Alice in Chains, Tool, Rob Zombie Guitar Tech + Photographer Scott Dachroeden Has Died
Scott Dachroeden, the rock industry veteran who served as a guitar tech and photographer for artists including Alice in Chains, Tool, Rob Zombie, Halestorm and more, has died after a battle with cancer.
Dachroeden moved to the U.S. from Australia over two decades ago to follow his dream of working in the music industry, particularly as a concert photographer.
"I was the annoying kid with the camera growing up. Everybody knew at least one," he told Shoutout Atlanta last year. "I shot my first show when I was 16 or 17 in Australia. I stood in the crowd and blasted the artist in the face with my high powered flash because I didn’t know and better, I annoyed him so much he vocalized his relief through the mic when I stopped. That artist was Billy Bragg."
Earlier this month, a GoFundMe page was organized to help raise funds for Dachroeden's cancer treatment, as he'd just been hospitalized and diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Several musicians, including Alice in Chains and Halestorm's Lzzy Hale, shared the link to the page on their social media profiles.
"We met Scotty when we were fresh meat, opening up on one of our first tours ever in 2006. I was an unknown, hungry, naive young lady in those days, but Scotty always had my back and treated me with the respect you’d give a legend," Hale wrote on her Instagram. "No matter where you are in the world, or how many years, when you see Scotty it’s like no time has passed. He is one of the true and few golden humans in this industry."
According to the page's description, he was the longest tenured tech for Alice in Chains, having worked for the rockers for 14 years, and was also their crew chief and staff photographer. He'd just returned home from touring with Alice, Breaking Benjamin and Bush when he received the diagnosis.
Additionally, Scott Dachroeden worked with Tool, Rob Zombie and Halestorm, both on the road and in the studio. He'd worked on Alice in Chains' Rainier Fog, Tool's Fear Inoculum, Rob Zombie's Spookshow International Live and Halestorm's Vicious.
Some of the rockers Dachroeden has worked with over the years have taken to social media to share tributes to him. See them below.