Mitch Dubey was killed last night in his own home in New Haven, CT. I've had the pleasure of knowing him for the past couple of years. I always looked forward to going up to Connecticut and seeing him whether it was for a Flaming Tsunamis show, a My Heart To Joy show, a Hostage Calm show, a Swear Jar show, or just to hang out and play Uno Attack or Monopoly Deal at his house. He was a great guy, a great friend, and a great musician.
His band, Swear Jar, released a demo tape in 2009. It was a 5 song cassette but those 5 songs summed up the band and the band members perfectly. The songs could go from soft, to long guitar buildups with feedback and then hit you in the face immediately with guitar work that was fast, heavy, but still extremely fun all at the same time. That's exactly how I knew Mitch. Occasionally he'd be calm and quiet, but most of the time he'd be running on full blast, always happy, always stoked to see you, and always excited just to hang. No matter what, he always had fun and you couldn't help but have fun if you were anywhere near him.
Here is a link to Swear Jar's tumblr. Right at the top is a link to download the demo for free. Download it, listen to it, spread it around. It's too good to be a footnote in the history of a friend who's no longer with us.
I'm gonna miss you Mitch.
There's a P.S. to the Swear Jar story. This demo is going to be released as a 7" EP. The A-side is going to be the full demo, and the B-side is going to be a new Swear Jar tune, one that Mitch had written but was never recorded. There's no date yet for when it will be released, but keep an eye out.
