Former OBITUARY bassist Frank Watkins has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 47 years old. Since late 2007, Watkins had been the bass player of the Norwegian black metal band GORGOROTH and performed with the band at last year's edition of Hellfest in Clisson, France (see video below). Watkins left OBITUARY in 2010 on acrimonious terms and was eventually replaced by Terry Butler. Watkins told Noisecreep in a 2009 interview that he once worked as a mortgage broker. "I had a mortgage company for a while and mortgages went out the window in America and it's all corporate," he said. "I worked for Wells Fargo for a long time and realized I could do this myself. I don't need a bank to pay me, so I just opened my own. Just as the mortgage industry dropped, OBITUARY said, 'Let's play again.' I let the company fizzle out in 2008. I decided to do music full-time since I could try and implement the business sense that I have and all the nightmares I suffered through in the music business!" Watkins said that he honed his sharp-as-a-steak-knife business sense "probably from fighting with promoters at shows. All the shit we did in the band! When I started as a stock broker, I had gotten off a tour and OBITUARY decided we were not gonna do anything for a while. I saw my friend driving a Porsche in my neighborhood at the grocery store, and I was like, 'How do you afford that?' And he said he was working as a stock broker, so I told him to get me a job. I learned how to sell on the phone. It was hardcore and military-style shit. It was insane, but taught me a lot of negotiation skills."
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Just got the very sad news that Frank passed away this morning. Our thoughts and and prayers are with his family....
Posted by Obituary on Sunday, October 18, 2015
Posted by Obituary on Sunday, October 18, 2015
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