Bryan Ottoson

Born: March 18, 1978
Died: April 19, 2005
Band: American Head Charge

American Head Charge’s self-released debut album caught the attention of Rick Rubin, who signed and produced The War of Art in 2001. By then the group was a supporting act on Ozzfest and the Pledge of Allegiance tour with Slipknot and others. In April of the following year guitarist Dave Rogers quit and Bryan Ottoson was invited to join. Less than 24 hours later Ottoson landed in Los Angeles to play guitar on the “Just So You Know” music video.

Over the next couple of years, three of the band members drifted out to the deep end with drug use, but after rehab stints and a few new faces on board the band recorded The Feeding, which Bryan co-wrote ten out of twelve tracks for. The album was released in early ’05, but disaster struck a few months later when Bryan was found cold on the bus. The night before, he downed a few drinks after a gig, popped penicillin and a pain med he was prescribed for strep throat, and went to bed in a bunk on the bus. They found the 27 year-old dead April 19, 2005. His death was ruled an accidental prescription drug overdose.

Bryan Ottoson’s “333” tattoo on the back of his neck represented the synchronicity of his life’s events that seemingly happened in threes. He said he looked at the time every day at 3:33 p.m. and 3:33 a.m. inexplicably and without fail. Bryan died almost three years to the date after he joined the band. But the significance of threes didn’t end with Ottoson’s death. Brian Ottoson was 27 when he died (a factor of three) and the band canceled three shows following his death.

Despite powerful live shows, AHC never made as good a name for themselves as some of their nü metal peers. Nevertheless, tracks from The Feeding (2005) have popped up here and there in popular entertainment. “Leave Me Alone” was featured on an episode of HBO’s Entourage, while “Loyalty” was included in the multi-platform videogame NHL 06.

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