Jeremiah Green, Modest Mouse drummer and founding member, dead at 45

Jeremiah Green, the founding drummer for the rock band Modest Mouse, died on New Year’s Eve, just days after the band announced he had been diagnosed with cancer. He was 45.

“Today we lost our dear friend Jeremiah. He laid down to rest and simply faded out,” according to a statement posted Saturday on the band’s social media accounts. “Please appreciate all the love you give, get, have given, and will get. Above all, Jeremiah was about love.”

Green’s mother, Carol Namatame, said on Facebook that her son  “lost his courageous battle with cancer on December 31.” 

“Jeremiah was a light to so many,” she wrote in her statement. “At this time the family is requesting privacy. More information will be forthcoming including a Celebration of Life for friends and fans in the coming months. Jeremiah’s loved ones would like to thank everyone for their continued well wishes and support. ”

Green, who was barely in his teens when he joined Modest Mouse, featured singer-guitarist Issac Brock and bassist Eric Judy, according to the Associated Press. Modest Mouse began in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah and eventually relocated to Portland. The band’s name originates from a passage by Virginia Woolf, who once described everyday individuals as “modest mouse-coloured people.”

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 substantial critical following before having mainstream success with their fourth release, “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” and the singles “Float On” and “Ocean Breathes Salty.”

The band started their latest tour on November 18 and ended on December 17 to mark the 25th anniversary of their second album, The Lonesome Crowded West.”

Besides Modest Mouse, Green also performed with Satisfact and Red Star Theory in the Nineties, reports Rolling Stone, and also played in Vells and Psychic Emperor.