Written by: Alex Green
The lovable Liverpool duo Her’s were killed this week while on tour in California.
Comprised of Audun Laading and Stephen Fitzpatrick, the band were on their way from Arizona to Santa Ana when the incident occurred. Both members of the band as well as their tour manager Trevor Engelbrektson died in the accident.
Laading and Fitzpatrick met as students at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts and found they both shared the same humor, taste in music and cultural references. The two became fast friends and the songs came even faster. Compared to everyone from Mac DeMarco to The Smiths, Her’s played a dreamy blend of idiosyncratic dream pop that was hard to categorize and impossible to resist.
Her’s described themselves as being an “international supersonic spectral wave Liverpool band” and sometimes had a cardboard cutout of Pierce Brosnan onstage with them.
They were vibrant, deeply talented and thoughtful young men positively brimming with sophistication, heart and promise.
On Facebook, the band’s record label posted this message: “We are all heartbroken. Having recently released their debut album “Invitation to Her’s”, Stephen and Audun were on their second tour of North America playing 19 dates of sold-out shows to a fanbase that adored them. The pair were one of the UK’s most loved up and coming bands. Their energy, vibrancy and talent came to define our label. As humans, they were warm, gentle and hilarious. Each time they stopped by the office made for an uplifting experience. To say they were close would be an underestimation of a friendship that was genuinely beautiful to witness; they loved one another like brothers. Musically, Her’s were astonishing. An aptitude for melody, fun, and entertainment combined with a complexity that was as sophisticated as it was stylish. They were in America playing to thousands of adoring fans. Fans they made a point of meeting and spending time with, such was their passion and humbleness. The world was at their feet. Everyone here at the label is overwhelmed and distraught. We have lost our friends and the world has been denied their talent. – Heist or Hit (Mick Scholefield, Martin Colclough & Patrick Fogarty). Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Stephen, Audun and Trevor, please respect their privacy at this extremely difficult time.
