As previously reported, former Warrant singer Jani Lane was found dead this past Thursday at a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills, California. He was 47.
Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach has posted the following statement remembering the later singer on his Facebook page:
"People have been asking me about Jani Lane & I really don't know what to say. Picturing him by himself in a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills with a bottle of vodka & a bottle of pills is so typical of what a rock musician's life actually is. It is a life marked by extremes. Extreme attention from people you don't know, while all the work & travel takes you away from those you actually do know. Playing to thousands of people & then going back to your hotel room & shutting the door. "
"When the door shuts... the quiet is the exact opposite of the volume of the concert. The solitude of the empty hotel room becomes the diametric parallel of the adulation of strangers. For some, the bottle of vodka or whatever becomes a friend that is always there for you while others come & go. "
"Yes I have felt these emotions myself. If you see me going head over heels over a girl, it's because all I have ever wanted is to have a girl to love & share my life with, & for the one I love to be with me wherever I'm at, travel with me to distant locales & stay in nice kick ass hotel suites & have fun & sing & dance & see the world. But so far this is a fantasy. "
"Just like Jani, I spend most of my time alone in a hotel room dreaming of a girl I love who is somewhere else. I bet Jani Lane felt exactly what I feel. How could he not? I remember decades ago being invited to Jani's house for a barbeque, which we went to. But Jani didn't show up. So I spent the afternoon with Jani's Dad cooking burgers & steaks & having a wonderful day with his family."
"My condolences to his family & especially Jani's children who now only have memories of their Dad to hold on to. That is truly heartbreaking. Let this be yet another lesson to tell someone some kind words sometimes... before it's too late... while they are still alive. I can guarantee Jani Lane would not have anticipated everyone coming out of the woodwork extolling the life & times of Jani Lane. Which is why he probably died alone. In a hotel room. With his only real friend... that killed him in the end."
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Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.
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