In Remembrance: The Cute Lepers guitarist Travis Criscola (1985-2009)

Yesterday, March 28, Travis Criscola, the guitarist of the Cute Lepers, was found dead in Cincinnati, Ohio, of an apparent overdose of alcohol and pills. He was 24. Cute Lepers frontman Steve E. Nix posted the following statement on the band’s blog, reading in part:

"Travis was guitarist in the Cute Lepers for the last six months and was the perfect addition to the band as it’s developed. He was our friend. His company was always a pleasure. I don’t think I ever heard him say a negative word about any one. He was smart, polite and considerate, always interested in learning more about music and playing guitar… he really loved music. He was passionate about music in a way that only other like minded musicians recognize and relate with. When Travis joined the band he would not think twice about jumping on the bus from Olympia and making the two hour ride to Seattle for a spur of the moment rehearsal, and then riding the bus two more hours to get back home. In fact Travis was doing this three times a week up until we left for europe to start our tour. His character and his commitment made him the very best we could hope for in a band-mate and a friend. We’re gonna really miss him.



We feel that it’s appropriate and absolutely not in bad taste to disclose the cause of death of our friend. Travis combined alcohol and pills, then went to sleep and never woke up. It was an accident. Travis was not any kind of a habitual drug user. I’m a man who has left drugs and alcohol alone for over a decade and I just wont work with people who are mixed up with narcotics. It is rare to find a rock n’ roll musician in his early twenties who doesn’t get caught up in hitting the bars and going to parties on tour, and Trav was just one of those ones who made a really bad decision. He naively took some type of pills on top of the beer he was drinking and that’s it. I believe that it would be a disservice for us to leave out this information. People would wind up hearing distorted versions of the truth anyways. Also our hope is that other young musicians, or anyone it may apply to who reads this will learn from our tragedy and perhaps wise up a bit."

In addition to being the Cute Lepers’ guitarist, Criscola was also the guitarist of Avenue Rose; you can read that band’s thoughts on his passing here.



Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends and fans of Travis Criscola.



You can watch videos of Criscola performing "Berlin Girls" and "Prove It" with the Cute Lepers shot earlier this month below: