Founding Smugglers Drummer Paul Preminger Dies

Paul Preminger, former drummer for the notorious Vancouver-based garage punk band the Smugglers, died of an apparent heart attack on October 27. Preminger -- who co-founded the band in the late 1980's, but left to become a chef in 1992 -- played on the band's early singles, debut EP and compilation tracks.

Smugglers vocalist Grant Lawrence, who doubles as a CBC Radio 3 host, described the kitman in a news interview with Vancouver's Georgia Straight. "[Paul was] a guy that hit the drums hard, and who lived hard," Lawrence said. "He was a Joe Pesci, bulldog kind of a guy, but very smart, very funny and very kind. He was one of those guys who'd sit on the couch and answer every single question on Jeopardy!, and you'd be like, 'What the f---? How does this Bukowski-esque character know all this?'"

"He was much more experienced in every facet of life," Lawrence said of Preminger. "He had a hundred stories. It was like touring with a merchant sailor. And he had a lot of strange quirks. He developed a quirk where he'd puke before every show, sometimes onstage."

Preminger can be heard on the band's early releases for Nardwuar Records, including their 1990 seven-inch release 'Up and Down' and their 1991 10-inch EP, 'At Marineland.'