From Bev Tucker, William's mother:
Found your remembrances of our Son, William through a friend who was browsing the net for info about William. I loved reading through the many remembrances that his friends wrote. William surely was a unique character, and we miss him still as the pain and shock of his death has never gone away, just diminished in its intensity.I think I miss most was his black humor and his one-liners that he was so quick to throw out. Of course, as a musician William's talent was unsurpassed. His work ethic was noted by many who wrote about him and that's what made him stand out. I am a classical pianist and had to practice hard, but William was gifted with an innate ability to create music from the time he was young and practice was second nature to him.
William became ill with testicular pain back in 1997. He did not have cancer, STD's, or any other diagnosed ailment. After 3 years of treatment which included visits to 5 major hospitals, and at least 15 urologists, we still did not have a diagnosis about what was causing the pain. It was unrelenting. Eventually, William did what the doctors were unable to do, he chose to end his life to stop the pain. It had to have taken a tremendous amount of courage to take his life. He did leave us an eight page letter which is heart-wrenching and had to be difficult for him to write to his family. William was very private about this illness and so not many people in Chicago knew about it. When we went to Danny's in Chicago for a celebration of life for William, so many guests there was totally shocked to learn that he had been ill.
Thank you for your tribute to William on your web page. He would have been pleased and somewhat amused to know how deeply people cared for him and respected his musicianship.
Bev Tucker
I knew William really well for a short time in 1989 when he was a DJ at a club I opened with my partner Dianne Galliano, in NYC called The Mission. William was the first person to turn me on to Subway Records ( a Belgian label I think) and of course, the Chicago industrial music. I also played records at The Mission thanks to his help.
I can still remember him telling me that he was auditioning for Ministry. At that time, he was giving guitar lessons to a mutual friend who had originally introduced us several months earlier. He was also working in a record store in the West Village (on Carmine Street).
I lost track of William except for the times when our paths would randomly cross. We ran into each other at a Pigface show when I happened to be on a short trip up to Toronto. Think it was 1991 or 1992. William always made me feel like I was the one person he really wanted to see whenever we did run into each other. He had a wonderful spirit and a way of making people around him feel special.
I sold Mission in 1993 and took a couple of years off and then opened, with my partner Dianne, another club called Luna Lounge. I became very friendly at that time (1996) with Jim Thirlwell who was a regular at the bar. Wouldn't you know that out of the blue, William came in one night? He was beginning to rehearse with Jim for the Foetus tour. I had no idea that they knew each other and Jim had no idea that William and I went back to the Mission together.
Foetus did an unannounced show at Luna Lounge before leaving on their European tour. It really was more of a party as Luna held only about 100 people. We had a tiny PA too. Elysian Fields was the opener that night.
I hung out with William several times that month while they were rehearsing in NYC. We had so much fun.
I knew that he died but I guess I really could never bring myself to focus on him not being somewhere on this planet. I never saw him in any pain. I guess that must have started a year or so after I last saw him at Luna.
Thank you so much for your site. I downloaded a picture or two.
Source: Selene
in 1996 I meet william tucker in italy when play with Foetus... Just now I know the suicide...
William wrote me a post card in 1996, 7 may... after i have had a news from him yet... Is incredible i dont believe this... William with me was very kindly... Just for one night me and
william spoken... but i have a wonderful memory...
In a post card William wrote:Dear Selene sorry it's taken so long to write to you, After the foetus euro tour we played some shows on the east coast of america (opening for ministry!) I am going to JapanW/foetus in august then we are coming back to europe in late aug/sep. (but no shows in Italy) i will mail you an itinerary (tour schedule) later maybe you can come to a show somewhere
Thanx for being so nice to me... I had a wonderful time at your apartment you are a beautiful intelligent woman...kiss kiss nibble nibble oxoxox William
I hope everybody dont forget William.
Source: Adrienne Azzara
I have been wanting to write something for a long time, and I didn't know what to say. Writing has always helped me work through things, and I used to write letters to William a lot. I wish I still had them. I only have the original paper that he first wrote his address and phone number on for me. (It says "don't give this to anyone!" ha ha)
Last night I saw a Pigface show here in San Francisco, and every time I see Pigface I always obsess over William for ages. I try not to get too weepy when I hang out with Levi, so I think this is the time and place to share.....
