Lance Hahn of J Church (1967-2007)
Leader of prominent American Punk Band Succumbs to Chronic Illnesses
Lance Hahn of beloved Austin-based J Church passed following a bout with ongoing illnesses, prompting an outpouring of support from the punk community.
Lance Hahn, founding member of highly influential pop-punk act J Church, passed away suddenly on Friday October 12th due to ongoing health complications. According to multiple sources, Hahn had been undergoing a kidney dialysis when he collapsed suddenly, leaving him in a coma from which he never recovered. Hahn had been previously diagnosed with an infection earlier this year. His blood pressure reportedly dropped while receiving dialysis. Lance was 40 years old at the time of his passing.
Recently, Hahn’s contemporaries in the punk scene had released a benefit CD that compiled several bands, many whom Hahn was friends with, that covered both J Church as well as Hahn’s previous band, Cringer. The benefit album had been created in order to help Hahn defray his mounting medical bills.
Hahn was well known for his involvement as singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the band J Church. Although J Church weren’t widely known throughout the mainstream they were highly venerated by those who knew them. Over the years, J Church had amassed a small but loyal following that spread wherever they toured. Recently, the band had played across most of Europe as well as making stops in Japan – an area where they were hailed as punk rock heroes. The band was especially renowned throughout their career for their extremely prolific output, having released dozens of albums and three times many more singles and split EPs. Named after a San Francisco street car line in their hometown, the Bay Area-based band eventually migrated to Austin, Texas, where Hahn, at this point the only founding member, revived the band with a new line up.
Hahn was also the founding force behind Honey Bear Records, a small label that released both J Church vinyl records, as well as albums by other bands whom Hahn was usually acquainted with personally.
Hahn and J Church had been most recently dealing with No Idea Records, who are based out of Gainesville, FL. No Idea, who are well known in the punk/indie community for their commitment to DIY, had released a compilation CD to help defray the mounting costs of Hahn’s medical bills. The CD, entitled “Let’s Do It For Lance,” raised over $4,000 at the time of his passing.
Aside from his musical projects, Hahn was also well known throughout the independent punk rock scene for his writing, having appeared in the infamous punk zine Maximum Rocknroll, as well as other publications. At the time of his death, Hahn had been working on a collection of writings concerning “anarcho-punk” to be published by notorious political publishers AK Press.
Hahn was an inspirational force whose energy was seemingly indefatigable. Although he is gone his music will serve as a reminder of that positive energy he conveyed through his many projects. Hahn will be missed by his friends, family, band members, and the many people whom he touched with his music and his lyrics.
