Damn … Chicago lost a character this week. Troy “Roach” Coates, frontman from The Plague – Lungbrush – Stunt Double Jesus – Rising Up Angry – Ghost of the Underground, passed away due to complications from a rare form of Adrenal Cancer.

I saw The Plague a few times & Lungbrush once, after that I lost track of Roach’s other bands. I was more of a fan of The Plague myself. They along with bands like Life Sentence & Zeotrope were important in the mid-late 80’s in Chicago because they were a bridge between the punks & the metal heads at the time.

Generally, you could be sure to see a fight if a pack of headbangers walked into a punk show & vice-versa. But with the growing Hardcore Scene, there was an acceptance at shows. I’m not saying people held hands screaming Kumbaya or anything, but the fights were over things other than the uniform you wore.

Anyhow – whether it was Cabaret Metro, The Cubby Bear, The Iron Rail or some dive bar Roach always put on a lively engaging performance. If memory serves correct, I think I saw Lungbrush at Circuits on Cicero when they were starting up – Good stuff, just more metal than I was hoping for. The Plague was fast, strong & in your face … and that’s what I dug about ‘em.

The scene is gonna miss you Roach! If you’d like more in-depth info … check out www.rockforroach.com