Ted Kirkpatrick (R.I.P.)

In shock!  So sad to hear this. 

I loved Ted's lyrical creativity and think about it often when I see other Christian artists just lifting words from scripture and singing them, which I don't think is very artistic.  This has been the single greatest aspect of his music that inspired me and showed me that you can do more than just "rock for the rock".

Anyone that can audition for Slayer in their peak was clearly a very skilled metal drummer.

I also love the off-kilter way he played with melody and chromaticism in his music. 

He was an uncompromising creative force, even if he went in directions that I wouldn't have.  But such is the nature of true artistry ... how we go our own paths.

Wow!! I'm shocked. Are we going to see more of our Christian Metal heroes leave us?
But I'm sure he's hearing the words "Well done good and faithful servant."
And blasting it out with Michael Bloodgood.

It is a weird feeling. Now I know what it is to be in shock when someone passes. I have followed Tourniquet since 1996, was just a teenager at that time. Since then, Tourniquet was a big part of my interest for metal music. All those riffs, drums, vocals and lyrics made a huge impact on my life, believe me. Now I feel (and I hope this feeling will go away) all of that has gone together with Ted and consequently with the end of Tourniquet. May God bless the family. Rest in peace Ted Kirkpatrick.

I’m at a loss for words…this is such shocking news. My deepest sympathies go out to his family. He is at rest now.
He is and will always be one of my favorite drummers.

Tourniquet was my band from 1990-1993 got me through some the worst times in my highschool years. As a teen from a broken home I clung on to them. So they had a special place in my heart . Ted Kirkpatrick was my drum hero he inspired me to be a better drummer. It was a dream come true to get meet him in 2002 at cornerstone. May he rest in peace. His with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Unbelievable. I saw the headline on Blabbermouth and was stunned.

I was a Tourniquet fan literally from day #1, having pre-ordered "Stop the Bleeding" from my local Christian bookstore. I can't even guess how many times I've listened to Tourniquet's albums over the decades. They have been my favorite Christian metal band since their inception, and that is largely due to Ted's role.

I was trying to remember exactly how many times I met and talked to Ted in person - I think it was five times over the years. A few times at Cornerstone, a couple times at other shows, and once locally when he and I both lived in the Milwaukee area.

RIP, Ted. You've used the gifts God gave you in amazing ways. I pray that all of us could do likewise.

I wonder if Ted wanting to release that demo clip for The 408 Zodiac Cipher was because he knew he hadn't too much time left. Maybe he even knew he probably can't finish the album, at least not on his own. Maybe he wanted to be sure we'd be able to hear at least some of what he was doing. And he probably wanted to have some final feedback on his new ideas.

I'm sure he hoped for more months or even years to live, but maybe he did that just in case...

His latest post here gave the impression though that he was sure he could finish the album, even though he knew he had a terminal disease.

It's quite a thing that Tourniquet's last full and finished and released song was "Mission to MACS J1149​+​2223 Lensed Star 1", a 25 minute drone ambient tune that, I assume, represents godly journey through the universe.

I wonder if he had any other demos done.

I'm glad we have FLOOD now, and I hope they'll do a show playing some Tourniquet classics at some point in future. Too bad Ted and Gary didn't make peace with each other before it was too late, at least as far as we know. Gary wrote a nice message on Facebook though.

I've been thinking for years that I should make electro synth covers of some Tourniquet songs, maybe a medley or something. Maybe I should try that now as a tribute.

I echo what everyone has been saying. Shocking, especially seeing he was so young. Tourniquet was, and still is, one of my favourites. Their glory days were when I was in junior high and high school, right when you need Christian music the most! I never did have the opportunity to meet him, but he influenced me greatly musically and spiritually. My wife walked down the aisle at our wedding to When The Love Is Right. I remember I would print out the tabs to dozens of Tourniquet songs and I learned the riffs on acoustic guitar before I even had an electric! The first song I performed live with a metal band was Exoskeletons. My 11 year old son absolutely LOVES his drumming, and my 18 yr old loves his creativity. I thank the Lord so much for Ted's faith in Jesus and look forward to discussing many Tourniquet moments in heaven with him!

Sevenoneself wrote:I echo what everyone has been saying. Shocking, especially seeing he was so young. Tourniquet was, and still is, one of my favourites. Their glory days were when I was in junior high and high school, right when you need Christian music the most! I never did have the opportunity to meet him, but he influenced me greatly musically and spiritually. My wife walked down the aisle at our wedding to When The Love Is Right. I remember I would print out the tabs to dozens of Tourniquet songs and I learned the riffs on acoustic guitar before I even had an electric! The first song I performed live with a metal band was Exoskeletons. My 11 year old son absolutely LOVES his drumming, and my 18 yr old loves his creativity. I thank the Lord so much for Ted's faith in Jesus and look forward to discussing many Tourniquet moments in heaven with him!

We'll all be like Chris Farley: 

"Hey Ted, remember that time you..."

"Yes I remember that"

"that was AWESOME"

- repeated like 10,000 times LOL!

