The Cousin of Death

While the conventional wisdom that suicides increase during the holidays has long since been proven false, this certainly doesn't mean that those suffering from depression are miraculous cured of their affliction by the self-touted season of goodwill toward men. Depression can strike (and linger) at any time of the year. With this in mind, I'd like to pass on a new project from MC Lars.

Fans of his new full-length This Gigantic Robot Kills have no doubt noticed – among all the good-natured joints about videogames, hipsters and bloodthirsty automatons – a somber track entitled "Twenty-three." It details the life and tragic death of Lars's best friend and Stanford roommate, Patrick Wood.

Patrick lost his battle with the depression in 2006. Not only did his suicide prompt MC Lars to pen a song in his honor, it's also spawned a greater venture. One for which Lars needs the support of the fan community:

We are making a video for this song, as it is the next single off of THIS GIGANTIC ROBOT KILLS.

To make this video be effective and raise awareness, we NEED YOUR HELP!

If you have any friends or family members who know or who have lost anyone to suicide, please get in touch with us. We want to feature photos of loved ones who have taken their own lives. The goal of this video is to help raise awareness that this is an issue that affects us all, and pay our respects to those who have passed on. One of the things that helps me get through losing Pat is having a song about him to sing and listen to. I hope that you will share this with me if you have gone through anything similar.

Please hit me up at - horrisrecords@gmail.com with photos and stories if you have friends who have taken their own lives.

Thank you for all of your help! Together we can help raise awareness and help prevent suicide. We are talking to non-profit organizations to have some promotional support and help change the world together.

Even within the comfortable little tribe that is the greater nerd culture – where we freely exchange stories of bullying, misanthropy and epic failure – we are still remarkably reluctant to discuss the lingering effects of these social pratfalls. Because of our historically dubious station, nerds and depression are often spoken about in the same breath, and the first step to remedying the problem is admitting it. Suicide, depression's unfortunate precipitant, is a demon that we as a culture must face in the name of unity. In the name of growth. In the name of empowerment.

While relying on others' stories of tragedy to make a music video may seem crass or disrespectful, I genuinely believe that Lars is trying to create something uplifting from his own loss and the loss of his friends/fans. Check out his site for full details, including remarks regarding legal release issues attached to the project. Let's make a good thing out of our collective sorrow.