary, so fluid. what a loss.
— Patrick Lyons (@p_lyons_) January 1, 2023
RIP Jeremiah Green. An unbelievably inventive drummer for the band that shaped my entire musical taste and I loved more than anything when I was in high school. I tried to figure out how to play Truckers Atlas for at least 10 years. Could never get it right. What a legend. pic.twitter.com/aGifa92BSa
— Sam Cooper (@SamDCooper) January 1, 2023
These songs don't happen without Isaac Brock, of course, but they also don't happen without Jeremiah Green. He brought so much energy and personality to these songs that will never be forgotten.
— Human After All (@black_l0dger) January 1, 2023
Jeremiah Green was a force. Fuck cancer. pic.twitter.com/bmegrMrNZW
— 𝔖𝔠𝔬𝔱𝔱 ℜ𝔲𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔩 (@pscottrussell) January 1, 2023
When Modest Mouse were a trio they made inimitable rhythmic songs that were loose and chaotic but also grooved so hard – Jeremiah Green was the force behind that. All-timer drummer responsible for some of the great indie rock of our era. Such sad news RIPhttps://t.co/vShRkoABhy
— Geoff Wilt (@geoffwilt) January 1, 2023
Jeremiah Green was easily one of my very favorite professional drummers. I remember playing this track to a drummer I knew in college and it blew his mind to smithereens. He then played it to warm up every gig with his band. A force of nature. RIP. https://t.co/0A0kGatPno
— Vikram Murthi (@fauxbeatpoet) January 1, 2023
RIP Jeremiah Green. His drumming on “The Lonesome Crowded West” is one of my all time favorite drumming performances. https://t.co/t1yYAByuXg
— Steve Migs (@ImSteveMigs) January 1, 2023
Very sad to wake up to the news that Jeremiah Green has passed at the too young age of 45. Simply one of the all-time great indie rock drummers. Playing “Truckers Atlas” today in his honor. RIP. https://t.co/YV85RwR5cP
— Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) January 1, 2023
very sad to hear of the death of Jeremiah Green, what a brilliant and creative drummer he was. Thinking of this, a 4-track demo recorded in a shed when he was 16 or 17, the incredible tone and feel of his playing already there https://t.co/bZ15Hmgox2
— Mark Richardson (@MarkRichardson) January 1, 2023