Vale Aaron Chugg

25 March 2013

Well loved tour manager checks out at 52

Chugglet was a distant relation of promoter Michael Chugg and worked in the same industry. He was impossibly positive and had energy levels so high that he was sometimes mistakenly thought to be using stimulants. He didn’t.

Universally acclaimed as one of the truly nice guys in a business that can produce nastiness, Aaron started as a muso in a band called Lafayette and quickly became a highly regarded sound guy. He pushed boundaries – using a computer with midi to sequence effects for Pseudo Echo in 1984.

Aaron toured with everyone, most recently with Shannon Knoll.

Amongst a torrent of sad words, these from Simone Harle sum up the man. “I was just with him and the Stone Roses gang at Future in Perth. It had been a challenging day. A conversation we had resonates deeply as I am hearing of this horrible news. We were speaking of the fact both of us were (of a certain age) quite possibly too old to be traipsing around the place acting like teenagers in a crazy industry. The fact we were both childless occupied a few minutes of our conversation. He was speaking passionately and humorously, sharing stories about his family with me. He also said he thought he was lucky and that he was a proud of the relationships he had. And treasured them.”

CX had earlier booked a lunch with Aaron to write his story. Sadly he collapsed from a stroke while on Future Music and did not recover.