My Chemical Romance engineer and producer Kato Khandwala dies
Kato Khandwala—longtime producer for the Pretty Reckless and a recording engineer who had worked with My Chemical Romance, Mayday Parade and more—died on Wednesday from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.
As reported by Loudwire, numerous artists have offered their condolences to the engineer’s family and friends on social media, including the members of Pop Evil, whose latest, self-titled album was produced by Khandwala.
“Today our world stopped,” Pop Evil posted on Thursday. “We lost a mentor, a brother, a leader, but most of all a good friend. Kato, thank you for helping bring positivity and fun throughout this last album we made together.”
Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale said, “Kato Khandwala, you will forever be a part of the Halestorm family. Thank you for touching this universe with your music and your amazing ability to bring out the best in the artists you worked with.”
The producer, who first met the Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen in 2008, went on to record all of the band’s albums, as noted by Blabbermouth. He also worked on recordings for Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, and he engineered MCR’s The Black Parade Is Dead live album.
In an interview from last year, Khandwala described his in-studio method with the Reckless. “I am there to… make sure that they’re always operating at their very best,” he said. “So that goes from the writing to the performances to taking risks and being experimental and maybe stepping a little bit outside of their zone. So I try to create an environment where they feel comfortable to experiment and try things.”
See more artist remembrances of Khandwala below:
Love and prayers out for Kato Khandwala and his loved ones. Kato was a brilliant producer. I was a big fan of his work, RIP Kato
— Adelitas Way (@adelitasway) April 26, 2018
