Legendary Hardcore Guitarist Todd Youth Has Died Aged 47

Todd Youth, the guitarist who played with Warzone, Murphy’s Law, Fireburn, Son Of Sam and Danzig, has died aged 47 years old.

The news was confirmed by his Fireburn bandmate Israel Joesph in a Facebook statement, but a cause of death has yet to be established.

“There are no words to express how sad I am at the passing of my brother Todd Youth,” he writes. “The music he made will forever be remembered, and I’m so thankful that I was able to work with him and that we created Fireburn together.

“Todd and I were living separate lives doing hardcore and reggae music,” he adds. “We met each other in 1992 and then never spoke again until 2017. We created Fireburn within two weeks of knowing each other and finished writing two of my favourite hardcore records that I ever worked on: Don’t Stop The Youth and Shine. Closed Casket Records signed the band and we were on our way. We had great shows and lots of people showed up to them. We toured with GBH from England, hung out with the guys from Negative Approach, and got our blessings about our music and our records from the Bad Brains.

“Rest In Peace, Rest In Power, rest my brother.”

Fireburn playing their first show at Vacation Vinyl in Los Angeles, August 2017

Quicksand frontman Walter Schreifels also paid tribute to his friend in a post on Instagram.

“Shocked and saddened to hear that Todd Youth passed, he’s been an inspiration to me since the first time I saw him play at CB’s when I was a youth myself,” writes Walter. “Even though he’d made a successful professional career as a guitarist, for me he’s always embodied that magical time when hardcore kids ran wild on the LES, Ave. A, Tompkins to the Pyramid, when CBs was our clubhouse and Todd one of it’s brightest stars.

“People throw ‘legend’ around loosely these days but in my eyes that’s what Todd’s been since he was 14,” he continues. “I’m sure many friends are feeling his death like a sharp unexpected punch in the stomach. After Chuck Valle, Batmite, Raybeez and too many others to mention now gone, I hope those of us still breathing can remember to treasure these rare and enduring friendships all the more in the face of Todd’s absence; he was the ‘Youth’ and always will be. My heart goes out to his daughters and family left behind, love always.”

Everyone from Sick Of It All to Life Of Agony and Ginger Wildheart have been posting tributes to the late guitarist – read them all below.

Our thoughts are with Todd's family and friends at this time.

Main image: Stone Films NYC/YouTube