RNRXRIP: Bruce Cole of The Screamin’ Mee-Mee’s

Bruce Cole, one half of the legendary St Louis basement noise freakout set The Screamin’ Mee-Mee’s, has passed away. Largely unknown and unheralded for the fuzzed out Midwestern lo-fi geniuses that they were, the Mee-Mees’s brand of comedic proto-punk made an innocently indelible mark on anyone lucky enough to be exposed to it. Together with drummer Jon Ashline (who passed away in 2012) the Mee-Mee’s were a basement and tape trading phenomenon whose occasional blurts and blasts of noise were welcome sounds to music weirdos everywhere. I once told Bruce (on Facebook) that I felt that I hadn’t listened to enough Queen and that I thought I’d spend the weekend familiarizing myself with their catalog. Bruce advised me that I should kill myself instead. “It’s quicker”, he added. I’ll never forget the guy and am eternally grateful for his contributions.