Singer, songwriter and punk rock icon Lance Hahn of beloved punk outfit J Church passed away on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at the too-young age of 40 after a long illness caused by kidney disease.

Born in Hawaii, Hahn was an old-school punk rocker with anarchist leanings. Hahn’s mid-to-late-80s band Cringer was one of the most popular and highly documented punk bands in Hawaii, and Hahn was allegedly the first rocker with a Mohawk haircut in the islands. Moving to San Francisco in 1991, Hahn formed J Church, becoming an integral part of the early-to-mid-90s Bay Area punk scene that yielded bands like Green Day, Rancid and NoFX. With an ever-changing line-up in which Hahn was the only constant, J Church subsequently released literally dozens of 45rpm singles and EPs as well as seven full-length albums over 15 years.

Hahn moved to Austin, Texas in 2000 so that his partner, Liberty Lidz, could attend grad school, and the artist quickly ingratiated himself with the local music scene. The Austin version of J Church included local punk stalwarts Chris Pfeffer on drums and Ben White (also the cartoon genius behind the Snakepit comic strip) on bass; David DiDonato was J Church’s second guitarist from 2002 to 2005. These two line-ups of the band produced three albums altogether, including the recently-released The Horror Of Life.

Aside from music, Hahn was also well-known and respected for his writing, politics and overall support of the punk rock scene worldwide. A long-time columnist for Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll magazine, Hahn also published his own zine, Some Hope And Some Despair. At the time of his death, Hahn had nearly completed a book on anarchist punk bands, and he was well-known for his Situationist anarchist beliefs. Hahn also operated the independent Honey Bear Records label in Austin.

This summer, in the ultimate sign of respect, five separate independent labels – No Idea, Cat Food Money, Vinehell, Jerk Off and Tic Tac Totally – released Let’s Do It For Lance!, a J Church/Cringer tribute CD to help defray Hahn’s mounting medical bills; like many musicians, Hahn did not have health insurance at the time of his death.

The music of Lance Hahn and J Church connected with a lot of people and to his credit, Hahn was never content to merely offer up retreaded, three-chord punk rock tunes to his audience. Hahn’s intelligent and often pointedly cynical lyrics were offset by a playful musical orientation that used punk as a jumping off point and would often just as easily include pop melodies, math-rock and even acoustic guitar. The world will be an infinitely less interesting place without Hahn to ask questions, challenge conventions and make music.

(Photo of Lance Hahn by Dave Deluxe, courtesy of the J Church web site)