The 27’s – Bryan Ottoson 1978 - 2005

Part 36 in a series on “The 27’s” – notable musicians who have passed away in their 27^th year.

Bryan Ottoson was the guitarist for the band American Head Charge and passed away while on tour with the band in 2005.  His body was discovered in a sleeping bunk on the band's tour bus in North Charleston, South Carolina where the group was set to play that evening. 

According to North Charleston police records Ottoson's death was the result of a prescription-drug overdose. Police found a pill bottle containing "numerous amounts of prescription medicine" in Ottoson's bed.

Members of the band reported to police they had last seen Ottoson alive at around 4 a.m. on the morning of April 18, just as the band was departing Jessup, Maryland, for North Charleston and that Bryan had consumed "a large amount of alcohol at a bar" in Jessup that evening.  Guitarist Karma Cheema told police that Ottoson was a "heavy sleeper, and it was not uncommon for him to sleep late before a concert."

American Head Charge was formed in 1997 by Cameron Heacock and Chad Hanks following a chance meeting in a Minnesota rehab center.  In a interview with the magazine, Metal Hammer, Hanks said, "In the past three years, we've had two or three relapses, two treatment centers, a divorce, two members leaving, and a whole heap of other sh-- going on." In the same article, Cock alluded to the fact that alcohol and drug abuse had nearly ended the band in the past. 

In August 2009 the band announced that they were disbanding after a nearly two year hiatus citing singer Cameron Heacock’s “inability to continue on a musical career path.”