Cave In & Old Man Gloom Comment On The Passing Of Caleb Scofield (Updated)

“Again, we thank you for all the kind words, and the donations to Caleb‘s family. If you haven’t, please consider just tossing even a few bucks in. Every little bit helps.

Obviously we are all still in shock. I find myself swinging from disbelief to petrifying sadness, second to second. I just haven’t been able to conjure words to share that would eloquently capture the brother we lost, the life he lived, or the pain we feel. I probably never will. I will try, and I will continue to try until I have no more stories and no more words for the rest of my life.

What I can offer now is to tell you that Old Man Gloom has always been a monument to friendship. It’s never been about music. From day one, Aaron and I started this because we were friends, and wanted to just hang out more. Soon after, we added Nate, because we wanted to hang out with him more.

We then added Luke, who didn’t even play an instrument, because we wanted to hang out with him. Then one day we were giving Caleb a ride somewhere, and he said “you know, if you want bass in Old Man Gloom, i’d do it”. The minute we heard him say it we of course jumped at the opportunity to play with him. We were all in love with him as a person, and in love with his playing. We were Caleb super fans, and couldn’t believe he would want to be involved with our stupid little monkey themed joke band.

That’s how its always been. We’re 5 people who love each other deeply, and this band has always been an excuse to be near one another for almost 20 years. Not even as subtext, but overtly, we’ve always been very upfront that this is just about us making each other laugh, and very little about music.

Losing Caleb is shattering. Those words are empty, as there won’t be a way to express that to measure against what we feel.

Now Old Man Gloom is a monument to Caleb. Not to his life, because his life is FAR more than Old Man Gloom or any band could ever express, but to our friendship. We’re lucky enough to have a paper trail of our friendship, of places we’ve been, people he’s touched, thousands of instances of him leveling us with a joke, late night conversations driving through god knows where, and of course, him devastating a room with his voice, and his bass from the stage.

I’ll never take this for granted, and will forever feel lucky to have shared the time I have with Caleb, Nate, Aaron, and Luke, and the four of us who carry on will forever be grateful to the existence of Old Man Gloom for giving us an excuse, and the opportunity to be near our beautiful friend as much as we could.

Thank you all for providing us with support over these last two decades. Without knowing, you gave us a gift that we will always cherish by showing up to shows, and listening to our music. You gave us more Caleb, and right now, the most precious gift imaginable is more Caleb.

Santos“

Original Story:

Both Cave In and Old Man Gloom have issued statements regarding the passing of Caleb Scofield yesterday, March 28th, as the result of a car accident. Scofield, 39, died after accidentally crashing his truck into a barrier at a toll booth in Bedford, NH. Scofield was of course a member of both of the above-mentioned bands.

Family, friends and fans have come together to help out his family since his passing, raising $43,536 for them as of the time of this posting. You can help out too over at youcaring.com.

Cave In commented:

“We are shocked and devastated by the passing of Caleb Scofield. He was one of a kind, our best friend and an unfathomable world of inspiration. Thank you for your support, and for understanding how difficult this is for us. Please donate to his family”

Old Man Gloom offered:

“We’d like to thank everyone for the kind words coming in. We will have countless words to say, and endless stories to tell in the future, but today we are just trying to keep it together. All I ask is that if Caleb has ever brought you a moment of joy, please follow this link and support his family.”

They also shared the below picture:

Scofield was also bandmates in Old Man Gloom with Aaron Turner of Isis, etc. fame and Converge‘s Nate Newton. You may even recall that Converge and Cave In nearly formed a supergroup together at one point. Both Isis and Converge issued statements on Scofield‘s passing, see below.

Isis‘ statement:

“Yesterday the world lost a very special person: Caleb Scofield. He was deeply important to us as a friend, tour mate, roommate, collaborator and human. He was a great father, a loving husband and his loss will be most deeply felt by his family. His music in his various bands (Cave In, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra), have inspired us and many others, and will continue to do so for years to come. We love you and miss you already Caleb.

A fundraiser for the Scofield family can be accessed via the link in the comments section. For those that are able , and especially those that have been touched by Caleb‘s music and presence over the years, please consider donating. Thank you.”

Converge‘s statement:

“How do you sum up someone like Caleb Scofield in a facebook status? We all loved him deeply. We were all truly lucky to call him a friend. We all loved the music he made and we were all inspired by him. The news of his passing is a hard pill to swallow. We will miss him. Rest in peace friend.”