Bo Lueders, guitarist and co-founder of the Chicago-based hardcore metal band Harm\u2019s Way, has died, his bandmates announced \u201cwith heavy, broken hearts\u201d Thursday on social media. He was 38.<\/p>\n
Lueders \u201cwill be remembered for his unwavering empathy and compassion for his friends & family and his magnetic, inimitable presence on & off the stage,\u201d Harm\u2019s Way wrote on Instagram<\/a>, asking for \u201cgrace and privacy\u201d during a difficult time. <\/p>\n No cause of death was provided, but the band offered up the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline to anyone \u201cstruggling with depression or urges to self-harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Born Bohan Daniel Lueders in November 1987, the musician co-founded Harm\u2019s Way in 2006 as a side project of the punk band Few and the Proud. It turned into a full-time band that has released five studio albums and five EPs in the years since, with songs including \u201cHuman Carrying Capacity,\u201d \u201cBecome a Machine\u201d and \u201cCall My Name.\u201d<\/p>\n In a bio posted by the band on Spotify, Lueders took a shot at describing the music on Harm\u2019s Way\u2019s 2018 album, \u201cPosthuman,\u201d which was followed by its fifth album, \u201cCommon Suffering,\u201d in 2023. <\/p>\n \u201cTo a Harm\u2019s Way fan, I would describe \u2018Posthuman\u2019 as a blend of \u2018Isolation\u2019 (2011) and \u2018Rust\u2019 (2015), but it\u2019s sonically way more insane,\u201d he said. \u201cTo anyone else, I would simply say it\u2019s like full on aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n Lueders began the \u201cHardLore\u201d podcast in 2022 with Twitching Tongues frontman Colin Young to chronicle life on the road in the hardcore\/punk\/metal scene. A new episode \u2014 the second part of a two-part interview with Madball singer Freddie Crician \u2014 was posted Wednesday. <\/p>\n But on March 19, before that two-parter was done, Young and Lueders posted a \u201cHardLore\u201d episode that broke from format, instead answering listener questions for an hour and a half. One listener asked the hosts what piece of music they wanted to hear last before they died. Young picked \u201cMy Way\u201d by Frank Sinatra. His buddy chose another track that was distinctly non-metal and non-punk.<\/p>\n \u201cMine would be some Bj\u00f6rk song, probably. Either \u2018Unravel<\/a>\u2019 or \u2018Aurora<\/a>.\u2019 I just wanna drift and go peacefully,\u201d Lueders said, rubbing both eyes before making a drifting gesture with both hands.<\/p>\n \u201cI think \u2018Unravel\u2019 is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.\u201d<\/p>\n A GoFundMe campaign was launched Friday by Young on behalf of Lueders\u2019 \u201cmother Wendy and girlfriend Taylor to help cover the costs of both afterlife & memorial services in Chicago.\u201d The campaign had reached nearly $140,000 by midday. <\/p>\n