I met William in 1992 in Dallas, TX, when he was playing guitar for the TKK Sexplosion tour.
I was 21 years old. I can even remember what I was wearing, and what he was wearing. It was love at first sight.
After the show,Charles Levi came out and all but dragged me backstage, asking me if I wanted to meet William because, well, he wanted to meet me. We got along instantly, both sharing a love for sarcasm, dark humor, music, sex and drugs....not necessarily in tbat order. We struck up a sort of long distance relationship. Every time he was in Dallas we would hang out all night, maybe the next day or so, and he never made me feel like a groupie, but always more a part of the group.
I always felt respected, by William and everyone he introduced me to over the years. The same goes now for Charles Levi,who has become a wonderful friend of mine who I love dearly.
The last time I remember seeing William was at a hotel in Dallas on a Chris Connelly tour. It must have been 1995. We had spent a crazy night with Johnathan Melvoin and a couple other people. For some reason I felt that goodbye kiss lasted extra long, but I didn't quite know why... I had spoken to him after that on the phone, and we wrote many letters. We talked about Johnathan a lot, and I know that his death really had a terrible effect on William.
When I moved to San Francisco in 1995, I called William and asked him when he would visit. He didn't end up touring with TKK that year so I just hung out with Charles and the rest of the gang.
He told me he would be touring with Foetus that year (in 1996) and to meet him at the Trocadero. He never showed. He was too sick to make it out. I was so upset and dissapointed that I left the club.He never told me what was wrong with him, just that it was causing him a lot of pain and that it wasn't HIV.
Then I lost touch with him and Charles for a while, and the next time I heard anything about him I found out he was dead.
I wish I had read his suicide note to understand how he felt. I wish I had a picture or any personal item of his.
He was a wonderful person and I will never forget him. I have cried many many times thinking about him.
It was hard for me to grieve William's death, since I knew hardly anyone that knew him well. A lot of people I knew felt as if I was just a fan crying over her favorite rockstar's death. William was much more to me than that. He was smart, beautiful, funny, caring, amazingly talented, and unique. He was an excellent friend and phenominal lover. He was an extraordinary person.
My fiance's name is also William (funny, that...) and luckily he is very understanding about how I feel.
I can't help but wonder if we would still be together if Tucker was still alive. We had sort of a perfect "open relationship", and I don't think I would want anyone to ruin that.
But for now I try to think about all the good times we had and not be sad. William had a huge effect on my life and I am very honored and blessed to have known him. I miss him very much.
Source: Michele
I spent two weeks as a teenager following Pigface around Florida after accidentally accosting Will at a bar. Without my glasses I mistook him for someone I knew. We became fast friends that night and the next two weeks were wonderful. (my parents still wonder about my choice in friends after the weird answering machine message from someone called "Pigface") Somewhere there is a photo of us sitting on a bed next to each other in a hotel room in Florida from 1992. Dirk's full back tattoo is visible in the lower part of the photo as he was lying down. It was printed in a small indie zine. If anyone has one- I would love a copy. The only photographs I had of Tucker burned in an apartment fire I had many years ago. Will and I sent only one letter later that year. I regret that I allowed myself to lose touch ... but I am so thankful for having had him in my life for even a small time.
Source: Mike Steelman
Just want to say thank you for all the hard work you put into the William Tucker web site. I knew him from the early Regressive Aid days. I was in the Groceries during that period. He and I were know as the Wang brothers (Stike and Billy) in Lunchmeat 2000. Lunchmeat was our way of defusing the whole who is going to headline situation when we wanted to do shows together. The deal was Lunchmeat 2000 would always headline and Regressive Aid and the Groceries would alternate in the opening slots. In many ways, Lunchmeat was a better band - it was all about the show.
