[RIP] Chuck Schuldiner (Death)

1. The first time I met Chuck was at Ruthies Inn, in '86. We we're both a couple of kids pushing Demo's. We hit it off great! I remember thinking to myself, "This guy sure does sound like he's from California, but he says he's from Florida?!?" Every other word that came from him was 'totally!' That worked well with my 'Hella's'.
Anyway, the next time we met was the day before the filming of The Ultimate Revenge II in Philly. That was in late '88. I walked into a Hotel room to find all of the guys from Death and Dark Angel. I looked to my left and saw Chuck, looked right and saw Gene. Gene was dropping Piss Bombs out the window! Chuck was being mellow and getting high. My speed exactly! We were so happy to see each-other, we just kept repeating how cool it was to meet again under such great circumstances. See, in Forbidden's minds we were making it! We had never been out of the State! Chuck was exactly the same as I remembered him.
2. One day in late '93, I received a phone call from Steve DiGiorgio. I had never talked to him on the phone before that, so was very curious. He told me that Chuck and Gene wanted me to go to Europe
I told Steve I'd think about it and that my band probably wouldn't like it because we were just about to record a Demo, the one that got us signed to GUN. So I asked the guys what they thought, they all gave the blessing as long as I pushed Forbidden. When I called Steve and said yes, he told me they would come out to the Bay Area to practice. Beyond Cool!!! That's when I realized it was gonna happen, and also it sank in how great of a band Death had turned into over the years.
I barely had a day to learn any of the material, because Forbidden was so busy recording up until the day they all arrived. So when I went to practice I had so much anxiety it was ridiculous! They all put me right at ease, Chuck said to me "You'll be great, we know how good you are. Let me show you the songs." So he sat down and taught me each song. One by one, until I had them all. I had learned them all in 3 days, that left one day of actually playing them in a set.
That was when the true Genius of Chuck's writing style sank in. I was blown away by how complex the songs sounded, but they were fairly easy to play. That takes work! Forbidden songs are much more difficult, but that doesn't mean a thing to the ear that listens to them. I was very impressed, my respect shot off the charts. They were so cool to me, we all got along perfectly on the whole tour. That was a new experience, Forbidden would always had a drama!
3. Towards the end of that tour, Chuck did ask me if I was interested in staying out on tour into the U.S. leg. I had to decline because of the promises I had made to my band. I was tempted, but my baby was Forbidden, as Chucks was always Death. I think everyone made the right choice, Symbolic was an amazing record, Ralph did just fine! and play with Death. That meant I would be taking Andy LaRoque's spot! He was way out of my league! I was a songwriting first kinda player, Andy was a PLAYER!
The last thing I would like to say about Chuck is this- I had always heard that he was difficult to work with previously to getting my chance. The same things were said about myself. But in our relationship, that couldn't be further from the truth. He was a gentleman and we respected each-other a great deal. I believe that Chuck was a very drivin Human Being that had a clear vision of what he wanted. That is often looked upon by other musicians as overbearing. In my experiences in music there are leaders and followers, even within bands. Chuck was simply a great leader!
Thank you for giving me a chance to pay my respects to my Metal Brother!
Craig Locicero (ex-FORBIDDEN, SPIRALARMS)