NEW YORK (AP) — Jeremiah Green, the founding drummer of the rock band Modest Mouse, has died just days after the band announced he had been diagnosed with cancer. He was 45 years old.
“Today we lost our dear friend Jeremiah. He laid down to rest and just passed away,” according to a statement posted on the band’s social media accounts on Saturday. “Please appreciate all the love you are giving, receiving, giving and will receive. Above all, Jeremiah spoke of love.
Green was just a teenager when he joined the fledgling group Modest Mouse, which included singer-guitarist Isaac Brock and bassist Eric Judy. Modest Mouse was originally based in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah and later moved to Portland. Its name comes from a passage by Virginia Woolf, who once described ordinary people as “modest people the color of mice”.
Influenced by Talking Heads and XTC, among others, Modest Mouse debuted in 1996 with the album This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About and built a critical following before achieving mainstream success with their fourth release, “Good News for”. People Who Love Bad News’ and the singles ‘Float On’ and ‘Ocean Breathes Salty’.
Green suffered a breakdown during 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News and briefly left the band. He returned for more recent albums, including Strangers to Ourselves and The Golden Casket, released in 2021.