A true legend went home, a sad day for his loved ones and all fans that were longing for more music. 

I remember vividly that day in 1990 when 13 year old me entered a Christian bookshop browsing for some metal and my eye fell upon Stop The Bleeding. I had never heard of Tourniquet but when I popped this disc in the player in that shop I was literally blown away after the first few seconds of the record. I very rarely had similar moments when I knew I had discovered something very special. I still listen to the first three records regularly, they aged like fine wine. The new stuff was hit or miss for me but the last records showed that Ted still had it in him to compose classic metal anthems such as Antiseptic Bloodbath or Gazing at Medusa. I also admired his zeal for animal rights, a topic that gets often dismissed in Christian circles. 

A great loss for Christian metal indeed. At least we know he is now with our saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I think of Ted’s drum playing, this solo always comes to mind:

Remember cruising around on my bike listening to PS and Pathogenic cassettes in my walkman. Man those days are like a long lost dream now. Always loved Ted's drumming, it was somehow relaxing to my ears, yet still very metal.

Rest in peace Ted and best wishes to the Kirkpatrick family.

I share my introduction to Tourniquet here too.

It was about 1994 or so. Back then it was nearly impossible to find any Christian metal in Finland. My best friend at that time had an older brother who visited the US Cornerstone festival yearly, and he always brought back a pile of Christian metal CDs he had bought. We had access to his collection and loved to go through the CDs.

One day we put Stop the Bleeding in the CD player and I fell in love with The Test for Leprosy immediately. Then came Ready or Not and that was just as great as the first song. And then Ark of Suffering. I loved the riffs, the melodies, the drumming, and I was blown away by the singer Guy Ritter.

This collection also had Psycho Surgery which was next... And man... Again the first three songs hit me straight to the right spot!

We then copied both albums on C-cassettes. As the Psycho Surgery tape had blank space left on side B, we then copied Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys and Deliverance's Purgatory Sandwich with Mustard and It's the Beat on it. Still today whenever I listen through the whole Psycho Surgery album I kinda wish Keeper of the Seven Keys would come after Officium Defunctorum

I think my friend's brother didn't yet have Vanishing Lessons in his collection but he had some white metal magazines where we read that Guy Ritter had left the band and they were looking for a new singer. He also didn't have Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance, but he did have the live EP from which I eventually copied The Tempter and Skeezix Dilemma to one of my mixtapes.

Maybe a year later Vanishing Lessons was added to the collection and I was interested in hearing the new singer. I was immediately very much ok with Luke. It wasn't a shock for me as I recall Blaze Bayley had just replaced Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden so I kinda felt singers changing in bands is a regular thing that happens. The songs were great. To fill up space in one of my mixtapes we copied K517 to it by fading the volume, hitting rewind, pressing play and fading the volume back so the end result was this weird edit of the song that fades in and out and plays some parts over and over again.

We knew Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance existed because of the Live EP, but the brother hadn't been able to get it yet. My friend asked and asked if the brother could buy it the next time he goes to the US. A couple of years later when he comes back from the Cornerstone trip he immediately says he's sorry he couldn't get that album and we were both quite disappointed. The next day my friend comes to my home and says "guess what, he didn't have pathogenic ocular dissonance but look at this" and he shows me a pre-release promotional copy of a brand new Tourniquet album, Crawl to China, signed by Ted and dedicated to my friend! We put it on my CD player and were really surprised to hear it begin with JAZZ It changed into hard rock soon so our thoughts about the album being something else than rock or heavy metal were gone. It was different but we liked it a lot. I copied some of the songs on my mixtapes.

A year or so after that my friend and his brother had to move to the other side of Finland so I lost my friend and the access to the huge Christian metal collection.

Not too soon after that one Finnish website that sold used CDs had Pathogenic for sale! I ordered it immediately!
Then around 1999 or so I found Tourniquet discussion forums online and learned about the upcoming album (Microscopic) and made my first ever order from further than Sweden.

After getting that I catched up to what Tourniquet was up to "real time" and started to order everything Tourniquet released as soon as they were available and I've been a regular visitor in Tourniquet forums. I remember the days when Tourniquet had live chats online and I remember the "Uncensored Tourniquet forum" that was set up because forum admins were censoring posts that were too critical and controversial about Tourniquet. Ted himself came and wrote on that board too to defend himself against all kinds of accusations. I also remember the time when Tourniquet were looking for a label to make a new album after Where Moth and Rust Destroy. I think it was around 2006 or 2007. They had planned another live chat session but the chat room crashed because there were too many people trying to join it!

Ted Kirkpatrick and everyone involved with Tourniquet have been a huge part of my life since 1994 or so. It's been almost 30 years... Ted is now gone and Tourniquet had a good run from 1990 to 2022.

I miss him a lot.

I have to say that while Tourniquet isn't Tourniquet without Ted - no-one can really replace him and give the same kind of magic to the drums - I wouldn't be opposed if Gary and Guy would continue Tourniquet's legacy by calling their band Tourniquet. But then again I'm also very much ok with us now having this completed package of Tourniquet material. Nothing gets taken out, nothing gets put in. It is what it is and we can now evaluate the full run of finished Tourniquet, and added Ted's solo material to it, we can now evaluate Ted's full life's work in music.

