Rock singer and guitarist John “Beej” Chaney (of The Suburbs) drowned while swimming near his Hermosa Beach home on Jan. 5. He was 68. The Minneapolis prep-school boy formed The Suburbs in 1977, along with drummer Hugo Klaers, guitarist Bruce Allen, and bassist Michael Halliday. They are described as “punk,” but after perusing their YouTube videos, I’d call them more New Wave or even rockabilly—danceable and enjoyable. The band unformed and reformed several times; Chaney stayed with it till 2014. He also worked solo, and at the time of his death was recording an album with Robby Vee (Bobby’s son). Chaney also owned the recording studio Shangri-La. Bandmate Hugo Klaers said after Chaney’s death that “His lyrics, his singing, his guitar playing, everything about him were super unique. There’s not a guitarist in the world that plays a guitar like Beej. Granted he was not a guitar virtuoso, but he was very, very profound. He was more passionate about music than anyone in the band. He just lived and breathed to play music.” About his nickname? The internet tells us, “John Chaney's nickname ‘Beej’ is believed to be a shortened version of his first name, ‘John,’ with the ‘J’ sound being pronounced like ‘Bee’ - essentially a casual, playful nickname derived from the beginning of his name.” Hmmm, yeah, right, maybe I just have a dirty mind.
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