Wyoming rockers Ray Carlisle (far left), Kody Templeman, Brandon Carlisle, and Miguel Chen, of Teenage Bottlerocket in Denver in April 2011 during a WyoFile interview. Earlier this week we learned Brandon was in a coma and fighting for his life. Thousands of friends from Wyoming and from around the world were hoping for Brandon to pull through. He lost the battle and died on Saturday. (Brad Christensen/WyoFile — click to enlarge)
(UPDATED Saturday November 7, 2015 — see below)
In April 2011, I chased Laramie-based Teenage Bottlerocket to Denver to catch them at a show before they departed for a European tour, and I interviewed them for WyoFile. I was joined by then WyoFile photographer Brad Christensen. I wrote this story. This week we learned drummer Brandon Carlisle is in a coma and fighting for his life. The outpouring of support from Wyoming and from around the world reveals how many lives Brandon and his bandmates have touched.
When you’re a music snob, as I am, it’s something special to meet and interview a group of musicians you’ve admired for a long time. It’s something else altogether to spend time with a world-renowned band you admire and also happens to be from your own small hometown of Wyoming. You bump into them every other year or so while milling around outside the venue, and they remember everybody. You get to live vicariously through their songs and social media pics and conversations.
It was very fortunate that Brad Christensen joined me on this particular interview. A longtime punk-rocker himself, Brad easily convinced the TBR gang to ham through a photo shoot in the green room and the stairwell. It was a good time. — Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief
UPDATE (Saturday November 7, 2015): Members of Teenage Bottlerocket announced late Friday night that Brandon Carlisle would not recover. He has passed away.
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