The 27’s – Sean Patrick McCabe 1972 - 2000

Part 33 in a series on “The 27’s” – notable musicians who have passed away in their 27th year.

In true Rock and Roll style, Sean Patrick McCabe choked to death on his own vomit while swilling alcohol on August 28, 2000. McCabe was the lead singer/song writer for the band Ink and Dagger.

Ink & Dagger was a punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who were active in the late 1990’s. The two permanent members throughout the band's career were guitarist Don Devore and vocalist Sean Patrick McCabe. Band members frequently incorporated references to vampires in their music, painted their faces, and played with fake blood. “Think of a vampire as a metaphor for the world,” says Robby Redcheeks, Ink & Dagger’s former roommate and road manager. “Blood is a person’s energy and vampires feed off of it. It had nothing to do with vampires per se, but was more a metaphor for punk rock and the society.”

“It was very discouraging to have people only see us as ‘that emo-goth-core band that wears makeup’ when there was much, much more to the puzzle,” singer Sean Patrick McCabe said in an interview with Ink19, a fanzine. “I can understand that some people never really took this band seriously.”

In 2000, shortly after finishing Ink & Dagger’s third and final album McCabe asphyxiated in an Indiana motel room.