John Byrd, the former guitarist of US deathcore outfit King Conquer, has passed away. He was reportedly found dead on Wednesday.
The news first broke when fellow US metal band, A Wake In Providence, made a post about Byrd via social media, saying:
"RIP bud. We played with King conquer a few times and hearing the news of John's passing is heart breaking. Our condolences to his friends and family"
Since then, King Conquer have confirmed the tragic news with a recent post:
"As many of you may have read earlier today, our former Guitarist John Byrd passed away. We didn't part on the best terms, but we never could have wished this on him. He was our brother for the 4 years he was with the band up until substance started to take over. John was one of the smartest and most talented dudes in the world, and finding out about this today was just insane.Same day as Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley.
If you battle with substance abuse of any kind, PLEASE seek help. It's not worth loosing the one life you have to live. Yes life can suck, it can suck really really bad sometimes, but take control and make this one life you have great!"
When asked in the comments of the above post about the guitarist's passing being confirmed as related to his alleged issues with substance abuse, the band replied, saying:
"Yes. We just don't want to be the ones that post about exactly how it happened."
After all, that is for Byrd's family and friends to deal with, and make available the details when necessary.
Now, the guitarist hasn't been in the band since 2013 due to interpersonal differences and played on their sophomore record, '1776'. You can hear that album's first single, 'A Day Late...and a Dollar Short' below.
Rest in peace, John.
