Mike Scaccia, the guitarist for MINISTRY, RIGOR MORTIS and the REVOLTING COCKS, died last Saturday night (December 22nd) after suffering a seizure on stage.
Scaccia, who was 47 years old at the time of his death, was performing with RIGOR MORTIS at the Rail Club in Fort Worth, Texas at the 50th-birthday celebration for their singer Bruce Corbitt, who reportedly asked for the strobe lights to be turned off moments before Scaccia eventually collapsed onstage and could not be revived. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Corbitt wrote the following message on Facebook:
My brother is gone! The only reason I am who I am is because of this man. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even be in a band.
RIP, Mike — the greatest guitar player I ever knew. I’m proud to say that I was always Mike Scaccia’s biggest fan, and always will be.
Scaccia was also best-known as the guitarist for the legendary industrial metal band MINISTRY. He first joined the band for their 1989-1990 “The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste” tour. Founder Al Jourgensen was impressed by Scaccia‘s talents that he included him into the band full time. He eventually left RIGOR MORTIS in 1991, and went on to record their now-iconic album “Psalm 69” in 1992. He also appeared on their 1996 follow-up “Filth Pig“, but did not participate in the album’s tour.
In early 2003, Scaccia brought RIGOR MORTIS back together and around the same time rejoined MINISTRY on the road in support of their“Animositisomina” album. He left MINISTRY once again in 2006 but rejoined Jourgensen in the studio and on the road in support of the band’s latest album, “Relapse”, which came out earlier this year.