Here's a link with most of stuff that was recorded post the breakup of both bands, during the Swinging Pistons phase
http://www.weenradio.com/oldnewhope.asp
Both bands grew very close (still are) and had many adventures together. Tucker never failed to amaze me with his guitar work, even standing next to him on stage, I sometimes couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was a true master and blessed with a keen musical sense as to what was needed musically at any point in time.
My favorite Tucker story is about when Tucker, Andrew Weiss, Sim Cain and I went to see a Peter Gabriel show on Halloween. We had already consumed the prerequesite purple pills and wanted to pick up some beer for the ride. At this time the Groceries lived on a farm in mid Jersey and the closest place was the local tavern. Tucker was dressed in a dress and had his face painted. He pleaded with me to go into the bar with him because he wasn't sure what the locals would think. I said sure, "ladies first". I held the door open for him and then closed it behind him and walked back to the car. We all were laughing thinking about Tucker dealing with the rednecks. As time passed, we started to get concerned. Then Tucker appears with a case of beer - much more than we know he had money for. Turns out he had won the best costume award.
It has taken me a very long time to come to grips with his passing. The last time I saw him alive was at the Ween show I see mentioned on your site.
Source: Asrock of The Final Cut
Although ive been silent for years about william, it by no means conveys how i really feel and did feel for him. William was daunting and relentless, always finding ways to do things when i was just learning. although he could never instill his work ethnic in me, which contributed to our distance in later years, he ended up teaching me more than he knows. there are still times, when i work on the new final cut, when i wish he was here. to lend an ear, or tell me how horribly rotten the song was. he was both a mentor, and a teacher to me.
and i miss him dearly......more than he knows......
Source: Rand Libberton
I was a fan of most of the projects William Tucker was involved in and saw him play live many times. I lived in Chicago during the peak of the Industrial scene, and he was everywhere. I didn't know him, other than to have shook his hand after a couple of shows, but the music he was involved in was so much a part of my life that I feel like I did.I'm about the same age as William, and we grew up together in some ways. My tastes and interests grew and matured as his did.
It was years ago that I saw him last. It was a Swinging Junkies show in San Francisco, where I live now. There were maybe 20 people at the show. Chris and William sat on barstools, we sat on the floor around them. They performed beautifully. It's one of my fondest music-related memories.
In the years since that show, "real life" took over. Work became more time consuming and stressful, the bills more ominous, time more scarce. As much as I loved the music and "the scene", I simply grew old in a lot of ways.
...so last week I stumbled across Chris Connelly/The Bells "Blonde Exodus" at a music store. Time has gone by so quickly these past years that I didn't realize that it even existed. I put in on for the first time tonight and the lyrics of "Magnificent Wing" caught my ear. I pulled sleeve out, and I was reading the lyrics when I saw, under the credits, "Dedicated to William Tucker". That brought me to you site.
I haven't cried often in my adult life, but tonight I did. It felt silly to sit here, an adult man, crying in my living room, but William Tucker mattered in my life.
Thanks for "listening", thanks for putting the site together...
Source: Chris Connelly (from the liner notes of the "Live on WZRD 2002/Swinging Junkies 1994" CD)
As I may have explained needlessly, and numerous times, this release is a Really limited one, to add to its' uniqueness, all the sleeves were Hand drawn by myself (charcoal and pencil on heavy gauge paper)
There is nothing much to say about the WZRD selections, the Music preceded an interview, I enjoyed these performances particularly, which is why they are included here.
I was thrilled on the last pigface tour (2001) to be handed a cassette of me and William together-my eternal thanks to the anonymous donor- I don't have an extensive documentation of our Relationship, which is sad, certainly most of what is of decent quality-i.e. anything above document quality-is out there already, which brings me to my next point- this live material is probably from a hand held cassette recorder, somewhere in the crowd (the engineer who edited and mastered this disc did all that he could with it to bring the quality up a few notches) but that's not really the point, is it?
The "Swinging Junkies" tour (the name coined by the two of us in one of our frequent black humour binges-neither of us were junkies) Happened immediately after the completion of the "Shipwreck" album, by a week, I think. We were both pretty burned out, I had just separated from my wife and had come back to Chicago with one suitcase and a guitar and was living in an unfurnished apartment with a radio, boo fucking hoo. Me and William were feeding off each other, it was me and him in a van with a driver all day for 6 weeks, hours and hours of ranting, laughing and playing, One day I shall divulge more, but it was a very important tour for the both of us.
