"I can’t say enough about what Steve Albini meant to me, the Chicago music community I grew up in, and the independent music world. Big Black was the first band I ever went to see at the Cabaret Metro. I didn’t know shit like that existed. I continued to listen to what Steve and Ian Burgess made on records, and it helped change my idea of what to pursue as a music career.
Steve’s commitment to outing industry inequities and operating outside them was a guiding principle for me and most people I’ve known in our corner of the biz.
As a studio owner in the same market, he was a helpful and generous friend (stink bomb exploded in the Idful lounge notwithstanding). He continued to prove that you could survive and, at times, thrive while maintaining your own standards. And that was what you ought to call success.
Thanks, Steve. Give them hell in the next dimension."
Brian Deck