My Condolences To Adrenaline Mob (RIP David Z & AJ Pero)

On Friday, July 14th, 2017, Adrenaline Mob bassist David Z (full name David Zablidowsky) was killed in a motor vehicle accident near Gainsville, FL. The band's RV was parked on the side of the road to fix a flat tire when a tractor-trailer plowed into it and started a fire. David Z, who also played in Trans-Siberian Orchestra, was 38 years old. Russell Allen, Mike Orlando, drummer Jordan Cannata, and several others were badly injured in the crash.

This is not the first tragedy to befall Adrenaline Mob. On March 20th, 2015, drummer AJ Pero (ex-Twisted Sister) was found dead on the band's tour bus of an apparent heart attack.

 

I was feeling pretty shitty yesterday because I poked a lot of fun at Adrenaline Mob back in 2012, including, notably, the "Hitler Reacts To The Adrenaline Mob EP" video. Just because I didn't like the band's music that much doesn't mean I wished death or injury on any of the band members for crying out loud! The Omertá album was a shock when it came out because Mike Portnoy had talked a bunch of trash about Dream Theater (such as accusing them of plagiarizing "Feed The Machine" by Red and devaluing their Grammy Nomination as just a "career nod"), so it seemed hypocritical that he was taking part in something which was fairly un-progressive and un-forward thinking. But I and some other Dream Theater fans overreacted. It was music meant for a different target audience. That's all.

If I had any bootlegs of these guys, I would share them. I figure it's the least I could do. But unfortunately, I've only come across one bootleg from these guys over the years (video from Paris 2012) which is available on the dreamtheater.cat website if you register.