As reported yesterday (December 8th), Toronto-based metal everyman Adrian 'The Energizer' Bromley passed away in his sleep on December 7th, 2008 at the young age of 37. BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai has issued the following tribute:

Energize This!

Ever see that cartoon featuring Spike the bulldog heading out to deliver pain to a poor unfortunate feline while his yap-dog sidekick bounces around him like a superball, rattling off comments and questions about how some cat is going to get a hurt real bad? There was a time when I considered Adrian Bromley that yap-dog.

I say this fondly and with the utmost respect.

In all honesty, when I met Adrian in late ’93 as part of the M.E.A.T Magazine crew I thought he was whacked out of his mind. If he wasn’t moving he was talking, and the guy never stopped. He wasn’t annoying (most of the time ;-)) because there was substance in his words backed by a wicked sense of ironic humour, but on occasion it became a stress test trying to keep up with him. I once joked at one of the many M.E.A.T in-house pizza-and-beer parties that he was like the Energizer Bunny… he just kept going and going and going. I’m glad the nickname stuck, but it comes as no surprise that it did.

And now I sit here having to say goodbye. For once I wish I could pay my respects to the people that matter while they’re still here with us, but I suppose that would be considered ass-kissing rather than a tribute. Adrian had no time for kiss-asses.

I’m sad, I’m pissed off, I’m almost lost for words when I think about just how unfair life can be. I’m also reminded, however, of just how precious that life is. Adrian was with me at the beginning, when the whole metalhead journalist thing started to take shape for both of us, and looking back I’m able to smile even as I mourn his passing. And in truth, I’m kind of surprised by just how much road we ripped up together.

Standing front row at RPM at a Slik Toxik gig pie-eyed on beer and yelling out song requests list between tunes while Nick Walsh gave us the good-natured finger. Laughing with sadistic glee as Monster Voodoo Machine’s redwood-sized keyboardist THREW one overzealous stage-diver back into the audience (overhand) at Sneaky Dee’s. Listening to a discombobulated love-sick Adrian trying to center himself following a face-to-face interview with L7 bassist Jennifer Finch, the lust of his life for about a month. Watching in disbelief as a pre-ultra-fame Marilyn Manson threw himself repeatedly into the audience from 15 feet up during his set at a Nine Inch Nails show at the Gardens. Getting crushed at a Machine Head show at the Opera House, which Robb Flynn found incredibly funny. Raiding the M.E.A.T promo coffers. The list does indeed go on and on and on…

Adrian was warm, generous, intelligent, absolutely unique, with more ambition and energy than any 10 people combined. He was passionate about the music and the people behind it. That’s how I got to know him and that’s how he stayed to the end. That’s how I’ll always remember him.

Rest easy, my friend. You’ll be missed.