Jeremiah Green, founding member and drummer of Modest Mouse, died on Saturday following recently being diagnosed with cancer. The band confirmed the news via social media. He was 45.
“I don’t know a way to ease into this: Today we lost our dear friend Jeremiah,” Modest Mouse wrote. “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,” they continued. “Please appreciate all the love you give, get, have given, and will get. Above all, Jeremiah was about love. We love you.”
Earlier this week, frontman Isaac Brock confirmed that Green had been “diagnosed with cancer a short while ago.” The specifics of the diagnosis are unclear, but several reports, including a post from his mother Carol Namatame, stated Green was battling stage 4 cancer.
Green was a founding member of Modest Mouse alongside frontman Isaac Brock and bassist Eric Judy. The group formed in the early Nineties in Issaquah, Washington, though they later relocated to Portland, Oregon. Like their name, they had modest beginnings, rehearsing in a shed as they crafted their sound influenced by groups such as Pavement, XTC, and Pixies. It would be two years before Modest Mouse made their recorded music debut, releasing their early tracks on K Records.
Their debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About, arrived via Up Records in 1996. The indie rock outfit’s third LP, The Moon & Antarctica found them on major label Epic, where they would later breakthrough to the mainstream with 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which spawned the hits “Float On” and “Ocean Breathes Salty.” Green stepped away briefly at this time, making it the only Modest Mouse album he did not perform on. He returned to the band by the end of 2004.
The group went through numerous lineup changes over the years, with Brock and Green remaining Modest Mouse constants. They released their most recent and seventh studio album, The Golden Casket, last year. In November, they embarked on a tour to mark the 25th anniversary of The Lonesome Crowded West, which Green reportedly took a pause from in order to undergo chemotherapy.
Outside of his tenure with Modest Mouse, Green also performed with Satisfact and Red Star Theory in the Nineties, and also played in Vells and Psychic Emperor.