Ammocas wrote:When I think of Ted’s drum playing, this solo always comes to mind:

Yeah I remember trying to figure out if that's played on one take instead of building it layer by layer. My friend back in the 90's said there's no way that can be played without copying and pasting stuff together. For me especially that part with the cowbell sounded impossible as I couldn't understand how someone can play snare, hihat and cowbell at the same time like that. I still remember the moment when I figured out how it's done and learned that you can use the same arm to play the snare and the hihat if you are skillful enough. After understanding that, I was able to believe the previous part is possible to play too.

Hi guys. I couldn't avoid coming back to this forum as soon as I heard about this sad news.
As many of you, I am in shock and absolutely surprised about this all.

I always felt like Ted was a very healthy person as he was still active on drums and sounding as good as he sounded in 1990. Also, his creativity in composing music and writing skills didn't get any older either.

Anyway, this seems to me like a message that we don't know about tomorrow and we have to take serious when the apostle said to us: "To live is Christ and to die is gain."

I hope God have them in good place now, and prayers to his wife and relatives.
He is certainly going to be missed and I like to think that a part of the Christian Metal have died along with him. This is a way to honor his work in Christian metal as a whole.

Btw, another part was gone sooner this year with the passing of Michael Bloodgood.

Airola wrote:Absolutely shocking...

Not the best way to start my 40th birthday...
My biggest musical hero. One of the greatest drummers and songwriters on this earth.

Rest in peace. Lots of strength to Cristy, Aaron and Ted's friends.

You have the same birthday as Dimebag Darrell. Today (August 20)

SEE YOU SOON TED KIRKPATRICK
Ted was gifted, he was one of those talents that are not found frequently, a high-level drummer who had nothing to envy great drummers like Mike Portnoy. But Ted wasn't just a great drummer who set himself apart from the rest, he was a great songwriter with wise lyrics that made you think and an accomplished lover of classical music and animals. He was not looking to stay in the same place, he was always in constant evolution and that is revealed by his solo albums, his Onward To Freedom record and the constant change in Tourniquet sound, also, his drone-style song of 25 minutes that came out a few years ago.

When he left, he was creating new music for Tourniquet and even showed us an unfinished demo. His head never rested.

Today a legacy has been left behind and he will always be remembered through his music and for being an ambassador of the most powerful message in the world. Today my three favorite Tourniquet albums are playing.

Stop the Blessing/ Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm and Antiseptic Bloodbath.

Dying means living – living means dying - Memento Mori…

Few years ago, a friend of mine did this tribute and I felt desire in share with you guys

We're waiting for the south american tour with Stryper, Narnia and Tourniquet. Sadly TQT need to quit the tour days before.

Words can't describe how I'm feeling today, maybe a mist of sadness for the loss of a great musician and hapiness in know that now he don't feel any pain.

Rest in Peace dear Ted

His illness was relatively short (since his diagnosis), but not being able to breath is a horrible way to go… my grandfather had died from COPD after years of smoking cigarettes. My best friend’s mom too. It’s horrible! I’m glad that Ted appeared to be as brave as possible under his circumstances and didn’t want us to worry about him. He kept his eyes on Jesus and made it to his new home in paradise. 

God has different plans for all of us. I know it must of been bitter sweet for Ted to leave behind his loved ones and his musical endeavors. I know he loved the life God had blessed him with. But the ultimate goal is to be with our creator. That’s what we should always look forward to. He’s much happier now than words could describe.

So sad to hear, especially as he was teasing a new Tourniquet album in the future..hopefully it still sees the light of day. One of the greatest drummers I ever heard, so creative, he'd go places few would ever dare, classical thrash metal like what?! Incredibly thoughtful lyric writer as well using medical procedures and terms as metaphors for the Christian faith, a true genius!

Jimmy Brown has said he may do a Tourniquet cover as a tribute to Ted.

I wonder what song would be a good choice? Maybe something with an “emotional feel” like Broken Chromosomes or Exoskeletons.

Firstly, I've stated before that during my buy-everything-christian phase I of course got STB immediately...and hated it! This might sound weird, but that makes it all the more special now because it is easily in my top 5 all time. Definitely a desert island record. The guitar tone, the (of course) insane drumming and those crazy falsetto vocals, which were a big part of the initial turn off...love it all. Thanks Ted for the amazing drum work, the what-does-that-mean? lyrics, and "thinking man's metal".

Secondly, I met Ted at a pre-show drum clinic during the "Moth" tour. It ended up a bit awkward. I had known of the fact that Glenn Mancaruso of Vengeance wasn't much into the musical style but played w/them for sake of ministry. Having that in mind, after waiting in line, when I spoke to Ted I asked "Do you actually like metal?". He gave me the most incredulous look and said "Of course!!!" I tried to explain the bit about Glenn but I don't think he heard me...oh well...

RIP Ted...