Never a day goes by when I don't think of William sadly and fondly, I miss him dreadfully, but I am happy to offer this for anyone who cares. To those of you who met William-you know-to those of you who never did, I can only tell you he was a brilliant madman, one of the funniest, most patient and caring people I have ever met.<signed>
Chris Connelly, July 2002
Source: F.J of The Aggression
Rotten Fuckers
William Tucker was a hero of mine. I remember first seeing him in the live Ministry video, and he stood out because he was the only one who looked like he was having any fun. Onstage, Tucker always looked incredibly cool. He appeared everywhere. With Ministry. With Revco. Thrill Kill Kult. Chemlab. And he continued to do so until his death last month.
A denizen of the Chicago/Wax Trax! scene, Tucker's affiliation with any musical project guaranteed a step up in its quality. He was like the best supporting actor you could find; a Gene Hackman or an Ed Harris, someone who you knew would always give 110% to the project. His involvement with an album automatically made the CD a must-own. When I heard Tucker had recorded with Thanatos, a Chicago-based goth band, I bought the album blind. I had no idea what they sounded like, only that Tucker was on the album. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
Tucker was a massive influence on myself and Ehren Kruger when we started The Aggression. He was in my favorite band, Ministry, and he was in Kruger’s favorite band, Thrill Kill Kult, and as a result we always felt there had to be something incredible about Tucker. As the years progressed, it became more and more evident as to why he was so special.
A musical vagabond by nature, he would travel from one project to another, adapting to the different styles and sounds of the people he was working with while always imprinting his own unique sound on the project. He did everything; he played guitar, programmed, remixed, produced. He would try any style, adapt to it, and perfect it. He had infinite talent.
I think he was the only part of Pigface I kept going to see long after they were remotely interesting. On the second Pigface tour in New York, Tucker provoked the already rowdy crowd by calling them a bunch of "rotten fuckers." I thought the club was going to cave in. It made for a great rock star moment, and calling people "rotten fuckers" became an early Aggression catchphrase for a few years after.
Tucker was a true rock star. He partied, did drugs, had sex, always looked like he never slept, and was totally unapologetic about all of the above. And when he would get on stage, he was flawless. Never once in the countless times I saw him play did I ever see him be nothing less than amazing. He was a great musician, and a hell of a showman. And funny. He would let out some killer one-liners during his many gigs with Chris Connelly that would have the crowd rolling. And he treated the people who came out to the gigs with respect. He always signed autographs, always took the time to talk to people one on one. One thing I noticed was that he always would acknowledge kids in the audience who were wearing t-shirts from the classic anime AKIRA, which Tucker later told me was his favorite movie of all time. In a scene where backbiting and bitching is the norm, I never heard a person say one bad thing about William Tucker.
I’m not going to sit here and say that he was a close buddy of mine, but thanks to Connelly, I did get to talk to Tucker a few times over the past ten years. He was smart and interesting and always gave me the good advice to just "be myself" musically. It sounds corny, but simple advice like that made a big difference to me, especially coming from someone I respected so much.
It will probably be years before I learn just how many different projects William Tucker was involved with. In fact as I started to write this, I learned one of the best songs on the Pi film soundtrack had been written by Tucker under the pseudonym of Psilonaut. I had no idea, and I'm sure there will be many more exciting discoveries to come.
The last thing I wanted to do was dwell on the death of William Tucker. If anything, I felt this was a good forum to celebrate his life and his body of work. What a shame to lose such a talented guy. I’ll miss you Tucker.
F.J.
