Obituaries

Tim Mooney 1958-2012

By | Published on Tuesday 19 June 2012

Tim Mooney

San Francisco-based drummer and producer Tim Mooney has died, it has been confirmed. The cause of his death is not known, though some reports say he suffered a heart attack.

Mooney was drummer for a number of bands during the 1970s and 1980s, including Sleepers, Negative Trend and Toiling Midgets, though he will probably be best remembered for his time with American Music Club. Mooney joined the Mark Eitzel-led San Francisco-based alternative rock outfit in 1991, shortly after the release of their acclaimed album ‘Everclear’, and was part of the band’s line up when they signed to Reprise Records.

He appeared on the 1993 album ‘Mercury’ and 1994 long player ‘San Francisco’, after which the group split up, until reforming just under a decade later to work on the album ‘Love Songs For Patriots’, which Mooney co-produced. The drummer continued to perform with the reformed band for four more years before Eitzel relocated to LA in 2007, changing the line up of his group in the process.

As well as his work with Eitzel in AMC, Mooney also collaborated with Red House Painters frontman Mark Kozelek on his first solo album ‘Rock N Roll Slinger’ in 2000, and then appeared on Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon album ‘Ghosts Of The Great Highway’ in 2003.

Both Eitzel and Kozelek have paid tribute to Mooney. The former wrote on his blog late last week: “I haven’t seen Tim for a few years now but that still didn’t lessen the impact of his passing. He was the drummer of AMC for many years. He was absolutely instrumental in whatever sound we had. His style was absolutely unique and as an artist no one could match what he did. He was a good friend to so many people and will be missed. What an absolute loss”.

Meanwhile Kozelek wrote: “I knew Tim Mooney for over 20 years. As many Red House Painters’ fans may know, American Music Club was very helpful in giving us our start. Later on, Tim played drums on my first solo album, ‘Rock N Roll Singer’, and then on Sun Kil Moon’s ‘Ghosts Of The Great Highway’. We shared many long days and hours together. Tim was a peaceful, patient, and incredibly talented person. The last time I saw Tim was in 2009, in Petaluma, he was having ice cream with his daughter. He was as happy and content as ever. I’ve been overwhelmed with memories of Tim since learning of the news yesterday. My heart goes out to his family, his many friends, and to the members of AMC”.

Rooney is survived by his wife Jude and daughter Dixie. A tribute page and memorial fund have been set up, accessible via Facebook.

Above photo from Mark Kozelek.



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