As previously reported, Chris Hyde aka DrJekyl former drummer of Vengeance Rising (1991) and Deliverance (1985–1990) has died wednesday at age 50. Here is a beautiful post by Deliverance frontman Jimmy Brown about our brother Chris Hyde.
‘I met Chris Hyde in 1985 when auditioning drummers to start a band. Chris showed up to my parents house with this huge double bass Gretsch kit and Paiste cymbals. Before he even played, I was like “he’s in!” LOL… He told me he played in the band Holy Soldier, but had recently left the band and was looking for something new… We warmed up with a Stryper song, then I asked if he knew anything secular. We both cowardly admitted that we like Sabbath. So I broke into Mob Rules, and Chris followed suit and just owned it!’
‘We met again except this time, I showed him my own material. Without even planning it, Chris just started coming over and we would jam. We played our first show, only 3 songs. We opened for a band called 99 Times. We didn’t have a name, so we went out under the name “anointed”. We later changed the name to Deliverance, and away we went…’
‘My fondest memories of Chris was his incredibly strange sense of humor, characters he would perform with embarrassment like “Shah”, “The Spider” and “Ray”… He would make these faces, and just say the name… It was quite odd and remarkably funny. I can’t remember another friend of mine that made my Mom laugh so hard she’d cry. He loved entertaining, that’s for sure…’
‘I was only 15 years old when we met. Chris was 20… I remember we got along so well despite the age difference. It was our love of music and God that brought us close. Chris was a tongue talking, Holy Spirit filled bible believer, and wasn’t ashamed to admit it! He always encouraged me to share from the stage and rain fire and brimstone at the audience! He would pray with me and for me! Such a great guy…’
‘I remember our first big concert, we wanted to make our presence known, so Chris picked me and my girlfriend Helen up at midnight 2 Saturday’s before the show. He had 3 cans of spray adhesive, and we had 300 flyers and plastered high schools, bars, anything we could spray and stick! I remember months later the school where Helen went, they were still trying to scrape the flyers off the doors we had adhered them to… LOL… Chris called us “The Midnight Flyers”…’
‘I have a ton of memories flowing thru my mind, but just thought I would share those… Chris was one of the most thoughtful people I know. He stuck by my side thru the first 5 years of Deliverance through thick and thin. But life called, and he moved in another direction at the tail end of 1990… I knew then that I would look at those 5 years as special, magical, memorable, lots of laughter, lots of tears, but those early unsigned years were possibly the best in my musical career… Because it was about the music and the message! It consumed Chris, Brian Khairullah and myself and kept us going! We went thru guitar players like a recessive gene, but in 1987 we found Glenn Rogers! We recorded the infamous Greetings of Death demo, and it all seemed to fall into place from then on till we recorded our first record together…’
’25 years ago, we recorded with yet, another new guitar player named George Ochoa the now classic CCM album “Weapons of our Warfare”… I am so glad that Chris, Brian, George and myself were able to record what would be later called the pinnacle Christian Thrash Record!’
‘I remember Chris coming to me and saying “you have to put in the lyrics something about praying in tongues… So, when writing the lyrics to Flesh and Blood, I wrote: “Pray, always with all supplication in the Spirit”… He was pleased… smile-emoticon’
‘So it brings me today… I get the call from George Ochoa telling me the news that our brother had fallen ill and passed away… I was in the parking lot of Costco with my wife, and I told George I’d call him back… I looked on FB, checked some posts and verified that this was the case… I began to weep… Both my wife Helen and I together…’
‘I hadn’t spoken to Chris in many years, and in an instant, I regretted not staying in contact… Even if to say hello… How are you? Life tends to get a hold of you, and tosses you around like a flower pedal caught in a wind storm… And you forget that staying touch means more than you can truly imagine… Especially with those whom you shared very special and enigmatic moments with!’
‘Chris… You will always be remembered for many things… Great Drummer, Brother in Christ, Funny Guy, Good Father, Loving Husband, etc… But I will always remember you as a comrade, a fellow soldier, and mostly a valued friend…’
‘Rest in Peace my Brother… We will see each other again…’
JPBII
Video below ‘Weapons of our Warfare’
Related Articles:
‘Chris Hyde’ former Drummer for ‘Vengeance Rising’ & ‘Deliverance’ Dead at 50 [Feb. 2015]