Source: Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter #34
An old and dear and often crazed friend of mine WILLIAM TUCKER recently passed away in his adopted home of Chicago. He was one of the best rock/punk/funk/jazz/thrash/metal/improv electric guitarists I have known. He knew how to harness feedback, whipping up a storm on his axe. His early bands included REGRESSIVE AID, SCORNFLAKES & CLEFT PALATE - brutal & brilliant units. I recall Regressive Aid (amazing instrumental power trio, similar but earlier than Blind Idiot God) blowing away dozens of other bands every other Friday night for an entire summer, as well as an incredible double bill with Shockabilly at the Jetty in Jersey. Scornflakes also toured with Flipper, who they also blew away and were ripped off by those junky knuckleheads. The outstanding rhythm team for Regressive Aid & Scornflakes were Andrew Weiss & Sim Cain, who later went into Gone & the Rollins Band, sort of leaving Tucker high and dry. William eventually moved to Chicago playing with Ministry and Pigface, becoming infamous for his wacky antics with Al Jourgenson. Tucker was a major influence on Geen from Ween who used to check out Regressive Aid in their early days. Unfortunately none of the early records by his original bands are in print, never released on cd. Perhaps it is time.
Bruce Lee Gallanter
Source: Wax Trax! / TVT Records
For Immediate Release May 17, 1999 Guitarist, songwriter, producer, performer, William Tucker passed away May 14th at the age of 38. William's roots were seeded deep in the Chicago and New York music underground. His musical projects ranged from intimate acoustic to heavy industrial. William was known as an accomplished remixer, film scorer, and appeared on several soundtracks. Some of the bands and artists he recorded, toured with, or produced were: Ministry, Foetus, Chris Connelly, Revolting Cocks, Ween, Pigface, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, KMFDM, Chemlab, 16 Volt, Thanatos, The Final Cut, and Chainsuck. He touched so many people in his own unique way and anyone who knew him will never forget him. His musical interpretations and expressions will be greatly missed by all. For more information contact Wax Trax! / TVT Records at (773) 252-1000
Source: CDNow
Ministry Sideman William Tucker Commits Suicide
May 17, 1999, 1:20 pm PTLongtime Ministry sideman and prolific industrial guitarist E. William Tucker killed himself at his apartment in Chicago this past Friday (May 14). He was 38. Initial reports indicate that he had taken pills and afterwards slit his own throat. His body was discovered by his roommate, along with a 10-page suicide note, which has not been made public at this time.
Many around Tucker speculate that he may have been looking to escape from the pain of an unknown illness that had hounded him for the past few years. Dannie Fleisher of WaxTrax! Records is currently planning a memorial in his name.
Known primarily for his session work for Al Jourgensen and Ministry, Tucker had enjoyed a long and fruitful career on his own. Growing up in New Jersey, Tucker formed Regressive Aid with future Rollins Band members Andrew Weiss and Sim Cain, a brilliant progressive rock/funk group that still retains a loyal fanbase. He gave guitar lessons in the area, most notably to Mickey Melchiondio, aka Dean Ween of Ween. In an interview, Aaron Freeman, aka Gene Ween, declared that Tucker taught Mickey "everything he knew about the guitar, as bad as it could sound and as good as it could sound."
Enjoying a local hit with "(I Love) The Sound of Machines" under the name the Swinging Pistons, he caught the attention of Jourgensen, who invited Tucker to play guitar on The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Tucker moved to Chicago, and toured at points with the Revolting Cocks and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.
Collaborating with Revolting Cocks vocalist Chris Connelly, Tucker revealed a softer side of himself on recordings released under Connelly's name. He was scheduled to tour with Ministry for their upcoming album, The Dark Side of the Spoon, at the time of his death. - Justin Hampton
Source: CDNow
Memorial Service Planned For Ministry Sideman E. William Tucker
May 18, 1999, 2:35 pm PT
A private memorial service for friends and family of E. William Tucker, who committed suicide on Friday (May 14) (allstar, May 17) will be held Saturday (May 22) in Chicago.
Tucker was an accomplished guitarist, songwriter, producer, and remixer, who had worked with Ministry, Foetus, Chris Connelly, Revolting Cocks, Ween, Pigface, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, KMFDM, 16 Volt, and many others.
-- Carrie Borzillo
Source: Industrial Nation
"When one light goes out, a part of all of us dies."
