I’m no so present on social networks anymore. To be honest, I got pretty bored by the low amount of interesting stuff to read or learn, and the large amount of BS and useless arguing about pretty much anything. But today, I was taking a peak at my Twitter account, when I realized I didn’t have many posts from my musical friend, Bill MacKechnie, from the band Anubis Spire. Investigating a bit further, I discovered with sadness that he had passed last year, in February, from Covid complications.
I discovered Bill and his band on Reverbnation, back in 2009 when I started composing my own tracks, and we started following each other – like Bill has done for thousands of musicians of any skill, taste and genre, never judging. Later, when I started building MusXpand, my attempt at distributing indie music with most profits going to the artist, not to an intermediary, Bill was the first one of a small group of artists who put their trust in me and let me try and distribute their music my way. Unfortunately, the project never took off and I never had the chance to give anything back to these artists for their trust. I sadly stopped the financial hemorrhage this project was and eventually took a full-time job, away from the music business. Bill and I kept in touch for a while, mostly through Facebook, but with my departure from the social network our contacts also disappeared. Until today, when I read his obituary notice.
After the talented Christopher Quinn in 2010, Bill was the second one from that little group of artists that supported MusXpand, to pass away. Bill’s music was full of a mystic inspiration, and there was no doubt he was really enjoying playing his various guitars and mixing his tracks the old way. He also supported many artists through his company, Random Bullet Records, and I’m not sure which one was his favorite activity: playing his own music or helping others to make a living of theirs. Bill was on the list of artists I wanted to meet someday, and I was always wondering when the opportunity would rise to add Greene, NY as a stop on a trip to the USA. I always paid him a visit on my motorcycle tour of the USA in 2016, but because of time constraints I postponed it… That was a sad decision that I can only regret now.
Bill, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to know you even though we never met, and I think we lost a good soul. You’ll be remembered for the amazing person you were, though, no doubt. Rest in Peace.
– Phil