"What kind of music did he listen to?" It's a question as old as loonies have gone on shooting sprees.
Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old Tucson man who shot 20 people, including a federal judge and U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was a band geek, as you can see in photos of him as a floppy-haired teenager playing a saxophone.
What else did he listen to?
His digital footprint seems small for a guy his age. His YouTube channel seems to have been his major social media outlet, and his only music is listed as "Pass me the strings!"
His now-deleted MySpace page had this message, which sheds a little more light:
"Jared Loughner: Hey T-zueen. Do you remember - Fear Before the Marh of Flames concernt with D-Rock, Ben Jizzet and J-Rad? I bet you fuckin do. Oh! That pole was physical... you know? Remember the cd cover? Ouch! Well I had to say it because it haunted me to this moment - peace hombre. Fuck Pigs."
The first sentence refers to a prog metal band Fear Before, formerly known as Fear Before The March of Flames. They're from Aurora, Colorado, in suburban Denver, just a short drive from Columbine High School.
Fear Before's most recent shows in Arizona were back-to-back nights in Tucson and Phoenix in October 2008 in support of their self-titled fourth album. Were you there? You may have been standing next to a homicidal sicko.
None of the band's releases appear to have album art eliciting an "ouch!" though, so that little inside joke will have to remain secret until or unless Loughner or one of his buddies addresses it.
Though the band was reportedly working on a new album for release early this year, a publicist at their label Equal Vision Records (a label that also releases records from Phoenix band Dear and the Headlights) said the group's "not currently active."
She declined to comment further, and the band didn't respond to a request for comment e-mailed through her.
Further Reading:
The Face of Crazy: Jared Loughner Eerily Smirks in Photo Taken After Shooting Rampage
Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Wasn't First Arizona Rampage
Westboro Bapstis Church to Protest Funeral of 9-Year-Old Girl Murdered in Tucson Rampage Shooting. Hells Angels to the Rescue?
