S.F. Band Early Graves' Tour Van Crashes in Oregon, Vocalist Killed

By Ian S. Port Mon., Aug. 2 2010 at 1:56 PM

Categories: Tragedy

Early Graves, with vocalist Makh Daniels on the far right

S.F. metal band Early Graves suffered a terrible tragedy early this morning when its tour van crashed outside Medford, Ore., killing 28-year-old vocalist Makh Daniels and injuring two others in the vehicle, the AP reports.

Makh Daniels

Daniels, who according to Oregon police lives in Pacifica, was riding in the back of the van without a seat belt, and was ejected. The driver of the van, guitarist Justin Garcia of the Orange County metal outfit Funeral Pyre, was taken to the hospital with injuries along with another occupant.

Early Graves has five members, according to its Myspace page; the state of the other members was not immediately clear.

Early Graves and Funeral Pyre were touring together, according to their Myspace pages. They performed in Salem, Ore., last night and were on their way to a gig in Reno scheduled for tonight. Both bands were booked to play Submission Gallery in San Francisco tomorrow night (August 3).

We've contacted Early Graves publicist for more information, and will update this post if we hear anything.

Update, 2:25 p.m.: Early Graves' label, Ironclad Recordings, posted the following statement to its website moments ago:

Last night Makh Daniels, vocalist of Early Graves, tragically lost his life in a van accident while the band was traveling from Oregon to Nevada. An official statement will be released in time, but for now our thoughts are with Makhs family, friends and band mates during this terrible time.

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