Rev. Jim Forrester Tribute – Sixty Watt Shaman Bassist (1974-2017)
Today is the seven year anniversary of the passing of one of stoner rocks most iconic and coolest guy ever, Reverend Jim Forrester. On December 18th 2017, Jim was tragically murdered in Baltimore, Maryland, outside of a tattoo and body piercing shop, where he worked. It was the result of a gang bang shooting that killed Jim. I remember when the news broke how shocked and upset I was. It was a senseless tragedy that I can’t even fathom how his family and close friends felt afterwards. Well, today I wanted to honor the memory of this awesome person, who was an exceptional bassist, talented musician. and a super friendly man.
The Obelisk did a stellar write up about Jim when the incident happened and an excerpt from JJ’s post as written is: “After cutting his teeth in the mid ’90s and early ’00s in Sixty Watt Shaman, Forrester moved to from Maryland and took part in a band called Angels of Meth before eventually relocating to West Virginia and rejoining his Sixty Watt Shaman bandmate Chuck Dukehart in Foghound and Serpents of Secrecy. In 2014, Sixty Watt Shaman got back together to play Desertfest Berlin and a few other limited engagements to celebrate their three albums — Ultra Electric (1998), Seed of Decades (2000) and Reason to Live (2002) — but the reunion would be short-lived as old personal issues resurfaced and the band once again split. In 2016, he added low-end charge to Foghound’s second album, The World Unseen, fueling a more aggressive take from that band as they made their debut on Ripple Music. The debut single from Serpents of Secrecy was released earlier in 2017 through an alliance with Salt of the Earth Records, and both groups had or have new material in progress for issue in 2018. His last performance was an acoustic set with Foghound on Dec. 17 at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum’s annual holiday party.”
My two encounters with Jim Forrester were very pleasant. I first met him when Sixty Watt Shaman played their reunion set on May 3rd 2014, as part of the Eye of the Stoned Goat festival. It was the fourth edition of the festival and was held at Ralph’s Diner in Worchester, Massachusetts. The lineup on that day included Sixty Watt Shaman as the headliner, with support from Cortez, Kings Destroy, Ogre, Lord Fowl, Beelzefuzz, Second Grave, John Wilkes Booth, Set, and Birch Hill Dam. It was an awesome show! However, one of my favorite things about it was meeting and talking with Jim Forrester. He was a very nice guy and we chatted about our similar music tastes and different bands we liked. We were the same age and grew up listening to the same style of heavy music. It was a very pleasant conversation and he was super friendly too.
About seven months later, I saw Sixty Watt Shaman play a show on December 28th, 2014 at the St. Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, New York, with my good buds in Birch Hill Dam, and an acoustic set from Wino too. I remember helping Jim lug his bass cabinet onto the stage and talking with him again before their set. He was very appreciative of my help and we shared another great dialogue.
Here’s a video from that very show.
Jim Forrester was a huge supporter of the underground heavy music scene and his contributions in helping younger bands was instrumental. He was very down to earth and just an all around amazing human being. I was fortunate enough to have met him and I was a big fan of his music too. Today, I would like to honor the life of Reverend Jim Forrester and crank some old school Sixty Watt Shaman in his name. It was an absolute pleasure knowing you. R.I.P.
