Tim Branom, who played with late Alice In Chains bassist Mike Starr and singer Layne Staley during their early years, recently marked the anniversary of Starr’s death with a touching post on Facebook.
“Thinking of Mike Starr who we lost on this day in 2011. We lived together and played together. I first met him when we were 16. This photo is from the 90s when he was in Alice In Chains but we played in a band in 1987 called Gypsy Rose. Contrary to rumours, he was always the first one to band rehearsal, as he walked to the band house right after he ended his job at the hot tub place.
He was always very optimistic, and just wanted to be liked. When you are 21, you chase girls and life’s a party. We used to apply a fake tan and sometimes we were a bit too orange. We’d take really long showers and blast Motley Crue. Mike started working out and got in amazing shape. We shared each other’s clothes and Mike had massive clothes. He and his dad had met a bunch of famous people and the Polaroids were on the walls. We had some very personal conversations.
I slept on the couch in front of Sean Kinney’s drums. Sean was dating Mike’s sister, Melinda and they were a happy couple. Mike’s mom, Gayle, went shopping for us a few times and loaded us up with food. Mike’s dad, John also lived with us. He was almost like an older brother. I might not be here today if I was not for their generosity. At the time, South Seattle was a very seedy and often violent place. Thank you all for the memories.”
