Lead Member of Metal Band Dies in Crash

Oregon State Police say a van carrying two San Francisco-area metal bands crashed on Interstate 5 north of Medford, killing one man and injuring two others.
     
Lt. Gregg Hastings says members of the bands Early Graves and The Funeral Pyre played a show in Oregon, and were heading to Nevada early Monday at about 5:30 when the driver lost control after falling asleep.

Hastings identified the man who died as 28-year-old Makh Daniels of Pacifica. He was the vocalist for Early Graves. Hastings says Daniels was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from a rear cargo area. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver was identified as Justin Garcia, 24, a guitarist for The Funeral Pyre. He and a passenger, Early Graves guitarist Tyler Jensen, were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries not considered life-threatening.
     
Six other men escaped injury in the van, which was pulling a utility trailer.
     
Early Graves said on its MySpace page it had been on the road since June 25 in support of its new album, playing gigs from Southern California to New England and then back to the West. The group was scheduled to perform in Reno on Monday.
   
In press materials announcing the album release, Daniels said he had been through some dark times and writing the lyrics, with themes of loneliness and depression, had been "an exorcism of sorts."
     
"Doing this record has been absolutely necessary for all of us in the band," Daniels said. "And personally, it's the proudest I've ever been of anything I've ever done."

According to the band's MySpace page, Early Graves was scheduled to perform in Reno Monday night.
   
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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