As reported by Brooklyn Vegan, John Reis of Hot Snakes recently discussed the death of bandmate Rick Froberg in July with Planet B’s Justin Pearson and Luke Henshaw on their podcast Cult & Culture, bringing up that new Hot Snakes music had been in the works prior to his passing.
“He definitely changed my world,” John said. “His biggest fans were his best friends. With his passing, it’s a loss of a best friend. I also lost my favorite singer in the world, I lost my favorite visual artist, I lost a lot.”
“We were working on music, and I just feel like he’s gonna come into the room–obviously I know he’s not,” he went on. “The tremendous loss and sadness is real, but there’s a part of it, it’s so fresh that I just feel his spirit is everywhere around me. I hear his voice, I see him in certain places that I associate with him.”
Reis said of the Drive Like Jehu rocker, “Rick at 55, this is my opinion but it’s the right opinion, was doing his best work ever. His best art, his best music. He was firing on all cylinders. The stuff we were working on–you know, it’s up for people to decide whether they think it’s better or not–but in my opinion, it’s every bit if not better than the first Hot Snakes record. There’s not a lot of people you can say that about at 55.”
Whether or not fans can expect to hear Froberg’s last work is still up in the air, however the released material that he left behind is enough to prove his status as a legendary musician and visual artist. John Reis is currently involved in his new punk band PLOSVIS, created in 2021 alongside Rob Crow, Jordan Clark, and Atom Willard with an self-titled record released last year.
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