On a Friday (May 14), when most people are happily ending their workweeks and readying themselves for nightlife, E. William Tucker ended his life. The 38-year-old guitarist/programmer was well known for his session work and tours with Al Jourgensen and Ministry. A native of New Jersey, Tucker founded his band Regressive Aid with eventual Rollins Band alumni Andrew Weiss and Sim Cain. Tucker also taught guitar to Ween's Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondio and Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman. As the Swinging Pistons, Tucker released "(I Love) The Sound of Machines", which netted him a gig as guitarist on Ministry's The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Additionally, he worked with Revolting Cocks and Chris Connelly (solo), Pigface, Foetus, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, and Thanatos. Tucker's body and a 10-page suicide letter were discovered by his roommate at their Chicago apartment. Tucker apparently had taken pills and subsequently slit his own throat. Speculations had been circulating among those near to Tucker that he had been seeking an end to his suffering from an unknown illness. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to tour for Ministry's new album, The Dark Side of the Spoon.
Source: Guitar.com
Industrial guitarist E. William Tucker, known for his work with Ministry and assorted bands that recorded for the Wax Trax! label, committed suicide at his Chicago home, leaving a ten-page note that family members declined to make public. Tucker, who was 38, began his career in his native New Jersey with a band called Regressive Aid, which also spawned Rollins sidekicks Sim Cain and Andrew Weiss.
Source: Godsend Online
May 19, 1999 : Was shocked and saddened by the news that Chicago-based guitarist/programmer William Tucker committed suicide on May 13. Tucker is best known for his work with Pigface, the Chris Connelly band, Ministry, Revco, Foetus, and Thrill Kill Kult. He also worked with such electronic luminaries as The Final Cut, Thanatos, 16 Volt, Chemlab, KMFDM, and others. Tucker's input was largely unheralded, but his contributions to the Chicago scene were great, and his input will be missed.
Source: Kong
William Tucker, guitarist /producer, died Sat. May 15,1999 in Chicago. Tucker performed and recorded with many bands including Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Thrill Kill Kult, Foetus and countless others. He also produced several albums and was author of the "William Tucker Guitar" loops for Sonic Foundry's "Acid Rock" CD-ROM. He will be greatly missed by his friends and fans everywhere. Rest In Peace
Source: Hinternet
14.5.:
William Tucker
Der US-amerikanische Gitarrist begeht in seinem Appartment in Chicago Selbstmord indem er Tabletten nimmt und sich danach die Kehle aufschneidet.Er hinterließ einen 10seitigen Abschiedsbrief. Tucker war Gründungsmitglied von Regressive Aid (zusammen mit Andrew Weiss und Sim Cain, die später bei Henry Rollins spielten), er war der Gitarrenlehrer von Dean Ween, arbeitete als Sessionmusiker für Ministry und tourte mit den Revolting Cocks und My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.
The US-American guitarist commits in his Appartment in Chicago suicide as it tablets takes and thereafter the throat left itself more aufschneidet.Er a 10seitigen farewell letter. Tucker was initial member of Regressive Aid (together with Andrew white and Sim Cain, which played later with Henry roll in), it was a guitar teacher of Dean Ween, worked as a session musician for Ministry and tourte with the Revolting Cocks and My Life With The Thrill Kill cult.
1998 Damn! Interview with Tucker
Source: Earpollution Profiles (excerpt from interview with Martin Atkins)
"The first Invisible release, What You Can't See Won't Hurt You, is a compilation. William Tucker was producing a couple of things and he had his own band, Cleft Palette, and they were getting played on the radio. He was trying to find a deal. I was trying to find a deal for my band, Brian Brain, and something else I was involved in. There were all these things going on and I said, "Screw this. Let's just all get together. How much money does everyone got? Let's just put this out." I think I had $150 and William had $70. Everybody put their money on the table and we got the record made."
Source: Chaos Control (excerpt from interview with Chris Connelly)
What was the reason for the Swinging Junkies tour you and William did earlier this year?
