Former Broken Hope drummer Ryan Stanek has died at the age of 42, former bandmate Jeremy Wagner has reported.
Stanek co-founded the death metal band in 1998 and left in 1997 and appeared on their first four albums Swamped In Gore, The Bowels Of Repugnance, Repulsive Conception and Loathing.
Wagner says: “Though Ryan and I didn’t talk that often since he split from Broken Hope, we did correspond once in a while, and we always wished each other well.
“Ryan’s artistic talents went beyond drums – he also played acoustic guitar incredibly well, wrote some of the segues on the earlier albums, contributed his own lyrical parts. He became a singer-songwriter post Broken Hope, where he expressed his art his own way, and very well.”
The guitarist adds a personal message to his old friend: “If you can hear my words, please know that I’ll never forget you. You enriched and changed my life for the better.
“I’m extremely grateful to have known you, and to have known you as my friend when we were young men — and also, the last time we ever spoke.”
Stanek’s obituary and guest book reports that he “passed away unexpectedly” on March 1 in a Wisconsin hospital. His funeral takes place on Saturday (March 7).
Original Broken Hope vocalist Joe Ptacek, a member from 1988 until their split in 2002, died in 2010. The band regrouped in 2012 and currently features recent members Damian Leski, Mike Miczek, Matt Szlachta and Diego Soria alongside Wagner.
