Gary Young, Pavement's Original Drummer, Dead at 70

Gary Young, the original drummer for Pavement, has died at age 70.

The news was confirmed by the indie rock band's singer, Stephen Malkmus, on social media Thursday. 

"Gary Young passed on today," he wrote. "Gary’s pavement drums were 'one take and hit record'…. Nailed it so well."

The band paid tribute to Young in a statement posted to its official Instagram page.

"Garrit Allan Robertson Young put Pavement on the map. He recorded all of our records from the 'Slay Track's 7 through to the 'Watery, Domestic' EP. He did it all in his garage, a studio called Louder Than You Think," the statement read. "He was made to play drums in rock and roll bands. ... He drummed very hard from a different planet despite being born and raised in Mamaroneck, New York on the easiest birthdate ever to remember (5/3/52)."

The statement went on to say that, without Young's contributions as a drummer, the band would not have gained the attention it did. 

"In all of the best ways, he was a freak show," the band wrote. "He was magnetic. He was magical. He was dangerous. We could think of him as an uncle, an older brother that none of us had. But he was a rare breed called Gary aka The Rotting Man."

During a 2015 interview with Vice, Young recalled how he first met his future bandmates Malkmus and Scott Kannberg when they were starting Pavement in the late '80s. 

Malkmus and Kannberg used to watch Young's shows with the band The Fall Of Christianity. They worked together to make their first EPs, and their debut album "Slanted and Enchanted" in 1992, and recorded everything at Young's home studio.

"In the beginning, they had no drummer, so I invited myself to play drums and next thing you know, I'm in the band," Young said. "Here's the deal: When I first heard them, I did not understand it. I'd tell my friends in New York I just made this weird record, and I don't really know how to describe it."

He added: "Three or four years later, I realized that we had really done something. But it took me a long time to figure it out."

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