"There were many reasons. The Swinging Junkies is actually something William and I have been doing for three or four years, on and off, and it was a really naive way first and foremost to present the new material in a rather more intimate atmosphere. We went on tour straight after we recorded the album and it was a chance for me to take that material out live and try to get a feel for the dynamics of the songs, for my voice in particular. Another reason was we just wanted to tour. I hadn't been out for a long time, and neither had William, and felt it time just to go out and travel the country and do something a little bit different. There wasn't a lot of overhead, it was just the three of us in a car driving around and it was really laid back. We didn't lose much money. It was just really pleasant to do. Traveling is just a wonderful source of inspiration for me. We just did it for the hell of it, really."
Source: Ink Nineteen (excerpt from interview with Padraic Ogl of Thanatos)
The current incarnation of Thanatos consists of Padraic Ogl on vocals and lyrics, and William Tucker (formerly of Pigface, Chris Connelly Band, Foetus... ) on instruments and programming. Sam Rosenthal (Black Tape for a Blue Girl) also guests on two album tracks. The addition of Tucker's industrial-tinged sound manipulations has made a huge difference to the Thanatos sound, moving it from the mournful, trapped-in-a-dark-corner acoustic tunes of This Endless Night Inside and much of An Embassy to Gaius to a more in-your-face industrialized rock attack.
"The next record will have less programmed drums and a few added musicians. We need to take some of the pressure off Tucker. He is getting old..."
Source: Sonic Boom (excerpts from interview with 16 Volt)
Eric: A lot of people who were supposed to help us on the record ended up coming down and hanging out like Charles Levi and Justice from Clay People. It became more of a private thing once we got here. Having all of these people present made it less of a personal thing. Tucker was really into what we've been doing.
Eric: The only guest that ended up on the record was William Tucker and Marc, but he has played a large part in writing a lot of the tracks. We talked to all these people and asked them all if they wanted to play on the album and we ended up with this massive list. We could have had half of the people. Once we got here we realized that we should just do it ourselves. It would have been cool to have all those people on the album but whats the point. We both play guitar, whats one more player.
Source: Grip Inc. News (William Tucker in Sons of Domination?)
10/4 Sorry it's been so long-I have been searching LONG and HARD (HIGH and LOW) for something to tell all you fans. The band is currently planning to do some more touring in North America and Europe in the fall/winter. The members are also quite busy in other projects as well. Dave is working on his first drum-instructional book. Waldemar is currently producing the new Moonspell-album. Gus is writing new material with his side-project Sons Of Domination, which features Paul Raven (ex-Killing Joke & Prong), Paul Ferguson (ex-Killing Joke) and William Tucker (Ministry). Thanks to our friends at Scream Webzine
Source: Carson Arnold's H(ear) interview with Matthew Young
CA: There's that alternative version of "Dummy Line" which you gave me. You were telling me this was recorded with William Tucker who did the music for the film Pi?
MY: Andy Gomory mixed Traveler's Advisory at his Gabriel Farm Studio near here, and he and Bill Tucker were involved in a project recording people they knew and liked and sending a small pressing of singles out to college radio stations on a regular basis. I wasn't part of this circle of musicians (which involved the band Ween and revolved around the the Princeton Record Exchange, a great for hard-to-find CDs and LPs), but they wanted to do a version of "Dummy Line", which was fine with me. They recorded my dulcimer and vocals and then added the other instruments. I didn't see Bill again, but was aware of his work on Pi, and then heard maybe a year and a half ago that he had committed suicide in Chicago, where he was living. I don't know the circumstances.
Source: Cult of Boognish (Ween setlist w/William Tucker)
11-28-94 - John & Peter's New Hope, PA w/ William Tucker
Baby Bitch, Freedom of '76, El Camino, Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy), Take Me Away, Don't Shit Where You Eat , What Deaner Was Talking About , Pumpin' 4 the Man , Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony? , Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down) , I Get A Little Taste Of You , Tick , Dr. Rock Backstage, A Tear For Eddie, I Can't Put My Finger On It Intro, I Can't Put My Finger On It, Poop Ship Destroyer, The Stallion Pt. 3, Drifer In the Dark , Touch My Tooter , The Blarney Stone, Star-Spangled Banner, Big Jilm, The HIV Song, Koko, Vallejo, Free Bird