Guitarist and founding member of Buffalo metalcore heroes Every Time I Die has passed away according to several published reports.
In addition to his lengthy contributions as a musician in Every Time I Die and most recently his newest project Atomic Rule, Williams was an established professional wrestler who competed under promotional abnners including AEW as well as several regional indies.
Known in the ring as The Butcher, Williams was competing alongside his tage team partner, The Blade during Enjoy Wrestling's Fifth Anniversary event in Pennsylvania Saturday night (September 5th). It was reported that Williams collapsed in during the end of the bout and was being treated for a medical emergency before being transported to a local hospital.
Confirming the news with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office, TMZ broke the news that Williams had passed.
Williams was an integral part of the enduring influence of Every Time I Die. He wrote and recorded on all nine of the band's lauded albums, most recently submitting a career-performance on 2021's Radical. December 11th, 2021, the band would led their annual Tid the Season holiday homecoming in Buffalo, in what would be the band's final performance - breaking up shortly after.
Since the fracture of Every Time I Die, Williams has continued to write and record music, aligning with James Henderson, Travis Bennington of Eternal Sleep and former The Acacia Strain drummer Kevin Boutot as Atomic Rule. Williams had recently shared an update on the project, expressing his excitement with the progress and hinting that announcements were pending.
Andy Williams was a force of nature, a gamechanging talent and a beloved friend to so many. He was just 48 years old. May he rest in peace.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: I worked as a talent buyer at a Southern California music venue called The Slidebar. We were fortunate enough to host Every Time I Die in a room that was no bigger than a living room in a single family home.
What began as a wild idea to host a free, surprise set, announced just hours before the band went on and only hours after they had already played a much bigger stage that same day, became a bit of a tradition.
Photo by Jen Reightley
From then on, whenever Every Time I Die was on tour in Southern California, the joke was, "they gonna play at Slidebar later?"
And they did. And the shows were always free.
In fact, Andy would even guest bartend despite the fact that he didn't drink, nor know what any of the drink orders were. And everyone loved it.
Inside the brick walls of that tiny room, we watch ETID erupt live. We watched Andy throw people from the stage while tearing through ETID anthems. We all screamed the lyrics, packed in tight such that the floor after the set looked like there was a massive water leak - but it was all sweat.
Photo by Rob Wallace
In the years since working in music, I come across so many people who say, "Slidebar! I was at that secret Every Time I Die show..." and the same sentiment of chaos and celebration is obvious when they remember those shows.
Every Time I Die was a shot of life every time they stepped onstage - no matter the size of the show and Andy was a vital part of that.
Thank you for the music.
