!!! Drummer Dies After Falling Down Elevator Shaft

11/09/09 12:13pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Jerry Fuchs, a drummer who played with bands like !!!, The Juan MacLean and Maserati, died Sunday (Nov. 8) after falling down an elevator shaft.

Fuchs and a friend had been invited to a posh benefit party in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighbourhood, according to the New York Post. They were in the building's elevator and were trying to get to the fifth floor. The elevator then stopped three to four feet above the fifth floor.

Fuchs and his friend opened the elevator door and then jumped the three to four feet down. The newspaper reports Fuchs' friend made it, but Fuchs' clothing became caught on the elevator. That meant he was "yanked backward as he jumped, sending him swinging back into the crevice separating the elevator from the fifth floor."

Fuchs tumbled five stories and landed at the bottom of the elevator shaft. The New York Post reports he was taken to Brooklyn's Bellevue Hospital, but died at 3:30 a.m.

"Jerry was one of my best and most loyal friends," The Juan MacLean's John MacLean wrote on his website on Sunday. "He was hands-down the best drummer I have ever played with or seen for that matter. Jerry was with me from the start of The Juan MacLean, and we had countless adventures together all over the world. He was utterly sincere and fiercely loyal."

Maserati also published a short tribute to Fuchs on their website.

"It is with overwhelming sadness that we bid farewell to our drummer and dearest friend Gerhardt (Jerry) Fuchs," they wrote. "We are humbled to have been able to create music with you for all these years, Jerry. You will be missed more than words can express. We love you, bro."

This isn't the first time Maserati have lost a drummer. In 2005, drummer Mikel Gius died after being hit by a car while riding his bicycle in Sacramento.