Michael Edward Welsh was an American musician who played with music group Weezer from 1998 to 2001, and played bass on the band’s biggest hit “Island In the Sun.” The track exploded in popularity, better known as the “Hip Hip” song, having gained more than one billion streams today. However, this success wasn’t all beneficial for Welsh.
Born April 20th, 1971 in Syracuse, New York, he was always pursuing music. For years, he had been touring the Boston area playing local shows. During this time he played for many bands, none gaining much , traction outside of the Boston scene. He also developed an affinity for art, specifically which he would explore thoroughly later in life.
He wouldn’t find real success before he met Weezer-frontman Rivers Cuomo at a Boston rock concert. While at the show, Cuomo recruited Welsh to play on his side solo project, giving him a chance to step away from the mainstream and focus on more honest work. At the time, Weezer was on a break from making music, after receiving extreme criticism for their 1996 sophomore album, Pinkerton.
Eventually, Cuomo returned to his main project, separate from his solo music with Mikey. Before the band could get to work on their third album, their then bassist left the band due to creative differences. Cuomo brought Welsh into the band to replace him,but it would be two years until they released anything.
The multi-year hiatus ended with the release of Christmas CD in 2000, after which the group started recording their third album set to release in May of 2001. While officially self-titled, fans often refer to it as the Green Album. With the record came the single “Island in the Sun” that changed the game for Mikey Welsh and Weezer forever.
The sound of this song is unique and beloved across the sea. In Chicago, far from the cooling beaches and warm weather that the tune describes, a fan by the name of “Matte_F1n1sh” on Teen.Ink says “Island in the Sun is an infectious and memorable song that captures the essence of carefree summer days”.
Californians who have more of a relation to the topic of Island in the Sun too agree with the written message, but also have a specific message of their own to pair with the colossal pop-rock hit.
Calabasas High teacher Mr. Dillon remembers when this song was first released.
“It reminds me of my kids when [they] were little. I remember that was a song they enjoyed, and we all kind of enjoyed it together,” said Dillon.
While Welsh was working with the band on the demos for their fourth album, he was also fighting serious health issues. He was constantly touring while struggling with drug addictions and other disorders. He suffered a breakdown due to these problems and attempted suicide. Welsh officially quit the band in August 2001, not revealing his reasoning until a couple months after. Soon after he quit, the bassist was checked into a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses.
“Basically, a lifetime of doing drugs and being undiagnosed as having bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder finally caught up with me when I was 30 years old,” said Welsh in a 2007 interview with Rock Salt Plum. “At the beginning of a 3-month European tour with Weezer, I started slowly falling apart. Without getting too graphic, by the time the tour was winding up, my weight had gone down to about 140lbs (I’m 6’2″) [63,5 kg – 1,88 m] and mentally completely wiped out.” In the same interview, he briefly discussed his tumultuous relationship with fame. “I played in a famous band for a while. TV shows, magazine covers – all the stuff I dreamt of as a kid. I loved it and hated it.”
Welsh’s departure left a large strain on his and Rivers’ friendship, and they hadn’t made up for a while, but eventually Weezer went on to find another bassist to play on 2002 Maladroit, and that same man is still in the group today, Scott Shriner. The hole in the frontman and previous bassist’ relation led Cuomo to re-shoot the Island in the Sun music video, replacing Welsh with Shriner.
Welsh had an eye on Weezer, watching them from a distance as they plunged themselves into multiple projects hated by critics. After a couple years of silence between the previous band-mates, he and Cuomo made up. He even joined the band in a live performance of another single from Green, Hash Pipe in 2009.
As time went on, Welsh’s condition worsened. He had returned to the Boston scene to do what he loved, but his drug addiction was killing him. He tried to kill himself only a decade prior, and since then his life was spiraling. On September 26th, 2011, Welsh tweeted “dreamt i died in chicago next weekend (heart attack in my sleep). need to write my will today.”
Michael Edward Welsh passed away from a suspected heroin overdose in a Chicago hotel room on October 8th, 2011 and was officially declared dead a day later. Whether or not it was Welsh’s intention to write the tweet to warn others about his death isn’t known, but legally, his passing was not a suicide. Welsh’s legacy lives on with his eternal contributions to and love of art.
