Our Pal Lance (photo update!)
"Suddenly you were gone from all the lives you left your mark upon..." Rush
This is a very sad day. Just got word that our buddy Lance Hahn is gone. When me and Jordy were just starting Propagandhi back in the late 80's, we used to listen to Lance's old band, Cringer, and devour Lance's record reviews and writing in Maximum Rock n Roll. We looked up to him.
Years later, we met him in San Francisco and thought, "fuck, this is by far the nicest guy in San Francisco" (probably cuz he was from Hawaii) and actually became friends.
Lance had been in a legendary punk band called J-Church for a number of years at that point, and he asked us if we wanted to go on a short tour of Japan and Hawaii with them. We were like, fuckin' rights we do Lancey old boy! Turned out that Lance was the only member of J-Church to make it through Japanese customs, so they were fucked. Or where they?? Lance, totally unphased, calmly suggested that WE would be his band. I was like "no way Lancey", but then a few hours later there we were on stage in Japan as members of J-Church, trying desperately not to mix up the parts for "My Favorite Place" with those from "Mary Provost". How many people have that on their resume, eh? Well, quite a few actually (J-Church had lots of members), but not EVERYBODY. It was cool.
We had some hilarious times over there with Lance. Kowalski drew a picture of him while he was sleeping and snoring in the van (he drew him without clothes in the picture). It was hysterical. I'm gonna find that drawing. We sat on a beach in Hawaii and ate sandwiches and talked hilarious smack about other punk bands and Lance's hair.
We went on tour through the states with J-Church again in 2001 and of course, Lance was the guy you'd be happy to see and talk to every day, no matter what was going on. It's weird, i don't have a single negative memory of him. How is that possible? He was truly one of a kind.
It's hard to believe we're not gonna hear Lance's hilarious laugh in real-life ever again.
You were the best Lance. We'll miss you and if you're looking up from Hell at us right now, i hope you think it's both rad and hilarious and fitting that i used a Rush quote at the beginning of this little memorial to you. i thought you'd like that. See you at the Eschaton, old buddy.
